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Prize Patrol Gives Lake Elmo Family $100,000 Check

By Dennis Douda, WCCO-TV

LAKE ELMO, Minn. (WCCO) -- You know those Publisher's Clearing House Prize Patrol commercials? With the van and the balloons and the great big check? They are for real, and they shocked a family in Lake Elmo Saturday.

Doug O'Shea has been entering the sweepstakes online a lot recently. However, when the familiar faces from Publisher Clearing House showed up in his yard and stood right in front of him, with the balloons and the roses and the big check, he was stunned.

"Speechless," O'Shea said.

O'Shea is a laid-off construction worker who has been out of work for nearly two years. His wife, Andrea O'Shea, said the timing could not have been better.

"I don't even have words," she said "It's just astonishing and beautiful and kind of a godsend."

Paying off bills will be a first priority with the surprise windfall.

"It's just amazing. It really does help relieve the pressure a little bit," Andrea O'shea said.

An extra bonus is that the prize is essentially tax-free. A Sweepstakes spokesperson said the company will cover any income taxes the O'Sheas are obligate to pay for the $100,000.

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