North Carolina single mother Marie Holmes, who won the $188 million Powerball lottery in February, was arrested on July 23 for marijuana possession. Officers also arrested three other people from her home in Shallotte, North Carolina.
Holmes took home a lump sum $88 million after taxes in February. When she won, the 26-year-old single mother reportedly quit both of her jobs at Wal-Mart and McDonald's to care for her four young children, one of whom has cerebral palsy.
(See N.C. Powerball lottery winner claims share of jackpot worth $188 million, Lottery Post, Feb. 24, 2015.)
Although three children were at the house at the time of her arrest, Child Protective Services was not involved.
Public Information Officer Emily Flax with the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office stated that Lamar Andre McDow, 31, who lives with Holmes, broke his curfew in violation of his pre-trial release agreement for heroin trafficking and possession charges.
When police arrived at Holmes' residence to arrest McDow, they smelled marijuana, so they obtained a warrant, returned to the home and searched it around 10 p.m. on July 23. The officers reportedly found marijuana, drug paraphernalia and a .45 caliber pistol.
Police cited Holmes, 21-year-old Damarius Dontrell Simmons and 31-year-old Danell Lamont McNeil each for marijuana possession and drug paraphernalia.
Police also arrested 23-year-old Jeffrey Antuan Gause for resisting a public officer, and they later released him on a $1,000 bail.
McDow faces charges of possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana paraphernalia and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. McDow is currently detained in the Brunswick County Detention Facility, pending a $6 million bail.
According to the state, the gun is registered to Holmes, but McDow had handled it, which led to his firearm possession charge.
Assistant District Attorney Chris Thomas alleged that McDow is Holmes' fiance, and rumor has it that she has paid his bail before, although court payment records cannot confirm this. They point only to bail bondsmen, who do not typically disclose who paid them.
and this is news because ???
I wonder how many other lottery winners got arrested after winning the lottery...
a petty misdemeanor charge. she probably smoke a lil weed.
"Sheriff's Office stated that Lamar Andre McDow, 31, who lives with Holmes, broke his curfew in violation of his pre-trial release agreement for heroin trafficking and possession charges."
Heroin........nice, guess she needs to choose her boyfriends a bit more carefully going forward. Guessing she is one that will be broke in a year!
WOW!!! Sounds like she has been involved with the wrong type of people!! I hope she delete those out of her life who will ruin her! She will be broke again if she doesn't rethink her life and leave those drugs alone.
It's news because of the life-choices she made before she won, and after she won. Life-choices that will end badly for her and her kids.
Whether someone wins a jackpot or not, they have to want to get out, or better yet, not get in to situations and life styles that are bad, and more importantly, choose who to be around.
I think it's a sad story to see this. But, not surprising.
Everybody has been jumping in on this news story about her all weekend in the Discussion forum and some have been jumping to conclusions already. And a couple of posters most notable noise-gate and teddi have given opinions that made sense. Lets not judge her too soon because there is a lot that is not known. There are two sides to a story. But one thing is certain that everybody can agree on is who she has chosen to associate with. That was the thing that got her in hot water in the first place.
"The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you
closely associate - for the good and the bad."
A Colin Powell quote.
She will fight and win the cases but it will cost her. Good lawyers cost a lot.
surprised that the kids weren't taken
Time for her to smell the coffee. Pack up your four kids and get the heck out of North Carolina and leave them losers behind. They will drag you down and you'll be broke before you know it. Now you have the police department watching you its time to leave.
Hopefully this is a wake up call for her to straighten out who she hangs around. With the money she has, she needs to move away from that area and away from people who will just enable this type of stuff. Get moved to somewhere like Colorado where at least if she does decide to smoke some marijuana, it'll be legal.
7/27/15
Marie's first mistake was not to get the other 3 adults out of her home. Know that would be very difficult since one was her fiance.
Guess having the pistol in her home was for protection from predators in her area.
If she still enjoys pot, Colorado may be a better place to live, at least she won't be arrested, but it could still get her into trouble with child protection issues.
The fool that said," religion was the opium of the masses" ,seems to be a statement in human contradictions, since many folks are addicted to something.
Opiates ( heroin addictions ) are the current epidemic in our land.
Prosecuting for pot seems to be a waste of time, but the local authorities in her area ,no doubt were keeping a close eye on her activities and figured it could boost their local economy to prosecute.
Hope and pray this family gets their problems resolved.
money is opportunity. her and her kids now have all the opportunity they could ever have. i just hop , for her , and for every lotto winner. they make the right choice , for the people that really matter. its tough. only she can make it work. she can ask for help... hopefully from righteous trustworthy people...
good luck honey, you are going to need it.
well after a quick bit of research she has the few options if shes a pot head ......
but if shes smart ,she'll quit and start putting her kids first and try not to wind up like Mr Edwards or worse
Marie Holmes said that she would pay her tithes. I suggest the she follow that money. I mean that she should look for decent human beings in her Church. She could get referrals to as many counselors as she wants. The more counselors usually means the more wisdom that you will get.
I hope that it is not to late for her to enter into a (DFZ) , a Decision Free Zone. Susan Bradley CFP has authored ,"Sudden Money". this book will help her survive this culture shock. A DFZ will start after her honeymoon period of spending recklessly. Her DFZ will last as long as the Winner needs it too. Hire Professionals ! She can afford them.
I hope she learns the word "NO". She said that her children would not get everything they ask for. It is usually friends and family who are the most difficult to say NO too.
Marie Holmes has at least seventy years ahead of her. She needs to make intelligent decisions from now on. Sure, she will make mistakes but those can be trivial and not hurt her financially speaking.
I would suggest she look at CDARS. Which is , Certificate of Deposit Account Registry Service. I might guess that the maximum amount she can invest into CDARS is $50 Million Dollars. Like Will Rogers said,"I am more concerned about the return of my money and not the return on my money". If you are curious then look up CDARS.com .
I hope that she does not become another Rags to Riches to Rags story. Plus not a Curse of the Lottery show.
She should not ignore the IRS . This year you can give up to $14,000.00 per person. She can use her Life time exclusion of $4.35 million. She definitely needs a CPA because I need one now. I have doubts about that $$4.35 Million figure. I could be wrong.
Marie needs an Attorney for Trusts and Estates, a CPA, a CFP, Insurance. The insurance is for Umbrella coverage in case anyone sues her for slipping on her property, or a car accident, etc.. A CFP which is a Certified Financial Planner to make a life long plan for her money. A CPA is a Certified Public Accountant for her taxes. She still owes taxes if she has not paid the remainder on her win.
music*
This is what happens when you let the whole world know that you are rockin' some serious cash. ALL EYES ON ME AND THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER TO BOOT. Millions smoke weed everyday and it doesn't make "front page news". If you win the lottery, keep your mouth shut. If you like weed so much, move to a state like Colorado, where instead of the Cops arresting you, they probably be able to tell you who has the best weed in town. I thought the girl was selling drugs which would be a dumbass thing to do. Smoking a lil weed in the privacy of her own home? C'MON MAN!!!.
A fool and their money are lucky to get together in the first place, and are able to be departed very easily. I thought she had a good head on her shoulder. I could be wrong. She might end up being unwilling inductee in to the Jackpot winner curse of self destruction.a
If she really wants to give the tithe to God, then she should rather use that money to build her own charity organization that actually use money to help people. God would be more pleased with that.
I do my retail business in a ghetto area, and I know that a lot of those people grow up having poor tastes in many things. I've been doing the retail in Inland Empire for more than ten years and I know how ghetto people are. They are born and raised in an environment that won't let them build good tastes. And as for Ms. Holmes it was quite obvious. And such kind of attitude is not unfamiliar to me. :(
If I ever won that same amount of jackpot that Marie Holmes won, I would probably set up a non-profit tech firm for a certain reason. I study computer graphics in my spare time and those programs needs to be easier to learn and more affordable. Sure, there are free program like Blender but its UI is known to be very inconsistent. Someone with money gotta jump in and fix the problems.
And here i am wishing i could win and start fresh. Some people are given
the opportunity and just waste it. If i could win that kind of money i would
pay off all my bills for me and my immediate family and bank the rest. Later for
having a blood sucking entourage.
still this man under 6 million bond r u serious... people killing folks n not under that much... when weed becomes legal in nc what then. wow
Ha Ha, and so it begins, said when this chick first won she was the type of person you read about that is dead broke or worse a few years after they have won the lottery and she is on track for that to happen. The worst thing you can do if give someone like that a massive amount of cash all at once, it is like giving a monkey a loaded gun.
Oh for God sakes. Please tell me this woman doesn't want to join Dave Edwards & Jack Whitaker in the "Pantheon of Total Lottery Losers"...
Honestly I don't care if she smokes weed or now but dang! with a blessing of winning that much in the lottery it would have seemed like she wouldn't be handing around these shady characters and having her children in the home while smoking weeds...with that much moola she could have paid for a legal permit 2 smoke!I don't get it!
He wasn't given a $6 million bond because of Marijuana possession. The fact that he broke his curfew in agreement with his pre-trial release stemming from the article below, the marijuana in the house, the fact that he's a felon with possession of a firearm, is what got him the $6 million bond.
This from Feb 28th 2015.
BRUNSWIICK COUNTY | Bail set at $3 million wasn't enough to keep a Shallotte man charged in a major drug bust in jail.
Lamar McDow left the Brunswick County Jail Friday after posting bail, said Emily Flax, spokeswoman for the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office.
While bail bondsmen routinely require only a percentage of the total bond to post bail, that percentage still would be sizable with bail sent at $3 million.
McDow was arrested Nov. 14 and charged with several drug offenses, some of which stemmed from a seizure last summer of more than 8,000 bags of heroin.
McDow was charged with conspiring to traffic heroin; two counts of trafficking heroin; possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver heroin; possession of drug paraphernalia; possession of marijuana; and a second charge of conspiring to traffic heroin that stemmed from the drug seizure, according to the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office.
McDow is a gang member who had been involved in large-scale drug activity in Brunswick County, the sheriff's office said at the time he was arrested.
McDow's arrest and that of two others came after a yearlong investigation based on community complaints and tips, the sheriff's office said.
Wow! so very true! ever time I see that video of Jack Whittaker saying he gave his granddaughter $2000 a week and bought her all these cars I just cringe!And when he also said she was very responsible I just want to faint!...WHAT???Is this dude delusional??? this chick was a hard core drug addict...she was in drug Disneyland when he contributed to her getting high.he made it okay that she didn't have to take responsibilities for her actions...he made it okay that she never ever had to experience what working at a job felt like for normal people...he made it okay for her to sit around all day and night and get high on his dime and he also is responsible for contributing to putting his granddaughter is the ground...sorry to sound harsh but that is how I feel and I absolutely have to mercy for him...and I hope for her own sake Holmes is not on the list of winners who became losers who hits the skids that everybody talks about like a dog!
That's a huge bond. I think they made it that high because they know she can pay it and he will probably run because he's headed to prison for a while. Her other problem is everyone knows where she lives and could become a easy target.
Yup, agreed, plus he already posted bail on $3 million and all the other charges, the biggest being possession of a firearm by a felon.
This is a sad situation. It is my fervent hope that the trust funds for the children have already been put into place. So that they may be taken care for their life. Let her do what she will with the rest. If she wants to blow it, it is her right. I will just shake my head and move on. May she realize the example thT she is setting for her children, but who am I to speculate....
She is a good woman may she be blessed all her life in what she doze congradulations again to her on her new found wealth she deserves to have the blessings good hearted woman just with wrong people that's all
Good or not, she definitely isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. 4 kids at the age of 26 with no husband/father around. Strongest male/father influence is a drug dealing felon.
I see nothing good out of this situation.