“Here we are on the fuzzy border between eccentricity and incompetence,†writes Dr. Douglas Uzzell after a psychiatric examination of David Castellano, the subject of my Urban Explorer column this week.
You might know Castellano as the rotund man on Tampa’s Sheldon Road surrounded by signs claiming he won the Pennsylvania Lottery. But spend a few minutes with the 55-year-old homeless veteran and you’ll find out his lottery story is just the beginning; he says the FBI and FCC are after him, too.
Turns out (not surprisingly), the Pennsylvania Lottery has nary a record about Castellano winning in 1981, nor do they have any record of the man Castellano claims stole his ticket.
But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been dealt a tough hand. I obtained court records earlier this week (unfortunately not in time for deadline) that shed a little more light on Castellano’s tumultuous life.
This article appears in Oct 24-30, 2007.
