WARNER ROBINS -- An illegal immigrant who filed a civil lawsuit over the ownership of a $750,000 lottery ticket has won the right to stay in the country to fight his legal battle, his immigration attorney says.

Jose Antonio Cua-Toc, 25, of Bonaire, was released from the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin on an order of supervision Wednesday, said Julio E. Moreno, an Atlanta immigration attorney representing Cua-Toc.

“This is only going to be temporary,” Moreno said. “This is pending the outcome of the case.”

Moreno successfully sought a deferred action on Cua-Toc’s removal order from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The deferred action allows Cua-Toc to temporarily remain in the U.S. to have his day in court, Moreno said.

Cua-Toc also will be able to get a temporary work permit, Moreno said.

Cua-Toc is also at the center of a criminal case in which he was charged with terroristic threats against lottery winner Erick Cervantes and his family. Cua-Toc allegedly repeatedly telephoned and threatened “to kill (Cervantes and his wife) and their children if they did not give him some of the lottery winnings,” according to a Warner Robins police report.

Fort Valley and Perry attorneys filed the civil lawsuit on Cua-Toc’s behalf while he was in jail. The lawsuit contends Cua-Toc is the rightful owner of the lottery ticket, and Erick Cervantes claimed the winnings on Cua-Toc’s behalf but then kept the money. In a letter requesting the deferred action, Moreno wrote that Cua-Toc was wrongfully accused of a crime he did not commit.

But Kelly Burke, a Warner Robins attorney representing Erick and Sonia Cervantes, has said Cua-Toc was “abusing the system” by having filed a “fraudulent” civil lawsuit to stay in the country. Burke said Erick Cervantes is the rightful owner of the lottery ticket, that he did not file a false police report and that he gave Cua-Toc money to purchase the ticket for him.

Houston County District Attorney George Hartwig previously has said he did not intend to pursue the criminal matter with Cua-Toc having been ordered to leave the country. Hartwig could not be reached immediately for comment Friday.

Cua-Toc had been in custody since he was first arrested by Warner Robins police on the terroristic threat charge on Nov. 27, 2010. Police also charged him with forgery in the second degree for two forged identification cards. He was later moved to the Stewart Detention Center by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

To contact writer Becky Purser, call 256-9559.