LINCOLN PARK, Mich. — A Michigan woman who continued to collect food stamp benefits after winning $1 million in the lottery was arraigned Tuesday on felony charges of welfare fraud.
Amanda Clayton, 25, was ordered held on $10,000 bond by Chief Judge Michael Ciungan, the Michigan Attorney General’s office said.
Clayton, of Lincoln Park, Mich., hit the jackpot on the “Make Me Rich!” lottery game show in September 2011. After electing to take a lump sum of $700,000 and allowing for taxes, she was left with about $500,000, she told WDIV-TV.
She said she continued to receive $200 a month in food stamps, as well as medical assistance benefits after her win.
“I thought that they would cut me off, but since they didn’t, I thought maybe it was OK because I’m not working,” she said in March.
Shortly afterward, the Michigan Department of Human Services (DHS) said she had been cut off.
She was arrested Monday and charged Tuesday with two felony counts of welfare fraud for not disclosing her winnings, Attorney General Bill Schuette and DHS Director Maura D. Corrigan said in a press release.
“It’s simply common sense that million dollar lottery winners forfeit their right to public assistance,” Schuette said.
A DHS investigation also revealed that Clayton was employed from June 2011 through October 2011 but did not report that income to the department, according to a press release.
She faces up to four years in prison if convicted on the welfare fraud charges.
She is next scheduled to appear in court May 1 for a preliminary hearing, the Attorney General’s office said.