MEDFORD, Ore. -- Medford Police are planning to make some upgrades and it's all thanks to the winner of a lottery ticket.
The winner used a stolen credit card to buy the winning lottery ticket in 2005. The prize was $1 million.
Police later learned that the winner, 45-yaer-old Christina Goodenow, used her boyfriend's deceased mother's card to get it.
On Wednesday, the Oregon Court of Appeals informed the department that it gets 40 percent of the winnings or $400,000 over the next two decades.
"It's a great thing," Chief Tim George said.
George says he plans on putting the money into the department and upgrading some equipment.
"We need to buy bullet proof vests that some officers have been wearing for five years and firearms," he said.
The chief also hopes to expand the department's evidence building.
"We need the space. We are getting more and more evidence, but we need a place to put it," George said.
All the evidence for police cases come to the more than 6,000 square foot facility on McAndrews Road.
However, it is nearly full and with about 1,200 pieces of evidence coming in each month, there is not enough space.
Property and Evidence Supervisor Rhonda Buma says evidence stays in the building until the case is closed, which could range from weeks to years.
"We have to hold evidence for homicide cases for 99 years," she said.
The oldest piece of evidence is from 1978 and Buma says every piece counts.
"Evidence can make or break a case and we have to hold it so police can present it in court," she said.
George says the department gets money from cases like this each year.
He says although he thinks the money belongs to the department, there is a chance this case could still go to the Oregon Supreme Court.
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