Powerball winner’s wife arrested

By KENNETH HART
The Independent

CATLETTSBURG June 22, 2007 10:57 pm

— The wife of Powerball winner David Edwards pleaded guilty on Friday to a misdemeanor offense and faces another more serious charge stemming from her alleged failure to pay child support.
Boyd District Judge Gerald Reams sentenced Shawna Renae Edwards, 32, to 10 days in jail for giving a false name to a police officer. He also ordered her to pay court costs of $148.
According to police records, Edwards told Officer Terry Clark her name was Nancy Hicks after he showed at up her home in the 3400 block of Elton Street on Wednesday to investigate a report of a burglary phoned in by a neighbor.
Clark subsequently learned Edwards’ true identity and discovered she was wanted on an outstanding felony warrant charging her with flagrant non-support.
Edwards was arrested and lodged in the Boyd County Detention Center. Clad in a black-and-white jail uniform, she appeared Friday in Reams’ court for arraignment.
In addition to accepting Edwards’ guilty plea on the false name charge, Reams ordered that Edwards appear before Boyd Circuit Judge Marc Rosen for arraignment on the felony charge.
“Do I have a court date already set?” Edwards asked the judge.
“I can’t answer that,” he replied.
Edwards was extradited from Florida on the non-support charge in March, court records show. The criminal complaint against her lists a Super 8 Motel in Riviera Beach as her address.
The complaint, which was signed by James Johnson, alleges Edwards “unlawfully and persistently failed to provide support for her minor children, knowing that she had a legal obligation to do so,” and said failure resulted in an arrearage of more than $1,000.
According to the complaint, Edwards was ordered to pay child support as a result of a civil order issued in Boyd Circuit Court in 1999.
Further details of the child support case, including the precise amount owed by Edwards, were not immediately available. Boyd County Attorney Phillip Hedrick, who handles such cases, was in Louisville for a convention on Friday and could not be reached for comment.
Edwards signed a voluntary waiver of extradition in Orange County, Fla., on Feb. 27 and was returned to Kentucky by Boyd County Sheriff Terry Keelin a week later, records show. She was released from jail on March 15 on $7,500 unsecured bond. The following day, she signed a criminal information, agreeing to allow her case to proceed in circuit court without first going before a grand jury.
Edwards failed to appear for her arraignment in Rosen’s court on May 2. The judge rescheduled the proceeding for May 16, but again, Edwards was a no-show, which prompted Rosen to issue a warrant for her arrest.
Edwards was known as Shawna Maddux in August 2001 when her then-fiancee, David Edwards, a laid-off ex-convict living in Westwood, won $41 million — $27 million after taxes — a one-third share of what was then the richest Powerball jackpot in history.
The couple subsequently married and moved into a $1.2 million mansion in the ultra-exclusive Ballen Isles community in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. David Edwards purchased a fleet of exotic cars, gave thousands to charity and invested in numerous business ventures.
The Edwardses filed for divorce in 2003, but apparently reconciled. Shawna Edwards was arrested on a domestic battery charge in 2004 following an altercation at the couple’s home. David Edwards told authorities his wife had tried to stab him with a crack pipe.
David and Shawna Edwards both were arrested in 2005 after police found cocaine and heroin in their bedroom.
The Edwardeses’ home was foreclosed upon and sold at auction after the couple failed to pay homeowners’ association dues.
David Edwards’ status is unclear. There have been reports from various sources that his health is failing and that he is hospitalized, but the accuracy of those reports could not be confirmed.
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.