Press Your Luck scandal

Paul Michael "Mike" Larson was born to Ruth Larson on May 10, 1949 in Lebanon, Ohio. One of four brothers, he graduated from Lebanon High School in 1967. By 1983 he was twice divorced and living at the home of his girlfriend, Teresa Dinwitty; she would later say of her "boyfriend and common-law husband, 'He always thought he was smarter than everybody else,' and that he had a 'constant yearning for knowledge. Larson had three children by three different women.

Larson's penchant for "always running some little scam or another" began at an early age, secretly selling marked-up candy bars to other middle-school students. Other schemes included repeatedly opening and closing bank accounts under assumed identities with those that offered for each new customer. He once registered a business under a family member's name so as to fire himself and collect unemployment insurance. He was arrested by Ohio law-enforcement thrice between 1969 and 1982 for receiving and concealing stolen goods, larceny by trick, and petty theft.

By 1983, he worked repairing air conditioning systems, drove a Mister Softee-branded ice cream truck, and spent the rest of his time studying a wall of twelve televisions and looking for get-rich-quick schemes. Provided by Wikipedia