ECORSE, Mich. — A drug overdose may have killed Amanda Clayton, a Detroit-area woman who won a $1 million lottery prize but kept collecting welfare benefits, police said Saturday.
Ecorse police Sgt. Cornelius Herring said Clayton, 25, of Lincoln Park was found dead about 9 a.m. Saturday at a home, The Associated Press said. Ecorse is southwest of Detroit.
Clayton won the $1 million prize last September.
In April, prosecutors accused Clayton of collecting $5,475 in food and medical benefits from August 2011 through March that she would not have received had she reported the lottery winnings and income from a job she held from June through October 2011. In June, she pleaded no contest to fraud and was sentenced to nine months’ probation in July.
Her attorney has said Clayton repaid about $5,500, the AP reported.
"It’s simply common sense that million-dollar lottery winners forfeit their right to public assistance," Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a statement.
In April, Gov. Rick Snyder signed a law requiring lottery officials to tell Human Services about new winners, the AP said.
