Middlesex County Woman Among Mega-Millions Winners

A New Brunswick resident was one of 16 workers at a Manhattan office who will share the winnings from a March drawing of a Mega Millions jackpot, according to a news release.

The group, who call themselves the “Lucky 16 Trust,” work together at a biopharmaceutical company, Ophthotech. Eight of the winners are from New Jersey, seven live in New York, and one shuttles between New York and her home in California, the news release from the New York Lottery said.

According to the news release:

Group spokeswoman and company COO Evelyn Harrison said the winners are senior executives, administrative staff “and everyone in between.”

“We rotate who buys the tickets and the stores where we buy to be fair to everyone,” Harrison said in a prepared statement. “We also require the buyer to send copies of the ticket to everyone in the group so we all have it.”

The winners each contributed $4 a week to buy tickets. The winning ticket was purchased at Carlton Cards at One Penn Plaza in Manhattan.

They will split a one-time cash payment of more than $38 million, with each winner getting more than $1.65 million. They plan to pay off school loans and mortgages, and invest for retirement.

The winners are:

• Walesca Ayala of the Bronx
• William Barber of Hackensack
• Kevin Berth of Hainesport
• Desiree Beutelspacher of Venice, California
• Valerie Chiong of Union City
• Sonia Cruz of the Bronx
• Janice Graboso of New Brunswick
• Evelyn Harrison of West New York
• Matthew Jung of Edgewater
• Natasha Malik of Long Island City
• Harvey Masonson of Accord, New York
• Natasha Moore of Brooklyn
• Yordak Salermo of Manhattan
• Samantha Scroxton of Jersey City
• Denise Teuber of Manhattan
• Lillian Vazquez of Jersey City