Lottery winner who kept taking food stamps found dead

Megha Satyanarayana, Detroit Free Press | Gannett

DETROIT -- Amanda Clayton, who caused a stir by continuing to take food stamps after winning the state lottery's $1 million Make Me Rich! game show, has died of a possible drug overdose, police said Saturday.

Clayton was found dead by police at about 9 a.m. at a home in Ecorse, Ecorse police Sgt. Cornelius Herring said.

No further details were released by police.

Clayton was propelled into the spotlight after a local news outlet learned she had won the game show in September 2011 but continued to take welfare benefits. At the time, she said she was entitled to the payments because she still needed help.

She was charged by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette with felony welfare fraud and was sentenced to nine months of probation in late July. She was also ordered to repay the roughly $5,500 in food and medical assistance she received after winning the windfall.

State law requires that anyone with income changes on assistance programs report those changes within 10 days. Clayton was on food assistance from 2010 to 2012, and despite having a job for four months in 2011, she did not report the change to the state, even though it is unclear if that would have affected her eligibility for benefits

.