Accused meth dealer wins $3 million lottery; can't afford lawyer, fines

Like you, I didn't win the $1.5 billion Powerball.

After realizing I'd flushed $10 down the drain, I had hopes the winners would do something nice for humanity with all that cash.

Ronnie Music Jr. is singing a sad song. (Georgia Lottery)

Credit: George Mathis

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Credit: George Mathis

Convicted methamphetamine dealer and $3 million lottery winner Ronnie Music Jr. is proof the wrong people sometimes win.

Jacksonville.com reports the Waycross man can't afford a lawyer as he faces up to 20 years in federal prison and $20 million in fines on new drug and weapons charges. Music, in 2009, was busted for running a meth lab and possessing a "substantial" amount of the drug.

After claiming his lottery winnings in February, Music was arrested in October in Ware County for possession of cocaine.

He is also charged, along with four others, with intention to distribute 400 grams (almost a pound) of meth in Glynn and Ware counties.

He is separately charged with possession of firearms by a felon and possession of firearms in the furtherance of a drug trafficking crime for having six shotguns, three rifles and two revolvers.

An indictment says feds seized allegedly ill-gotten gains from the 45-year-old maintenance worker including the 11 guns, a house, a 2014 Dodge Charger, and 2015 GMC Sierra and $676,243 in cash at a Waycross bank, reports Jacksonville.com.

Police have faced Music before; he has 2003 convictions in Ware County for possession of prohibited weapon and making terrorist threats, convictions in 2007 and 2009 of being a felon in possession of a firearm in Waycross and Ware County and the aforementioned 2009 conviction of possession of meth with intent to distribute it.

According to the Georgia Department of Corrections website, Music was released on parole from Wilcox State Prison the day after Christmas in 2012. He was sentenced to serve 10 years for the 2009 meth conviction but was released after three years.

He is currently jailed on the federal charges plus an outstanding parole warrant in Johnson City, Tenn.

Music won the $3 million after purchasing a scratch-off ticket. At the time, he told WALB-TV in Albany he couldn't believe his luck and would save the money.

Looks like his luck finally ran out.