Drug overdose may have killed woman who won $1 million in lottery but kept getting welfare

AP Photo / Courtesy Michigan Lottery via Detroit News

In this photo provided by the Michigan Lottery, Amanda Clayton holds her $1 million lottery check.

By NBC News staff and wire services

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 in 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.