$1 mil Michigan lotto winner still collecting food stamps

[lillygator]

Apparantly this 24 yr old non-working Michigan resident had been on $200 a month food stamps (not sure of anything else) and won the $1 mill lotto, and is STILL collecting food stamps..."since they didn't cut me off, I thought it was ok." She paid cash for a house and car.....

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/07/l...ght-maybe-it-was-okay-because-im-not-working/

 

[jen0610]

We saw this on the news this morning. It's sooo wrong!!!

The "I'm not working and I have bills to pay", "I have two houses", "I took a lump sum, so it's not that much" what a bunch of bull.

I hope the state goes back and get the money back that she shouldn't have been able to claim.

 

[Ember]

Well, if you ever need an example of entitlement...

 

[ccgirl]

Apparantly this 24 yr old non-working Michigan resident had been on $200 a month food stamps (not sure of anything else) and won the $1 mill lotto, and is STILL collecting food stamps..."since they didn't cut me off, I thought it was ok." She paid cash for a house and car.....

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/07/l...ght-maybe-it-was-okay-because-im-not-working/

What a deadbeat loser. She should be prosecuted for fraud. Ummm...I have bills and two houses to pay for??? So sell one of them. You have no income??? Get a job! Seriously, why would you ever think collecting assistance, meant for poor people, when you just won a million dollars would be okay?

Great example she is setting for her kids.

 

[Mermaid02]

Is she for REAL?? What a pathetic excuse for a human being.

 

[DMass]

What a shame.

There's elderly people that have worked all their lives that don't get half of what these "gimme girls" get.

 

[MSLRAC]

What a deadbeat loser. She should be prosecuted for fraud. Ummm...I have bills and two houses to pay for??? So sell one of them. You have no income??? Get a job! Seriously, why would you ever think collecting assistance, meant for poor people, when you just won a million dollars would be okay?

Great example she is setting for her kids.

I could not agree more! I hope that state of MI charges her with fraud and takes her two houses, new car and whatever money she has left for her winnings!

 

[sbell111]

I suspect that this entire scenario is a result of how the food stamp program is administered. I imagine that it is based on current income, not the previous year's annual income. As such, a low income person might generally receive food stamps, but have some months where his income exceeds the threshold. He would not receive food stamps in these months, but continue to get them in later months where he made less money. In the extreme example posted by the OP, the person would not qualify in the period in which she collected the lottery winnings, but would be eligible in later months where her acvtual income was under the threshold.

 

[Kellydelly]

I live in MI and my family received food stamps and our kids got free lunch for a few months when my husband lost his job. After he returned to work I called the school lunch program to let them know we were no longer elgible. The person I talked to thanked me for being honest . I guess there are plenty of people who keep receiving it long after they are supposed to be able to. Same with the food stamps. We sent notice of our change of status and it took a couple of months for our caseworker to pay attention and end our benefits. This is probably an issue in more states than MI, I would think.

 

[lillygator]

on the radio this am they were takling about this and people with cash based "incomes" that don't report? gotta says, she sounds like a winner in the video...plus why is a 24 yr old not working? is she getting other assistance to pay bills? the card only covers $200 of food....??????

I looked her up and only see one house in that county, if she moved IDK.....seems MI records are not as easily searchable and good ole FL.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Where's she getting money for lottery tickets?

 

[kellyg403]

Years ago, when I was getting divorced, I applied for foodstamps for myself and my 6 children to get us thru the worst of the financial stuggle we were having. I had to tell everything, including cars and homes. I could get foodstamps totalling 68.00 a month because my car was less than five years old and the value was part of my net worth, along with any monies in the bank etc.

How she got away with it I will never know. Have the rules changed since the 90's? And really, this the reason there are so many folks out there who don't get what they need or deserve when the time comes. She has plenty of money to take care of her bills and 2 homes. To even go on an interview and ask why people are upset because she has bills and 2 homes...give me a freakin' break. How many kids does she have?

And to actually have to pass a bill in order to correct such obviously fraudulent behavior is even worse.

Kelly

 

[sbell111]

Where's she getting money for lottery tickets?

I can only assume that you don't realize that lottery tickets only cost one dollar. I'll not get fired up because someone on assistance spends one unnecessary dollar.

 

[sbell111]

Years ago, when I was getting divorced, I applied for foodstamps for myself and my 6 children to get us thru the worst of the financial stuggle we were having. I had to tell everything, including cars and homes. I could get foodstamps totalling 68.00 a month because my car was less than five years old and the value was part of my net worth, along with any monies in the bank etc.

How she got away with it I will never know. Have the rules changed since the 90's? And really, this the reason there are so many folks out there who don't get what they need or deserve when the time comes. She has plenty of money to take care of her bills and 2 homes. To even go on an interview and ask why people are upset because she has bills and 2 homes...give me a freakin' break. How many kids does she have?

And to actually have to pass a bill in order to correct such obviously fraudulent behavior is even worse.

Kelly

Once you qualified, did you have to continue to declare your assets, or just your income?

 

[Cindy B]

I can only assume that you don't realize that lottery tickets only cost one dollar. I'll not get fired up because someone on assistance spends one unnecessary dollar.

But does it say that she only bought one ticket? I used to work with a lot of people similiar to this "winner", and it was 10, 20, 50 dollars of tickets at one time.

Sometimes it was 10 a day!

 

[kellyg403]

Once you qualified, did you have to continue to declare your assets, or just your income?

I don't remember exactly. I do remember I had to go every 3 months to redo the paperwork, so I would say yes, I had to redo everything. Papers asked for make and model of your car, do you own a home, do you have a retirement benefit, do you have assests in the bank, farm equipment etc. It was very detailed as I recall.

I only requalifed once, after 6 months the kids and I were in a better place and cs was finally coming in. I hate to give any more specifics since I am old and its been a loooong time ago. I do know that I was specifically told if circumstances change at any time during that time frame of 3 months, oh say I sold my house and profited from it, I had to let them know within 3 working days or something like that. If winning 1mil in Michigan is not enough to change your circumstances, I don't know what it. How can it not be consdered 'income' whether she is working or not. She has to file taxes since she PAID taxes correct? Sounds like anyone in MI who is making a mil or less in income deserves a food stamp card at this point. I can't imagine this whole thing is the correct and honest way it is done.

Kelly

 

[aprilgail2]

Where's she getting money for lottery tickets?

Since she was getting government money at the time then the winnings should be taken by the government. I think that once people are off welfare/food stamps/WIC then they should start having to pay back a small amount at a time until all the handouts that you got are paid back!

 

[MIGrandma]

I guess they didn't get the law changed quick enough to stop this from happening again.

It happened a few months ago with a man who also won the lottery. I don't remember how many millions he won, if it was just one, two, three, or a lot. But he still collected his weekly food stamps. They had him on the news a couple of times. People were outraged that this could happen, and they said they were going to fix it so it wouldn't happen again.

 

[cm8]

I guess they didn't get the law changed quick enough to stop this from happening again.

It happened a few months ago with a man who also won the lottery. I don't remember how many millions he won, if it was just one, two, three, or a lot. But he still collected his weekly food stamps. They had him on the news a couple of times. People were outraged that this could happen, and they said they were going to fix it so it wouldn't happen again.

Leroy Fick hit the jackpot.

The Michigan man won $2 million in the state lottery's "Make Me Rich" contest last June.

With the $850,000 he took home after taxes, Fick, 59, used his winnings to purchase a new home and a used Audi convertible. But to buy groceries, this lottery winner is still using his Bridge Card, Michigan's version of food stamps.

How can a man who won millions in the lottery still use food stamps? His lawyer says it is perfectly legal.

"He's not trying to cheat the state," said Fick's attorney, John Wilson. "Based on his income, he's eligible."

In fact, Fick said he contacted Michigan's Department of Human Services after his lottery win to ask if he could still use his Bridge Card.

"They said I could go ahead and keep the Bridge Card if I wanted to," said Fick.

So, he did.


See more here............http://abcnews.go.com/Business/2m-m...ck-food-stamps/story?id=13632236#.T1gFyFHWwvs

 

[gator75]

What a stupid jerk she is. I hope that she is charged with fraud and has to pay it back plus some.

You know it never ceases to amaze me people on foodstamps can't afford the basic necessities of life , but can always find money for cigerets, alcohol , and lottery tickets. And yet they don't have the means to buy gas for a car let alone get a car to find a job.