Two years after winning $3 million in the Georgia Lottery, a Ware County man was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison after prosecutors said he used the winnings to fund methamphetamine trafficking.
Ronnie Music Jr., 46, of Waycross, pleaded guilty in July to being involved in multi-state drug operation, including a ring being run from a Georgia prison, the Florida Times-Union reported.
Music won the money in 2015 on a scratch-off ticket, officials said.
“You got a windfall that few in this world ever get,” Chief U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood said before sentencing Music on Monday in Brunswick. “Nobody has ever blown lottery winnings in a more dangerous and destructive way than you did.”
Music also gave information that investigators used against Calhoun State Prison inmate Daniel Alo, 46, the newspaper reported.
Conspirators used drones to drop cellphones into the prison yard and inmates used the phones to direct drug trafficking, investigators said. Inmates used GreenDot financial cards to transfer money and pay suppliers and dealers.
Because of his information against Alo, Music received a prison term that was six years shorter than the minimum recommended by federal guidelines, the newspaper reported.
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