Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

Breaking Bad in real life: Lottery winner invests $3M in meth drug scheme

Published Jul 28th, 2016 9:00PM EDT

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

Remember kids, you shouldn’t try everything you see on TV at home, no matter how cool it sounds. That’s especially true if you’ve just hit the jackpot and won $3 million in a lottery.

DON’T MISS: This is when you’ll finally be able to buy the iPhone 7

A man in Georgia has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges after he went Walter White with his winnings. In case you don’t know Walter White, he’s the protagonist of AMC’s hit Breaking Bad, played by Bryan Cranston. A chemistry teacher who just found out he’s got cancer, White reverts to building a meth empire because he needs the money to secure his family’s future. And he’s very successful at it, even if becoming a drug lord forever changes who he thought he was.

Getting back to real life, we have 45-year-old Ronnie Music Jr., who won $3 million in a Georgia lottery in February 2015. He rarely played the game, but he came out the winner. Unlike White, Music’s financial future seemed secured.

But since winning, investigators believe that Music funneled his winnings into an illegal business, NYDailyNews reports. “Music decided to test his luck by sinking millions of dollars of lottery winnings into the purchase and sale of crystal meth,” US Attorney Ed Tarver said.

He was caught selling 11 pounds of meth worth $500,000. During the arrest, the FBI seized $1 million worth of meth, $600,000 in cash, and an arsenal of guns and ammo.

Music, a former maintenance supervisor, also pleaded guilty to firearms possession. Unlike Walter White, who was never caught, Music will have plenty of time in jail to think about what went wrong in his unique drug dealing plan. He’ll also have time to rewatch Breaking Bad for inspiration. Better Call Saul might also come in handy.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2007. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he closely follows the events in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming new movies and TV shows, or training to run his next marathon.