Lucky at Lotto, Unlucky at Law

Ha, ha. A Freeport, Illinois man has been arrested on drug and weapons charges just weeks after winning 37 million dollars in the Illinois lottery.

FREEPORT - A local man who won the $37.5 million Illinois Lottery jackpot last month was arrested Thursday on federal gun trafficking and drug dealing charges, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took defendant Eric Wagner, 32, of Freeport into custody. The charges resulted from a federal indictment returned Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Rockford. The indictment accuses Wagner of eight counts of selling a firearm to a felon and eight counts of illegally distributing marijuana, the release states.

Wagner reportedly purchased the winning Lotto ticket in April at Horizon Supermarkets Inc. in Freeport. Officials say there is no connection between Wagner winning the lottery and the federal investigation that led to his arrest.

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The Lottery cannot prevent a contestant from claiming his prize if he is convicted of a crime, [Illinois Lottery spokesperson Courtney Hill] said. Even so, there have been cases in which prisons have received some of a contestant's winnings to compensate for the cost of incarcerating that individual, Hill said.

I’d say Wagner will have no problem raising bail but he was released Thursday on a personal recognizance bond. I’d call the guy a loser but…