US

Meth-Dealer Wins $3M Lottery, Promptly Invests All Winnings In Trafficking Ring

REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Craig Boudreau Vice Reporter
Font Size:

A Georgia man pleaded guilty to funneling the money he won in the lottery into a meth trafficking ring.

Ronnie Music Jr., 45, plead guilty to federal drug trafficking and firearm charges in Georgia federal court Tuesday. The court heard that Music dumped his winnings from a $3 million scratch off ticket into a meth ring.

The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Glynn-Brunswick Narcotics Enforcement Team busted up a meth ring in 2015 that was trying to sell 11 pounds of crystal meth valued at over $500,000.

“Defendant Music decided to test his luck by sinking millions of dollars of lottery winnings into the purchase and sale of crystal meth,” U.S. Attorney Ed Tarver said in a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release Tuesday. “As a result of his unsound investment strategy, Music now faces decades in a federal prison.”

Federal agents also seized $600,000 in cash, a cache of firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition and several vehicles.

The United States Probation Office will now conduct a pre-sentence investigation before Chief Judge Diane Wood of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit hands down her sentence. Music could get life in prison.

Music has been in trouble with the law over meth before. In 2009, he was arrested for running a meth lab, and in October of 2015 he was arrested for possession with the intent to distribute, according to the The Daily Mail.

Music is not the first to be caught using lottery money to fund drug trafficking. In 2014, a Massachusetts man won a $1 million payout on a scratch-off, then promptly started to traffic in marijuana and cocaine and was subsequently arrested.

Follow Craig Boudreau on Twitter.

Send tips to craig@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.