A LOTTO BAD LUCK
SEVERAL lottery winners have spent their earnings in a way that resulted in trouble with the law, and one was even arrested for murder charges.
Although cashing in a ticket worth millions quickly and drastically improves a lottery player's financial situation, it may come at a cost.
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Depending on measures taken before collecting the payday, some jackpot ticket holders have swiftly lost their fortune or spent it in a way that brought the police to their door.
This was the case for Georgia lottery winner Ronnie Music Jr, per TIME.
Music was awarded $3million from a scratch-off ticket in 2015 and used the earnings on the purchase of methamphetamine for reselling, according to federal authorities.
In April 2017, Music, 46, was then sentenced to 21 years in prison as he took part in a massive drug trafficking ring, police said.
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Law enforcement explained that Music sold 10 pounds of meth at one time to dealers in Georgia.
Jim Durham, the acting United States Attorney at the time of Music's hearing, argued that the lottery winner had "destroyed lives."
"This case has received a great deal of light-hearted coverage because of Mr. Music’s unsound investment decision to buy crystal meth with his lottery winnings,” he said in a statement.
“The truth of the matter is this: Mr. Music is a predator who has destroyed lives by pushing poison and fear.”
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Detroit lottery winner Freddie Young had to split his jackpot earnings in February 2011, per CBS Detroit.
He cashed in on a staggering $46 million and was accused of murder by law enforcement only three months later.
Young allegedly shot and killed Greg McNicol, the landlord of his daughter.
The two reportedly got into an argument about the unpaid rent of Young's daughter when the shot was fired.
The Detroit winner was later convicted for fatally killing McNicol and sentenced to at least 25 years in prison in 2012.
MURDER MYSTERY
Another winner was also accused of murder over 30 years ago.
William Hurt, a Michigan lottery winner, also faced consequences from the law after cashing in on a $3.1 million Super Lotto jackpot in 1989.
By 1991, just two years later, Hurt had lost all his money and was even accused of murder, the Associated Press reported.
Hurt allegedly shot a woman, 30, in the head and killed her after an argument over him not having crack cocaine to use.
Since that time, what happened with the charges remains a mystery.
The Michigan district court ordered Hurt to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in the early 1990s, according to TIME.
The court directed a comment to another circuit court when the publication reached out, and a response was never received.
Several other lottery winners have been arrested for various crimes, including fraud and sexual assault.
UNSETTLING DISCOVERIES
Another Michigan lottery winner, Amanda Clayton, proceeded to collect food stamps after being awarded $1million from the game show Make Me Rich!, per the Detroit Free Press.
Police sentenced Clayton to nine months of probation, and she later died from what was believed to be a drug overdose.
New Jersey Powerball winner Pedro Quezada, 55, won one of the state's biggest jackpots ever in 2013 at a total of $338 million.
Although Quezada didn't lose his earnings, he was arrested in 2017 and accused of sexually assaulting a girl between the ages of 11 and 14 for nearly three years, per Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes.
As The U.S. Sun previously reported, he was charged with sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
The sexual assault charge was dismissed but he was given one year of probation for endangering the welfare of a child.
Quezada’s defense lawyer Steven Wukovits claimed that the lottery player was being targeted.
Wukovits told The Record at the time: “He has money. That’s why he’s being targeted in this case.”
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For more related content, check out The U.S. Sun's coverage of a father and son who were sentenced after a "ten-percenting" scam on $14,000 tickets.
The U.S. Sun also has the story of a $2million jackpot winner that had their mother sue them for half of the winnings.
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