Includes video report
AUBURN, Mi. — A Michigan man who won $2 million in a state lottery game continues to collect food stamps 11 months after striking it rich.
And there's nothing the state can do about it, at least for now.
Leroy Fick, 59, of Auburn won $2 million in the state lottery TV show "Make Me Rich!" last June. But the state's Department of Human Services determined he was still eligible for food stamps, Fick's attorney, John Wilson of Midland, said Tuesday.
Eligibility for food stamps is based on gross income and follows federal guidelines; lottery winnings are considered liquid assets and don't count as income. As long as Fick's gross income stays below the eligibility requirement for food stamps, he can receive them, even if he has a million dollars in the bank.
Food stamps are paid for through tax dollars and are meant to help support low-income families.
"If you're going to try to make me feel bad, you're not going to do it," Fick told WNEM-TV in Saginaw on Monday.
Wilson said Fick told the DHS officials he'd won $2 million but was told he could keep using the Bridge Card issued to him to buy groceries.
Fick could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Al Kimichik, director of the office of inspector general for DHS, said the department could not comment on individual cases but that it this week began the process of requesting a waiver from the federal government to close the lottery loophole. If it is granted, assets would be counted in determining food stamp eligibility.
Though the food stamp program is federal and states must follow U.S. guidelines, states sometimes request waivers of rules. Michigan was granted a waiver recently to stop college students from qualifying for food stamps.
"For Leroy Fick to continue to use a Bridge Card, paid for by the taxpayers, after winning the lottery, is obscene," said Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge. "What a waste of taxpayer money."
Jones contacted DHS officials Monday about Fick's case, and was told the department's hands were tied by federal regulations.
"There is no liquid asset requirement for getting food stamps," Jones said. "The department is asking the federal government for an immediate change (in policy). They're hoping this case will help the federal government act."
Until then, Fick can collect food stamps and keep his lottery winnings in the bank.
"I am not going to sit and debate the ethics of this," Wilson said. "But from his standpoint, he did what he was supposed to do — he informed the state, and the state said he could keep using the card. The problem is with the state."
The Federal Food Stamp Program requires an overhaul. What a waste of my tax money!!
this is thanks to the belief its alright to steal other people money, if we just label theft as law.
the fact of matter is, the govt should not be in charity world of human affair, it "money" needs to take form someone else and play robin hood with it , its just wrong.
the sad fact is its musty state level funded, at lest in tn, i pay a freaking high % of tax, its so high on food, i see stories like this
x amount of people drive 15 miles to Georgia to avoid paying the nation's highest average tax on food: 8.4 percent in Tennessee.
also the lastest data form my state even sader
. 19.8% in Tennessee are on food stamps,also one of highest in nation!
i pay so much tax's on food over the year , so nearly 1 out of 5 of my follow state people are leeching on the rest of us free food at this point.
its not free, am being black mailed , i have to eat!
I should have to pay 0 % tax and their a$% can go find a other way to feed them selfs
go to walmart at begining of the first day of the month in tennessee, and everones Food stamp debt cards get reloaded, and Lines are full of people paying with it
and their buying Junk, where talking Cookies, ice cream, 8 buck steaks.
and here i am, buying organic apples, paying a Over priced amount, and getting taxed to death for it
i coupon my butt off also , why these beeps spend like a rackless drunk on the road with their money on food
all to eat healthy food, while these Leech's, steal form my food budget via tax's
makes sense a lottery winner would stay on food stamps, these kinds of people are just Evil as they don't give a about you, only them self's and if it means stealing other's money to pay for their habits, its Aokay
, these worthless human beings are making me think of rest of humanity whoever supports the govt as a evil that needs to be wiped out off the face of the earth.
their this thing called Couponing, digging deep, yet some people even have kids when their Dirt poor, and relay on the state to feed the kids, and teach their kids , sense someone else is paying for it
why do we even brother, we are rewarding Very bad habits, and their no stop to this madness, its just spend spend spend, debt ,debt ,debt, tax someone else for it
if your a leech of govt funds , your a theft form someone else is my min
d, hope this lottery winner and ever person who gets a penny of my money or yours who did not give it willing, to "help" themselfs to the loot while it last's, cease sooner or later, this sick joke of govt handouts has Got to come to a end, in a very Very bad way"debt" but am sure they keep doing ever thing it takes to keep stealing form rest of working folk who refuse to treat other humans like are own walking atm , that food stamp users treat me as in this state
I hope his audi gernades on him
WOW!!!!! this is 2 stories from my home State of Michigan that is making me look bad... This Country needs to make some changes ASAP!!!!..... He should be required to pay back all the food stamps that he has gotten since he won........
I used to be on food stamps and for my family of 4, if I had $2000 or more in the bank (liquid assets) I wouldn't get the food stamps. I don't understand this at all.
This is just another sad story. For this jerk to place the blame on the state is ludicris. Once he informed the state he was a millionaire, or whatever, after taxes, he should have just turned the card in at the same time. Those food stamps/groceries are tax payer funded, and deserves to go to the most needy not the most greedy.
Wait a minute, we get taxed on our income, if the government finds it, it taxes it (that includes lotto winnings) and, this man gets away with getting foodstamps for a whole year after winning the lotto? Okay, thanks government, thanks!
Exactly.....
OK I'm a bit confused on this:
"Eligibility for food stamps is based on gross income and follows federal guidelines; lottery winnings are considered liquid assets and don't count as income. As long as Fick's gross income stays below the eligibility requirement for food stamps, he can receive them, even if he has a million dollars in the bank."
Here in FL, we only file Federal taxes and anything over $5,000 a claim form has to be filled out and we are taxed by the FEDERAL GOV as income.
If this man won 11 months ago (2010), when he filed his taxes for the 2010 year, that should have counted as income & disqualified him for food stamps
I can see it not being counted as income from 2011 on and could technically qualify him for food stamps in following years since its only counted as income once, but how in the he!! is he getting food stamps this year? Did he not file his taxes yet for 2010????
Rergardless, it is unethical and he knows it & doesn't care.
That is Michigan for you. That state has been brainwashed by the unions that they deserve to be spoon fed that the culture as a whole knows no other way. This jerk is a poster child for everything that is wrong with America.
I work in a grocery store that specializes in food service, schools , hospitals restaurants , bars, business in general. we are open to the public, no membership fees at all.
The other day I witnessed an illegal transaction,a woman and her sister shopping, the one sister paid for everything in Food stamps and her sister forked over some cash, thats a no no. the bill was almost $600.00 dollars, I looked at her receipt and what I saw floored me, I made copies of that receipt, she still has a balance of $4300.00 in food and a cash balance of $20.00,
I proceed to call the state attorney generals office, how in the <snip> does someone get almost $5000.00 in food. They referred me to the department of human resources after years of dealing with this agency , I knew it was a lost cause, so I did some research and found out Michigan now has a special unit, called the Public Integrity unit, they couldn't help me, they directed me to Criminal justice in Detroit, they couldn't help me they directed me to the department of human resources.
I will find someone to look in to this, what I have personally witnessed over the years would turn your stomach,
The newest scam involving food stamps, are people using food stamps to run catering business, illegal businesses. They are not licensed or insured, they are using tax payer money to rake it in.
Hot dog stands, door to door candy sales, they put their kids in front of shops and businesses to sell candy or they just send them to school to sell the candy.
I had a kid come to my door in his designer shoes and coat, told me he was a boy scout, he was selling butterfingers, I asked him is pack number, he had no clue what I was talking about, I asked him if he was a wolf or a bear, still no clue, I have a boy scout, we sell popcorn, not candy.
I had a woman come through my line a couple weeks ago, said her arm hurt from lifting her baby carrier in the shopping cart, cause she just got a new unicorn tattoo, she was throwing a birthday party for her boyfriend, part of her purchase was 5 gallons of margarita mix, her bill was over $300.00 , she paid in food stamps. Her loser boyfriend was in line behind her to get the rest of the stuff, he also paid in food stamps, when it came time to pay for the non food items he peeled of a hundred dollar bill from a nice size roll.
I had a man come through and he bought 7 cases of red bull, at $35.00 plus $2.40 in deposit, thats $245.00 plus another $16.80 in deposit that the tax payers shelled out for.
I had a Detroit police officer come through and wanted his 5% dicount, even showed me his shield, He had $80.00 in purchases in food stamps, I wouldn't let him have the discount, his card wouldn't swipe, the name on the card said Betty, so he was trying to get a discount for a relative.
I had another woman come through, shes a dealer at a casino, she was complaining that she wasn't getting very good tips, only $400.00 last night, she said, paid for her $608.00 dollar purchase with food stamps.
I have people coming through that collect from several states, They come through at the beginning with Michigan stamps then later they come back with stamps from another state.
I have people coming through that can't even speak english, they bring lists with them, 32 2 liters of coke, 32 2 liters of pepsi, combos, candy bars ( mind you we sell candy by the box -35 count, , they were clearly buying for a relative who owns a gas station or party store.
The list goes on and on, what I see is theft and greed at epic levels.
The attitude of some of these people would shock you, they have no sense of gratitude, they leave messes in their wake all over the store, no respect for themselves or others,
I am saddened , I am now looking for a new job, because I can't bear to go through this month after month, I am losing faith in humanity, and am becoming indifferent to others and thats not who I want to be.
Michigan ?!