Millionaire lottery winner, 27, faces jail after being arrested in Florida drug bust
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Karlee Harbst with her $1million check at the Florida Lottery headquarters, then after she was arrested a year later (inset).
Nearly a year to the day that Karlee Harbst, 27, scratched off a $1 million winning ticket, she was arrested in a major drug bust.
She was charged with solicitation to deliver heroin and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
Harbst was one of eight people arrested in connection to the drug trafficking ring after a nearly year-long investigation dubbed 'Operation: Smooth Criminal' reported the Daily Mail.
Harbst was arrested on Thursday morning at her home in Port Orange, Florida.
The lottery win appeared to be a fresh start for Harbst, who had been arrested six times since 2011 for drug-related charges.
Harbst was pregnant when she discovered she had scratched off a $1million ticket in the Gold Rush Doubler scratch-off game last May.
She had won $100 off the same game just a week beforehand.
Harbst revealed at the time that she almost didn't buy the $1million ticket, until she saw it was her favorite number, according to WESH.
'When I saw the ticket was number 24, I had to get it,' she said. '24 is my favorite number.'
Harbst opted to receive her winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $745,000.
But on Friday Harbst was appearing before a judge, who set her bail at $50,000.
The drug bust involving Harbst, operation ‘Smooth Criminal.’ Only a little more than a year ago, Karlee Harbst was the smiling winner of a $1 million prize in the Florida Lottery.
