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| Credit: Johnson City Police Department |
Maybe he just watched too many episodes of "Breaking Bad."
After Ronnie Music Jr. won $3 million last year in the Georgia Lottery, prosecutors say he decided to use his winnings to invest in an illegal stash of crystal methamphetamine and guns and then market them across the South.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia in Brunswick announced that Music has pleaded guilty to federal charges that could carry a potential penalty of life in prison.
"Music decided to test his luck by sinking millions of dollars of lottery winnings into the purchase and sale of crystal meth," said U.S. Attorney Ed Tarver. "As a result of his unsound investment strategy, Music now faces decades in a federal prison."
A felon with a history of violence, drug possession and multiple felony gun convictions, Music was on probation when he struck it rich last year playing the Georgia Lottery, according to court records. He won $3 million with a $20 instant scratch-off ticket called 100X The Money, according to news accounts of his win.
Music said at the time that he and his wife intended to put at least some of his winnings into savings. But federal prosecutors said Music chose instead to invest his winnings in criminal activities. During the investigation, prosecutors said federal agents seized more than $1 million in methamphetamine, a large cache of guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition, which they seized along with more than $600,000 in cash and multiple vehicles, including a Dodge Charger and a GMC Sierra that Music bought last year.
Last September, four alleged members of Music's posse—who have also been indicted by a federal grand jury in Brunswick—were caught attempting to sell 11 pounds of crystal meth with a street value of more than $500,000, prosecutors said. The investigation, they said, revealed that within a month of winning the lottery in February 2015, Music had used his winnings to begin buying quantities of crystal meth for resale.
Police in Tennessee stopped Music's vehicle after federal agents witnessed him picking up money intended as payment for four pounds of meth that Music was found to have in his possession along with $22,000 and a 9 mm pistol, according to Music's plea agreement. At that time, according to his plea, Music claimed he was just a courier. According to his plea, he still faces possible additional felony drug and gun charges in the Western District of Virginia.
Music's attorney, Ronald Harrison, had no comment.
http://www.dailyreportonline.com/id=1202763681240/Luck-Runs-Out-After-Lottery-Winner-Uses-Jackpot-to-Start-Meth-Business
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