• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Man who won nearly £3 million on lotto was jailed for investing his winnings in crystal meth drug ring

Home> News> US News

Published 20:53 1 Aug 2023 GMT+1

Man who won nearly £3 million on lotto was jailed for investing his winnings in crystal meth drug ring

A man who won nearly £3 million in the lottery was jailed after using part of his winnings to finance a drug trafficking ring.

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck

A man who won nearly £3 million in the lottery was jailed after using part of his winnings to finance a drug trafficking ring.

Ronnie Music Jr. won a scratch card in the Georgia lottery in February 2015, taking home a whopping £2.3 million ($3 million).

However, rather than buying a house, a holiday home, going on a clothes shopping spree or a hitting some clubs on a big night out, Music decided to invest his funds - and no, not in property.

Advert

Ronnie Music Jr invested part of his lottery winnings in a drug trafficking ring.
Georgia State Lottery Pressroom

Music used some of his lottery winnings to help front a drug trafficking ring being run from Calhoun State Prison in Georgia - trafficking crystal meth across multiple states.

A number of Music's co-conspirators were arrested in September 2015 attempting to sell over 10 pounds of meth alleged to have been supplied by Music, but Music carried on with his dodgy dealings regardless.

The government said in a court document: "Mr. Music observed the transaction and the bust, but did not stop his involvement in the drug business."

The drug ring was trafficking crystal meth across multiple states.
Getty Images/ SAI AUNG MAIN/ AFP

Advert

Music was arrested a month later with the help of an informant and found with $22,000 (£17,000) in cash as well as four pounds of meth.

Upon searching his house and workplace, authorities found 11 firearms 'including assault style weapons, a prohibited sawed off shotgun and a stolen revolver'.

The United States Attorney's Office website states: "As a convicted felon, Music was prohibited from possessing firearms."

Music pled guilty to his involvement in the ring.
Johnson City Police Department

Music pled guilty to 'conspiring to traffic large amounts of methamphetamine and to being a felon in possession of firearms'.

Advert

On 3 April, 2017, the then-46-year-old was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison.

Chief US District Judge Lisa Godby Wood - who sentenced Music - said: "You got a windfall that few in this world ever get. Nobody has ever blown lottery winnings in a more dangerous and destructive way than you did."

Acting US Attorney Jim Durham resolved: "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.

"The truth of the matter is this: Mr. Music is a predator who has destroyed lives by pushing poison and fear.

"As law enforcement and prosecutors, our job is to protect our communities by sending predators like Music to federal prison for a very long time."

Advert

If you want friendly, confidential advice about drugs, you can talk to FRANK. You can call 0300 123 6600, text 82111 or contact through their website 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, or livechat from 2pm-6pm any day of the week

Featured Image Credit: Lottery handout/Johnson City Police Department

Topics: Money, US News, Crime, True Crime, Drugs

Poppy Bilderbeck
Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

an hour ago
2 hours ago
  • an hour ago

    Donald Trump speaks out after Iran attacks on US airbases

    The US president posted on Truth Social

    News

    breaking

  • an hour ago

    NASA's Voyager 1 has just found a 50,000 Celsius 'wall of fire' at the edge of the solar system

    It's the furthest reaches of our solar system, but it helps protect us

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Everything we know about Iranian attack on US airbases in Qatar and Iraq as videos show missiles in the air

    The strikes from Iran follow the three from the US on Saturday (21 June)

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Inside $2,100,000,000 US stealth bomber made of 'radar absorbing' material making it impossible to detect

    The US used six B-2 Spirit stealth bombers in their strikes on three targets in Iran

    News
  • Rapper Fetty Wap sentenced to 6 years in prison for drug trafficking
  • Drugs kingpin 'The Fat Man' given three months to pay back £630k to avoid longer jail sentence