CROSS LANES, W.Va. (AP) - Powerball winner Jack Whittaker, 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.

Whittaker said he hopes the incident will not affect the Jack Whittaker Foundation, which he established to help charities operated by the Church of God and other causes.

"I would also like to remind both the media and the public that I remain a private citizen. I'm simply a businessman who has seen his share of failures and successes," Whittaker said in a statement.

"My personal life is my own and I make no excuses for my actions," he said.

Whittaker, who hit Powerball's richest jackpot on Christmas Day, arrived at the Pink Pony in Cross Lanes at about 2:30 a.m., leaving his Lincoln Navigator running outside the main entrance.

Someone broke the driver's side window and took a briefcase containing $245,000 worth of $100 bills and three $100,000 cashier's checks payable to Whittaker - a typical amount of money for the Scott Depot multimillionaire to carry, Kanawha County Sheriff Dave Tucker said.

"It's a known fact that Mr. Whittaker does carry a lot of money around with him, because he does frequent not only that club, but several other establishments in the (area), and he does gamble," Tucker said.

The briefcase, cash and checks were found behind a nearby trash bin by John Jarvis, Whittaker's private investigator, police said.

No arrests have been made. People who were in the club are among the suspects, said Kanawha County Chief Deputy Phil Morris said.

Club employees declined to comment.

Whittaker first arrived at the strip club at about 9:30 p.m. Monday. He left at 12:30 a.m. and went to a nearby motel to meet an unidentified person, who did not show up. He then returned to the strip club at 2:30 a.m., Tucker said.

Whittaker began drinking and was joined by the club's manager and two women, Tucker and Morris said. They did not say whether the women were employees.

When Whittaker left after 5 a.m., he discovered the broken window.

Whittaker called deputies at 5:20 a.m. He said he also called his security employees.

Jarvis found the stolen money behind the trash bin shortly after 6 a.m., police said.

Club employees told deputies they allowed Whittaker to stay at the club until after 5 a.m. because he had drunk too much alcohol.

Whittaker told deputies that he was drugged after returning to the strip club, and he gave police a urine sample for analysis, Morris said.

"There's no confusion on the fact that he didn't have all his faculties," Morris said.

Keith Wagner, a spokesman for the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Administration, said his agency is investigating. It is illegal in West Virginia for an establishment serving alcohol to remain open after its closing time.

A window on a second vehicle parked on the lot also was broken. A compact disc player and several CDs were stolen but were recovered, Morris said.

Whittaker claimed a $113 million cash option after winning a record $314.9 million jackpot on Christmas Day. He was a millionaire businessman before winning the jackpot.

Whittaker has donated at least $3.5 million to various churches, people and causes. The day he collected his lump sum payment, he said he would tithe 10 percent of his winnings to charity.

The Hinton Church of God and the Tabernacle of Praise in Hurricane each received $1.5 million from Whittaker. He awarded Hinton's Little League program $70,000, and purchased and remodeled a speedway in Beckley for an undisclosed amount.