MOUNT PLEASANT, Mi. — A Williams Township, Michigan, lottery winner will be spending about the next month and a half behind bars for illegally possessing a prescription painkiller.
Isabella County Trial Court Judge Mark H. Duthie on Thursday sentenced Leroy N. Fick, 59, to 45 days in jail with credit for three days served. Upon release, he will serve one year of probation and must also pay several court fines and costs.
Fick was late in appearing for the 2 p.m. hearing in Duthie's courtroom and had to be picked up by his attorney, John Wilson. The pair entered the courtroom around 2:40 p.m., Fick's blond-white hair flowing out from under his Vietnam veteran baseball cap.
"Mr. Fick is the infamous Leroy Fick from lottery days gone by," Wilson told the judge. "Unfortunately, that's exactly what they are — they're gone by."
Though Fick received a lump sum of about $850,000 after winning about $2 million in Michigan's Make Me Rich! lottery in June 2010, he now lives on a fixed income of $1,100 a month, Wilson said. Fick sparked controversy when he admitted to using a Bridge Card after winning the jackpot.
(See $2M Michigan lottery winner defends use of food stamps, Lottery Post, May 18, 2011.)
"How long did it take him to go through that amount of money?" Duthie asked.
About one year, Wilson replied, adding that Fick was not equipped to handle such a large sum and that family and friends took advantage of him.
Isabella County Sheriff's deputies pulled over Fick in Chippewa Township in September and found prescription painkillers in his possession. Fick on Dec. 8 pleaded guilty to one count of possession of hydromorphone and a count of driving on a suspended license, second offense. In exchange for his pleas, prosecutors dismissed a count of possession of hydrocodone.
Wilson said Fick suffers from pain and that friends provided him with the painkillers.
In Bay County District Court, Fick is facing three misdemeanor charges of possession of illegal fireworks, plus numerous traffic violations, including driving on a suspended license, driving without insurance, allowing an unlicensed person to drive and driving 97 mph in a 55 mph zone.
Once Fick has served his time in Isabella County, he will accept a plea offer in Bay County, Wilson said.
"He likes fireworks," Wilson said. "That's where a lot of the money has gone, frankly."
Fick declined to comment when the judge afforded him the opportunity.
Sentencing guidelines were between zero and 17 months, Duthie said.
"You've just been involved in so much criminal activity over such a short period of time, that I have to give you some jail," the judge told Fick, just before he was escorted out of the courtroom by a deputy.
Thanks to DC81 for the tip.
STUPID IS WHAT STUPID DOES! SEE WHAT BEING STUPID DOES! It gets you in jail STUPID! How long did they think 850,000 after taxes was going to last anyway?
Mr Wilson's comment about Leroy Fick not being equipped to handle large sums of money is indeed , a vast understatement. This man is totally irresponsible. He is actting like a two year old. Even with a fixed income , he should own a clock to get to court on time ! I use to hear older people say " A FOOL and his's MONEY are soon parted" . This man fit the statement.
It'd be funny if it wasn't so sad, so unnecessary and so predictable.
Surely his genius financial advisor son will take care of him now with his booming "Collector" business he runs out of a motel room.
LCML @ 1900 hrs. today.
go 49ers.
What's a Bridge Card?
michigan's version of food stamps.
Oh,ok.Thanks,haymaker.
could'nt this moron at least use some of the money to get his drivers lic. restored and see a doctor for a prescripion ?
instead of taking pills ment for someone else.
and fireworks,how much can you spend on em ?
I saw that idiot on tv awile back.Its hard to believe that there are people that stupid running around.Just proves my theory that some people should be sterilized at birth so that they can't reproduce.
They're called "Foodie Cards" in TN and all their users show up at all the grocery stores around the first week of the month.
You can tell when they're there by all the garbage thrown everywhere in the parking lots and the mess they make of everything inside the stores.
Human pigs.
It takes all kinds.Where would be if we didn't have these types of people to complain about?
For those that have never seen this episode of Lottery Changed My Life,it will be on this evening at 6p.m.central time on the TLC network.
yea, watching motel millionaire right now.
ridge, don't insult our little freinds that provide us w/ham and bacon by assoc. them w/ the foodie card crowd. LOL
You're right, haymaker, I love bacon and ham but the first thing that pops into my head is a herd of pigs when I see the ungodly mess they leave behind.
My apologies to swine everywhere, lol.
yea, heard of this happing in jersey ist week of every mo.
must be nationwide i'm sorry to say.
have not seen it i stay away.
Well, that was a train wreck already happening before the lottery win. The win just sped up the train. The son was in the engine driving.
We"re still feeding this idiot.
It takes all kinds.Where would be if we didn't have these types of people to complain about?
Oh, I don't know, in a cleaner environment maybe? People who are given everything without having to work for it never appreciate anything or have any respect for anybody or anything. That's what breeds the mentality conducive to throwing garbage everywhere and not thinking anything of it. You can't go anywhere anymore without seeing all the garbage they throw all along the roadways and everywhere else they go and everywhere they live. You can't get away from the garbage they leave in their wake everywhere they go. Filthy pigs. They destroy a beautiful country and couldn't care less.
All I can say is WOW!!!!!! where is his cracked/meth out son??????? Ridge I made the mistake of going to the grocery store on the 10th one time in Oklahoma I was on my lunch break... so I asked the clerk why it was so busy she said food stamp day so I was like I htought it was just the 1st she said no Oklahoma gets it twice a month...needless to say I spent my whole lunch in line. You are right about the parking lots.....
"fick declined to comment when the judge afforded him an opportunity"
uhh.. yea' his lawyer told him to keep his mouth shut.
you know the old saying,
"better to keep your mouth shut and be thought stupid, then open it and remove all doubt"
Great saying haymaker!
It boggles the mind how resilient the human body can be and how stupid the brain can be at the same time. That amount of drugging and doping would kill most right out the gate. We could coin a new phrase..................
"You Ficked that all up."
You're right as usual,Ridge.I live on a major highway and theres not a day that goes by that I don't pick up trash out of my yard.Why the cops don't even try to to catch them littering is beyond me.If there was a market for used 7-11 cups or McDonalds sacks I wouldn't need to play the lottery.~;)
ROTFLMAO, Everyone should know what a Ficke up is....
crackin up jarasan,now i won't be able to get that out of my mind.
next time i see a policecruiser in my rearveiw w/ the lights flashing.
i'm gonna say "oh fick" LOL
interception
go 9ers.
Thanks for your comments Dallas. I appreciate it coming from you because you know me.
There are a couple people here who start calling me a racist anytime I mention food stamps. All the people I see using food stamps are white. There are no blacks anywhere around me. I rarely ever see black people. These pigs I talk about throwing garbage everywhere are all white people. But I don't care what color they are, if they throw garbage everywhere I call them pigs. I don't like pigs of any color. And the people on food stamps that I see are usually acting like a herd of pigs.
just goes to show the lotto gods are heartless <snip>s.
$850k isnt a lot to live off the interest, or invest and not make ant dumb descisions. ficke had to make some wise choice from the start. and be frugal. and smart and maybe never have to work hard gain in his life.
he didnt even start well. the lotto gods sure made a smart call picking him as a winner, if comic amusement was their goal, they got it in spades.
could'nt agree more dude,all the things you mention point to one problem.
a lack of self-respect.
i suspect the ones you're talking about would tell you they have self-respect.
but i doubt they know the definition.
I am sure he thinks that we "owe him". I don't !
Ridge you know I got your back.........
Ridge you are not a RACIST you just tell it like it is... some people are soooo sensitive and I hate when people play the RACE CARD... You know when I was in college I use to work at a grocery store where I was a manager.. I was accused of racism by a black woman she filed a complaint against me because I hired a white woman. The black woman worked in another deparmtnet and she applied for the position however she did not meet all the requirements.... It was so funny I will never forget the look of the HR Director when she saw what color I was....when HR came to do an investigation they were like your black & she is filing a complaint against you for racism.... I couldnt help but laugh.
So Ridge I know what it's like to be accused of something that you are not....keep being who you are... there are alot of us who enjoy you & your post on here.......