Michigan lotto winner charged with welfare fraud

In this photo provided by the Michigan Lottery, Amanda Clayton holds her $1 million lottery check. The state says Clayton who won a $1 million lottery prize but continued to get food stamps has been removed from a food assistance program. / AP Photo/Courtesy Michigan Lottery via Detroit news

(CBS/AP) LINCOLN PARK, Mich. - A Michigan woman who continued to get food stamps after winning a $1 million lottery jackpot has been charged with welfare fraud.

The Michigan attorney general's office announced two felony charges Tuesday against 25-year-old Amanda Clayton of Lincoln Park. She was arrested Monday and was expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Lincoln Park's 25th District Court. The charges are punishable by up to four years in prison.

Clayton chose a $700,000 lump sum, before taxes, last fall after winning the jackpot on "Make Me Rich!" a Michigan lottery game show.

The case came to light last month. She told Detroit TV station WDIV at the time that she thought it might have been OK to keep using food stamps because she wasn't working.

She was dropped from the food program.

$1M lotto winner cut from food assistance

Clayton, who bought a new home and a car with her winnings, has said she feels entitled to the welfare handout, CBS Detroit reports.

"I thought that they would cut me off, but since they didn't, I thought maybe it was okay because I'm not working ... I feel that it's okay because I mean, I have no income and I have bills to pay. I have two houses ... It's just hard, you know. I'm struggling," she told WDIV.

[lamm126]

Oh I have one more thing to say to Amanda Clayton,

Sweetie Conn Woman, YOU WILL BURN IN HELL.
Enjoy your money now, because when you Die you will be Burning Beyond Belief and you will be seeing paper money floating in front of you for Eternity.
So if you do not want this to happento you when you pass then CHANGE YOUR DISGUSTING MASSIVE GREEDY WAYS.

[lamm126]

This MONSTER GREEDY SO CALLED WOMAN AMANDA IS A GREEDY DISGUSTING PIG PARASITE. She has NO CONSCIENCE or HUMAN FEELINGS for any one except her Self. SHE IS A GREEDY SOCIAPATH. The District Attorneys for her town in Michigan have to put her in Prison. She knew EXACTLY what she was doing from stealing from the tax paying people of Michigan. The Million dollars were not enought for her.Amanda Clayton you are worse than a Killing Wolf. Just know KARMA IS A *****. God sees EVERY THING YOU DO. You are not fooling anyone. OMG, Do I feel sorry for your child.

[queenmangin]

Yes she's a jackass for saying that she's struggling and to keep collecting... but I mean, look at Wall Street accepting a bailout and then posting record profits...boosting exec salaries.. isn't it the same thing? It's taxpayer money... what about insurance companies that won't cover your dying family members treatment but they post RECORD profits? none of it is fair or right...not the welfare millionaire nor the corporate billionaire... just my two cents.

[phwtb100]

What do you expect from a woman who feels THE most important thing in her life is how fast her cell phone can send a text???

This country had better wake up to the fact we can no longer afford to support ANY person on welfare BECAUSE of crap like this!

Want to fix the problem? Tell your senators and representatives, if they want to keep THEIR jobs, they need to:

1. STOP ALLOWING THEM TO BREED GENERATION AFTER GENERATION OF WELFARE ENTITLED COUCH POTATOES!!

EVERY SINGLE TIME they have another child DECREASE the amount of their benefits, checks and food stamps, including DOWNSIZING their "approved" housing allotment with every new child. If you can't afford to have children STOP having them!

2. Make them WORK in community service for EVERY SINGLE penny they get. Whether it be manning the phones at the animal shelter, working at public sponsored day care centers or picking trash up off the highways, MAKE THEM DO SOMETHING to support those tax payers "free" programs they are taking advantage of; make them do SOMETHING to EARN the help they are receiving! STOP just handing it over to them!! That alone would safe millions of dollars in city, county and state taxes AND create jobs in the process!

3. Since the IRS has now deemed it appropriate to further demoralize people who have gone bankrupt and lost their homes by charging them INCOME TAX on all the debt relieve they get, let them charge INCOME TAX on all the welfare benefits they hand out- unemployment, welfare, housing, all of it!

IF they get a job in the first 6 months AND GET OFF welfare, let them stay exempt from taxes on what they received. If they stay on longer than 6 months MAKE them pay their fair share, too! AND NO MORE EARNED INCOME CREDIT if you don't have a job to support it! NO MORE farming children out to relatives because they can't get any more money after the first two kids.

4. No free medical for anyone! CAP THE PRICES all hospitals and doctors can charge to ANY OF US AND force them to set up finance arrangements so people can make payments DIRECTLY DEBITED FROM THEIR WELFARE CHECKS. Make all hospitals (public and private)and ALL doctors comply- not just the the doctors that will "ALLOW" them to make payments. Set it up in an annual declining cost basis so the more medical you have to have each year, the less expensive it becomes. Let the face lifts, tummy tucks, and Viagra pay for the profit of the medical field.

There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for anyone in the medical field to earn millions of dollars a year!! Anyone who FEEDS off other peoples misery isn't even qualified to be a bottom dweller, much less be worthy of the 'respect' everyone seems to think should be attached to the term doctor. They are supposed to be in the field to SAVE lives, not destroy them through bankrupting their patients and holding their life for ransom!!

5. Instead of giving students loans to go to school open PUBLIC colleges and universities. There is no reason that educating our children, so they can SURVIVE in the world economy, should cost a fortune!! We have the LOWEST education rate of any major country in the world and it is fast being reflected in the living conditions in this country!

Every single one of you should be SCREAMING at your 'leaders' about this woman and the situation they have ALLOWED to happen. The longer you sit in silence and let them continue to sell out what few assets we have left, the better YOUR chance is you are the one that will be needing them when they are all gone!

Best think about it.

[credibility2]

Just the tip of the iceberg. Many able bodied find work, but continue to collect their government handouts. The government is corrupt and has turned a blind eye to the fraud. It's everywhere...all the government needs to do is look and start doing their job. I've known of many who no longer need food stamp assistance, but continue getting it. I've known of others who are capable of working, but who feign disability and then go and find jobs that pay them cash while collecting disability. I've known of others who receive unemployment checks, but who work jobs that pay cash. Taxpayers are being forced to support these criminals.

[phwtb100]

And what did you do about all these people you know? Did you alert the proper agencies or authorities, or did you sit back and shake your head, forgetting about it 5 minutes later?

Of you did nothing, you are part of the problem.
If you spoke up, I thank you for doing something to help stop this insanity.

[rcmdblgr]

the fact that she continued to receive public assistance after winning the lottery shows that the public assistance administration is also seriously broken. Who's being reprimanded at that office?

[lamm126]

OMG do I agrre with your Comment rcmdblgr. What is going on in OUR GOVERNMENT???
SICKENING.

[justsane-2009]

good

[kaylag04]

She has a right to the time, labor, property and services of others, remember? It's what she's been taught her whole life, that a "right", like health care, or student loans, or anything else can be derived through the compulsory service of others, or through the forcible confiscation of their property. The idea was abolished in 1865, but after nearly 150 years, it is the core philosophy of the "99%"; and this woman articulates it perfectly.

[tmn]

Yea, only the 1% has it right. The rest of the country is confused. Sure.

[kaylag04]

Oh, no ymn, you're right - the majority is always on the ball. Conformism is where it's at! That's why pop-music is so awesome.

[vnguyencaci]

After the trial, her lawyer probably will eat up most of her fortune. Then she would be back to public assistance, hey but this time denial is waiting to stamp on her application

[SUZAMBA]

She thought it was okay, because she was not working? The stupid woman won the lottery, has two houses and complains she is struggling??? So she complains that she is entitled to Welfare food stamps! Stupid is much too kind for this person.!

[tmn]

It appears she committed a crime. She will be charged and have her day in court. If guilty, she will be sentenced.