A former Georgia lottery winner has pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking and firearm charges.
Ronnie Music Jr., 45, won 3 million dollars playing a scratch-off lottery game in 2015, but gambled his prize on the distribution 11 pounds of methamphetamine, according to a statement released Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia.
“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. “As a result of his unsound investment strategy, Music now faces decades in a federal prison.”
Authorities caught Music’s co-conspirators attempting to sell drugs worth an estimated $500,000. Authorities said that Music supplied them after purchasing them with his winnings.
“As part of the case, investigating agents seized over $1 million worth of methamphetamine, a large cache of firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition, multiple vehicles, and over $600,000 in cash,” the statement from the U.S. attorney said.
Music, of Waycross, Georgia, was working as a maintenance supervisor when he scratched the winning lottery ticket.
“I buy tickets every once in awhile,” he said in February 2015. “I couldn’t believe it, and I still don’t believe it yet.”
He now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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