Cross Lanes, W.Va. ? A Powerball winner who has donated more than $3 million of his record winnings to churches was drinking at a strip club when $545,000 was stolen from his sport utility vehicle, police said Tuesday.

Jack Whittaker said he hoped the incident would not affect the Jack Whittaker Foundation, through which he helps charities operated by the Church of God and other causes.

He also wanted to remind the media and the public that he is a private citizen.”I’m simply a businessman who has seen his share of failures and successes,” he said. “My personal life is my own and I make no excuses for my actions.”

Someone broke the driver’s side window and took a briefcase containing $245,000 in cash and three $100,000 cashier’s checks belonging to Whittaker, who hit Powerball’s richest jackpot on Christmas Day, police said. The briefcase, cash and checks were found behind a nearby trash bin.