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Michigan Lotto Winner Charged With Welfare Fraud

LINCOLN PARK (AP) - A Michigan woman who continued to get food stamps after winning a $1 million lottery jackpot has been charged with welfare fraud.

The Michigan attorney general's office announced two felony charges Tuesday against 25-year-old Amanda Clayton of Lincoln Park. She was arrested Monday and was expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Lincoln Park's 25th District Court. The charges are punishable by up to four years in prison.

Clayton chose a $700,000 lump sum, before taxes, last fall after winning the jackpot on "Make Me Rich!" a Michigan lottery game show.

The case came to light last month. She told Detroit TV station WDIV at the time that she thought it might have been OK to keep using food stamps because she wasn't working.   She had moved into a news house and said she needed the lotto money to pay the bills.

Clayton was dropped from the food program.

RELATED: Lottery Winner On Food Stamps Sent To Jail

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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