190904 burglary
Mitchell Arnswald, 29, and 28-year-old Stephanie Harvell. Image Credit: AP

Bay City, Michigan: A Michigan couple who won $500,000 (Dh1.8 million) on a state lottery scratch-off ticket in 2016 has been charged in a string of burglaries.

MLive.com reports that 29-year-old Mitchell Arnswald and 28-year-old Stephanie Harvell were charged Friday on home invasion and possession of burglary tools charges. They are each being held on $50,000 cash bonds.

They were arrested Thursday following a burglary in Merritt Township, 180 kilometres northwest of Detroit. Bay County Sheriff Troy Cunningham says the couple is suspected in burglaries in five counties spanning two months.

Court records show neither has an attorney.

Harvell said in a 2016 Michigan Lottery news release that she and her husband were living paycheck to paycheck before she bought the winning $5 “Hot Ticket” from a Bay City gas station.