Posted on 10/02/2012 3:23:39 PM PDT by kingattax
Amanda Clayton made the news last fall for winning $1 million in Michigan’s ‘Make Me Rich’ lottery game. The reason she made the news was that even after winning the lottery she continued to receive public assistance. Now Clayton is back in the news after she was found dead this past weekend in a Detroit suburb. Clayton, 25, was at home with her daughter in Ecorse when she died of an apparent drug overdose.
“Her daughter was right next to her sleeping. They were watching a movie together. She started crying, and that’s when Rachel walked in and she tried to see what was going on and she flipped (Clayton) and she was gone,” a friend’s boyfriend said in an interview with CNN.
According to the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office, a completed autopsy has been performed but a definite cause of death still has yet to be determined. The definite cause of death will be determined after a toxicology report returns anywhere from six to eight weeks from now.
Clayton took the lump sum in lottery winnings, which gave her $500,000 after taxes. She used that money to purchase a car and a house. Clayton still received $200 per month in food assistance from the state but that stopped when the state learned of her winning the lottery.
“I thought that they would cut me off, but since they didn’t, I thought maybe it was OK because I’m not working,” Clayton said in an interview with CNN.
Clayton was then charged with two felony counts of welfare fraud after an investigation by the Department of Human Services and Office of Inspector General. The laws in Michigan require residents to report changes in assets within 10 days. The state found that Clayton received $5,475 in assistance that was ineligible because of her asset change.
In July, Clayton pled no contest to the charges against her and was given probation.
“So many people tried to take advantage of her, act like they are her friends just to get some money from her. It gets to the point where you start questioning yourself: Are they really my friends or are they using me?” the friend’s boyfriend said.
People who knew Clayton said she never got into trouble until she won the lottery. One of her neighbor’s said that Clayton was “a nice, pleasant girl who never got in trouble, until she won the lottery.” Clayton’s mom also said that she had begun taking prescription drugs recently.
Karma is one mean ___________.
It should get to that point about the time the last winning ping pong ball is drawn.
Well, at least she died doing what she loved...
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She was a ‘victim’ of other peoples money that she did not own nor had the character to handle it.
Gives new meaning to the phrase: "{s}he just won the lottery".
God gives sweets to those without teeth.
Be-YA-Itch!!!
Show of hands who believes this S**t?
The funny thing is, what she had done had not previously been illegal. Under Michigan law, if you took the lottery prize as a lump sum instead of payouts, it wasn’t considered income. That changed after some cranky old timer in Michigan won a lump sum and defiantly said he was going to continue to collect food stamps. The law was changed not long before this woman won, IIRC.
As for her untimely end...it is indeed sad when someone so young throws away their life. I am assuming this was either a “traditional” OD or a successful suicide attempt, rather than an accidental overdose of prescription medications. If that is the case, then obviously she put herself at risk and nobody else is to blame for that risk. Still, it’s tragic when young and dumb becomes a death sentence. Especially because she left behind a little girl who probably doesn’t have a dad anywhere in the picture.
Well, I wonder if this poor victim had an obamaphone?
Most people who win the lottery lose it all within five years, I have been told.
This is because most people who win the lottery have never developed the skills necessary to handle money.
Those who have learned to handle money usually do not buy lottery tickets.
Many have said that the lottery is a tax on ignorance and stupidity.
Yep, I have to agree with everything in your post.
The thing that always cracked me up about state (or multi-state) lotteries is the hypocrisy. States crack down on illegal gambling rings, etc. but protect their own gambling ring (i.e. lotteries) fiercely, even though the odds of winning in most legal lotteries are far worse than any “numbers” rackets.
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