6 Lottery Winning Law Breakers: Salutary Warning to All!

The Lottery is such a game of chance, and whilst one of the supposed upsides is that anyone can get rich from being lucky and having their numbers come up, the major downside is that it means even criminals can win.

There are many stories of convicted criminals who have won large payouts, as well as winners who have turned to crime afterwards.

Whether it’s the UK or the US lottery it seems that neither is safe from fraudsters who think that because they’ve come into money, they’re above punishment.

These stories of criminal lottery winners should serve as a salutary warning to all!

Mickey Carroll

In terms of UK National Lottery Winners turning to crime, Mickey Carroll is probably the most infamous. Nicknaming himself “King of the Chavs”, he won well over £9 million on the National Lottery back in 2002 at age 19.

Carroll was no stranger to criminal activity, having previously served a custodial sentence when he was just 13 years old, for shoplifting. Not even the lure of such a big lottery win could prevent him from committing further crimes.

After he’d collected his huge win, he soon started splashing the cash on holidays, which included over 100 trips to Spain. He also developed a penchant for bling jewelry and fast, expensive cars, the latter of which led him to commit his first post win crime.

Two years after his win, he was convicted of driving his £49,000 BMW without insurance and banned, and just 1 year later in 2005 Carroll was served with an ASBO for damaging and smashing up shop windows. In 2006 he received yet another conviction for affray after fighting in public.

Carroll gave away £3 million of his winnings to family and friends and also ended up trying to invest £1 million in the Rangers Football club, but withdrew this before they went into receivership.

In a twist to the tail, which some say he might well deserve he’s now pretty much skint and has nothing left in his bank account at all.

Willie Hurt

In the Summer of 1989 Willie Hurt of Michigan was the lucky winner of the State’s Super Lotto, bagging himself a cool $3.1 million. However, just two years later Willie has been flat broke again after losing all his money and being accused of murder.

It’s alleged that Mr Hurt already had a drug problem and he’d fatally shot a 30 year old woman in the head after an argument in which he’d demanded crack cocaine, but didn’t get any from her.

However, it seems the story is still rumbling on 28 years later as further details of the story remain sketchy. It emerged that Willie Hurt had been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation three decades ago – roughly around the time of the lottery win, but that never took place. The Michigan District Court is still dealing with the case now and as of last month, were waiting for further information on how to proceed.

Roland McLaughlin

Even though our next fraudster, Roland McLaughlin didn’t win a massive amount of money by some of today’s lottery standards, his tale is still shocking and proves just how far some people will go to grab money from any source.

Roland McLaughlin, a nightclub bouncer from Manchester won nearly £63,000 on the National Lottery, but was simultaneously claiming benefits, to the tune of £10,000. After his win, he even put in a claim for Incapacity Benefit because of an alleged bad back, but, his story unravelled. He was investigated and caught. After his conviction, he was ordered to do 100 hours of community service by magistrates in Manchester city.

It’s also believed that as well as claiming Incapacity Benefit, he put in claims for Housing and Council tax benefits, all whilst holding down 3 jobs at different city centre night clubs. He got caught when there was a general investigation into how many door staff working at different venues in the city were claiming money they weren’t entitled to. Whilst he was being investigated and out on bail, officers working for the Department of Work and Pensions found out about McLaughlin’s National Lottery win. He admitted four counts of dishonestly claiming benefits during his court hearing and was convicted.

Ronnie Music Jr.

Music Jr was a Lottery winner from Georgia, who won $3 million on a scratch card. Instead of investing the money, or treating himself or his family, he spent the lot on Methamphetamine to sell on.

In April 2017 Music Jr. was convicted and sentenced to 21 years in federal jail for his crimes. It also emerged that he’d played a part in a massive drug trafficking ring.

In his home state of Georgia it is believed that he’d already supplied more than 10 pounds of Meth to dealers at large. The media were partly blamed for making light of the case with officials saying that press coverage centred on Mr Music Jr’s. unsound investment decisions, rather that the lives he had harmed with his drug selling. .

Iorworth Hoare

In one of the most shocking stories you’ll read, it emerged that Iorworth Hoare hit the lottery big time when he bought a Lotto Extra ticket when he was on day-release from jail, where he was serving a life sentence for rape.

The win was legal under Home Office guidelines. They state that prisoners in open conditions or who are on day release are allowed to enter the lottery. He actually won £7.2 million and when details of his case emerged there were calls for the National Lottery winners to be much more closely monitored and assessed before being able to claim their prize.

Hoare raped a retired school teacher by the name of Shirley Woodman in Leeds in 1988. He was convicted the following year. In 2012 she came forward to tell her story, when at the age of 82 she was awarded an MBE In the 2012 Queen’s New Year honors. This was for services to her local community in Yorkshire.

Last year it emerged that after his release Hoare had reoffended, after being arrested for exposing himself to a young woman near his home. He also assaulted the arresting police officer at the time.

Freddie Young

Our final shocking story involves the case of Freddie Young. A lottery winner from Detroit who won a $46 million jackpot in February 2011.

According to CBS Detroit, just three months later, he was accused of killing 45-year-old Greg McNicol, who was his daughter’s landlord. The killing took place after an alleged argument McNicol had with Young’s daughter over unpaid rent.

Young was later convicted of fatally shooting McNicol. In 2012 he was sentenced to serve at least 25 years in prison.