Locked In with Ian Bick - DEA Bust & Prison Survival: Todd Anderson’s True Crime Story

Episode Date: July 11, 2024

Join Todd Anderson as he shares his intense and harrowing experiences of being busted by the DEA and surviving prison. Hear Todd's unbelievable story of the moment the DEA stormed in, the legal battles that followed, and the raw reality of life behind bars. Gain insight into the challenges faced, the lessons learned, and the resilience required to navigate such a tumultuous chapter. Don’t miss out on this eye-opening tale of survival and transformation. Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Connect with Todd Anderson: My FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/todd.anderson.58?mibextid=LQQJ4d My business fb page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556259256382&mibextid=LQQJ4d TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ando124312?_t=8no37ByI1s2&_r=1 My instagram : https://www.instagram.com/ando124312?igsh=MTl0Zmdld2diZHdidw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr Powered by: Just Media House : https://www.justmediahouse.com/ Creative direction, design, assets, support by FWRD: https://www.fwrd.co Buy Merch: https://lockedinbrand.com Use code lockedin at checkout to get 20% off your order Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Caught in a Warrant Raid 00:04:12 - Clam Diggers of Maine 00:08:20 - Cities in Maine 00:12:30 - Transition to Power Washing Business 00:16:34 - Corruption and Injustice in Prison 00:20:47 - The Shocking Sentencing 00:25:07 - Living Lavishly in Prison and Sentencing Perspectives 00:29:24 - The Competition in Maine 00:33:42 - False Reporting and Criminal Driving 00:37:50 - Home Confinement and Probation 00:42:02 - Life in Prison and Changes in the System 00:46:13 - Inmates watching shows on Spotify 00:50:08 - Standing up for oneself and earning respect in prison 00:54:00 - Politeness and Understanding in Relationships 00:57:51 - Reintegrating into the Working World after Prison 01:01:50 - From Addiction to Entrepreneurship 01:05:56 - Weekend in the City Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Started taking the stuff and putting it on someone else's land out back. Because I figured, hey, listen, if they come in, they're not going to find it. Yeah, well, one night I happened to go out back and grab it. I got high and went to sleep. And the next morning is when probation and DEA was there to do the warrant, it was 5.30 in the morning, and I was in my bed, and I was in my boxers. And my mother, she happened to be staying there that night. She was staying on the couch.

I thought I was being robbed, honestly. When they hit the door, I immediately thought, and I had a gun at the time, right? So, long story, but basically there was a gun there, but there was no firing pin in that gun. So basically, you might as well had a squirt gun. So, but when I got caught, of course, they, oh, he's got a gun. And it's like, dude, there's no firing pin. You know what I'm saying? So anyway, they come in to do the warrant.

I'm in bed. So when I wake up, because I'm sleeping, I wake up to the door being crashed open. Well, at the time, the Somerset County Sheriff's Office that did the search warrant on the house, His name was Detective David Cole was his name. Well, his father is Eugene Cole. Now, Eugene Cole was a caught from Somerset County that got murdered two weeks beforehand, and they had just finished the manhunt looking for the dude that had killed Eugene Cole. So he was pretty hot and heavy.

His son, he was, he was. Well, when they come in, I thought it was being robbed, so I went for the gun. I could have just fucking killed you, you, this, nah. I said, I didn't know what was going on, you know? They immediately put me in cuffs. And my mother was already in cuffs, too. All the stuff was right in bed. with me sitting beside me in bed. Todd, welcome to Lockton. Pleasure having you. You are our first

guest from Maine. Thank you very much. How does that feel to be our first guest from Maine? It feels pretty good. It's something different, that's for sure. And your first ever podcast. First ever podcast. You gave us the exclusive story. Yeah. I'm sure you'll be getting hit up a lot after this comes out. Hopefully. So Maine, that's like a five hour drive. Yeah, it's about five, five and a half hours. It's like, there's like nothing to do though. How in Maine? And in Maine. So Okay. I mean, it depends on who you are and who you hang out with. You know what I'm saying?

But if you're not doing the right thing, it's easily to get caught up. Yeah. Yeah, you don't hear much crime going on in Maine. I think there was one thing in the news, right, in the last year? That was probably the mass shooting. There was a shooting in Maine. Yeah, there was a mass shooting in Lewiston. All right.

But yeah, you probably don't hear much like world news about Maine. And then there was something with like the governor, I think, having to do with politics. Yeah, years ago. LaPage Okay. Was, like, put a bunch of racial comments, like, about drug dealers from out of state that were coming to Maine and stuff like that. Yeah. Now, the town you grew up in, was that one of those, like, summer vacationary spots where it's, like, booming in the summer and then during the winter it's dead?

The towns around it, yes. But the town that I was in somewhat, but not really. So, like, there's a campground that's a couple miles down the road from the house that I grew up in. So I was able to ride my bike there. And all summer long, we'd go there. and hang out and go swim in and stuff like that. You were telling me all the guys in prison were making fun of the Algonquette. It's Ogonquit, right?

Algonquit. Yeah, that's where I went on vacations growing up. Yeah. Which is, it wasn't really much to do. Like, I feel like it's overhyped. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is. And it's, yeah, they all used to say we're in there.

They're like, oh, I'm a Gonquit beach. You can find my Gonquit Beach. That was the first time I ever had saltwater taffy, though. Because they have, like, you never had saltwater taffy? No. It's so good. It's like so soft. It's like wrapped in the little like clear rappers.

Yeah. And oh, funny story about me. And so I went there one year and I went to one of the gift shops. Yeah. And I got one of those shirts that some brand shirt and it said everyone loves a little head. And it was a big body with a little head on it. I wore it to school and I got suspended. Yeah.

So was it one of the gift shops down there like in Old Orchabee. Yeah. Exactly. That whole gift shop stripped in there. Yeah. So that was my experience. Did you grow up with two family, two parent household siblings? Yeah, I did.

So it was my mom, my dad, my brother. He's three years older than I am. And then myself until I was probably 13, 14, and then my parents split up. And then after I was staying with my grandmother here and there, and then that's when I kind of dropped out of school. And that's when things started going downhill. What did your parents do for work? So my dad is actually a self-employed clam digger.

Clam digger. So that's what he does. Really? What does that entail? Fifty-eight years old still doing it. That's awesome. I think he's a nutcase, but that's just me. My dad's 79 almost and he grinds.

Yeah. He's been doing it since he was eight years old, like a full-time job. Obviously, he's done like commercial fishing and lobstering and ground fishing and stuff like that. Is that all year round? Digging clams? Yeah. It is and it isn't. So it depends on the area that you're in.

So sometimes if it's a bad winter in the cold freezes, then obviously you're not going to be able to to dig so is there a lot of snow in man oh yeah so he's out there on the boat getting clams and whatnot no so this place that he actually goes is you can drive around the shore so you can park your truck walk down in so you don't have to take a boat okay some people do take votes but yeah and he's popping the clams open too or he doesn't do that aspect nope he doesn't do that the market takes care of that so he just digs them and then puts him in a hod and then takes it to market um that's how they do that did you grow up uh going out with him at all yeah Yeah, when I was, since I was a little kid, right up until I was 13, 14, 15 years old, I used to go with him.

But after that, I just stopped going. I kind of lost interest at it. I feel like now I'd be good at it, though, because I wasn't very good at it back then. But I feel like now I'd be good at it. Is it hard to do? Yeah, because, I mean, you've got to find holes. So, I mean, wherever there's a hole, basically, is where the clams are at. So you have a fork, a clam fork.

So you put the clam fork above the hole and make a flametering. and then the clams are down and you got the clams put them in the in the hod and a bushel is usually like right now I think it's $120 a bushel so that's for two hods so how many clams are in that it's hard to tell but in a four-hour tide which is how long the tides are he's making anywhere from $100 to $400 so some people are better at it than others and they're able to make a lot more than that it also depends on if there's clams in that area if there's not so that's so cool. This is the first time I've ever heard of this before. Yeah, it's pretty cool. So unique. It's interesting. Yeah. Everybody in Maine is like, is so sustainable. You know, especially in the

area that I grew up and everyone's lobstermen, you know, clam dig in, um, dipping glass eels. I don't know if you ever heard of the glass eels or not. No, what's up? These little eels, they're like clear. They call them elvers. And they're a delicacy over in Japan. And in Maine, you're allowed to have a license to be able to dip these elvers as they come up the river. So as you're dipping them, they're worth 2,000 lowers a pound. So these guys, you know, back in like 2010, 11, especially when the tsunami hit over in Japan, it wiped out their eel population. So they weren't able to get eels. So they depended on us to supply them their eels.

So in the meantime, when that happened, it drove the price up. So everyone was going crazy. I mean, I had friends of mine that were building houses and buying brand new cars and stuff within like 30 days. Wow. It was crazy. These are eels that you can eat like you see on sushi and whatnot. They send them to China. They grow them and then they cut them up and send them as like eunogy and stuff like that.

Wow. It's a delicacy. It's a lot of money. Yeah. So is this like a hardworking town where like everyone's out doing something kind of like in OBX? You ever watch that show? I haven't. Where all the like the families, they're doing something by the boats.

They're doing something in the towns. Like everyone's kind of like hands-on working type of area. That's pretty much what everyone does in that area. Unless you're like in inland more, you know, in like Lewiston, Auburn, and people still work hard. It might just be in the mill or cottonwood or whatever. So less like corporate office jobs out there? Yeah. And everyone knows everyone like small town type vibes.

Oh yeah, especially small town. You know what I mean? If you get in the bigger cities, like I live in Bangor right now and it's not like I don't really know it. I know a few people, but I try to keep it like that. Are there big cities in Maine? There's three main, four main big cities that I would say are main big cities. So you got Portland, Augusta, Bangor, Lewiston, Waterville, right there, basically. And how are they structured?

Sorry about that. No, you're good. How are they structured? Like big buildings, tall skyscraper type cities? Nope. You won't see like tall size skyscrapers. You'll see like average size ones. You know what it's like whatever that means.

But basically you're not going to see it like if you go to New York, it's not like that at all. Yeah, you were saying you're going into the city tonight for the first time for a socialized trip. No illegal activities. That's awesome. So that would be awesome to be able to enjoy that. Go stay in a hotel. Go out, grab something to eat. Is this your first time, like, going into a hotel and stuff since getting out?

No, I stayed at a few hotels and stuff. Like, I went to Miami back in March. We stayed at an Airbnb in downtown Brickell, Miami. That was awesome, especially after just getting out and stuff. Did you ever picture, like, a life outside of prison, like the life you have now? honestly like I used to sit there and daydream all the time and I used to say it to her too when I would talk to her you know my girlfriend um I would daydream all the time about and I'm sure you did too because you experienced that like hey what am I going to wear or what am I going to drive or who am I going to be with like

after being in for so long you start to really think about stuff like that you know and then you get out and everything's totally different than what you would plan you know what I'm saying and don't get me wrong I've done good um it's not easy you know um um um um um sober, so that's a good thing. Yeah, I used to have a list, and I would go through magazines and, like, tear up, like, clothing ideas, music ideas, like, a list of everything I wanted to do when I got out. Yeah. Didn't follow the list, but, uh... Yeah, we'd watch videos and stuff because we had TVs in our cell.

So we, and PlayStation and stuff like that, so we could just sit in our cell and you'd watch stuff on TV and be like, damn, I want to wait. I can't wait to get out and get that, right? You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah. When you get a bed and you do time, you know, you're a lot. Life is on, like, standstill. You know what I'm saying? Everybody else's lives are moving forward while you're, like, stuck in that one place.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And a lot of people can relate to that. Yeah. If we have, like, your brother here, how would he describe you as a kid growing up? He would probably describe me as a mental case, honestly, because I was a crazy kid. I think everybody that knew me as a kid would say he's a crazy kid. Why do you think that?

Just, my dad says it all time, no fear. At the time, I didn't have any fear. Now I fear some, but I just didn't care. You know what I'm saying? Do you think going through the criminal justice system kind of took away that mentality? Do you think that that helped shape that, like, to alter it? Well, it didn't the first and second time. That's for sure.

You know what I'm saying? So I had actually gotten trouble before, but I was a juvenile at the time. And then I got caught a second time. And when I got caught that time, it was just like a suspended. sentence type deal. It was a possession charge at the time. And I think that they allowed it to become a possession charge to like continue watching me and see what I would have what I would do from there.

You know what I'm saying? And then once once they got me, you know what I'm saying? Like it was like, you know, they, they didn't want to stop at the end of the day. They were going to make an example out of me and that's exactly what they did. Yeah. So. Do you think that the trigger was a divorce? Probably that and everything else.

You know what I'm? It wasn't just the divorce because we had actually, like, we had literally lost everything. You know what I'm saying? We lost the house to foreclosure. So I'm sure it was a number of things that was going on. And I remember my mother was, she was addicted to drugs. And when I was 12 or 13 years old, I remember her not coming home and me being like, whoever selling her drugs, like, I want to fucking kill you.

You know what I'm saying? And I, because I used to hear my dad in her fight, you know? and I used to always say to her, man, why don't you just stop? Just quit cold tissues. It's not like that. You get sick. And I didn't understand that until years later when I started using it. Then I was like, holy fuck, dude.

Like, this shit is the real deal. You know what I mean? And then it was, it was no, I'm that person that's not like half in between. Like, I go balls to the wall. You know what I'm saying? And that's what I did. And that's a blessing on the curse. It is a blessing of the curse.

Yeah. Because you could go all in on the, on the, good things on something legitimate. You know what I mean? Like I'm doing now. You know, I got my own power washing business now. You know, I was in jail. I was literally in prison working at a work release program making $20 an hour, you know.

And I got out and I went to try to get a job and they wanted to pay me 16. And I'm like, wait, what? You want to pay me $16 an hour just in prison making $20 an hour for the last eight months? So I started, so a friend of mine happened to be selling solar electricity, which is community solar. So basically what this does is it saves the homeowner, the residential and commercial, doesn't matter which one, 15% on their electricity bill. I earn a compensation off that. Commission is what I get.

So I started doing that, and that took off, and I started making like really good money. You know what I'm saying? Like the potential in that is well over $100,000 a year if you want it to be, if not more. So I did that for a while, and it's door-to-door sales. knock on door and then I just got to a point where I was like man I want to do something on my own you know what I mean so I even when I was locked up I wanted to start a power washing business but I was like man I didn't have the means and when I got out last year it was in September which is the end of the year the winter's coming so I'll just wait till this spring and start it then so this

spring like probably two three months two months ago now I started it and it started taking off tremendously I just added window cleaning to it so hey want a cookie Oh, I know you just ate, so you're craving something a little sweet. Besides, one cookie isn't going to kill you. How about half? Just a bite? Bite it. Bite it.

Bite it. Food noise isn't fair, but Mochi Health is your affordable GLP1 source that puts you on a path to successful weight loss by quieting food noise. Bite it. Learn more at join mochi.com. Mochi members have access to licensed physicians and nutritionists. Results may vary. I'm doing that too. That's awesome. Those work release programs that you mentioned are great. I learned of it for the first time when I went to Tennessee last month. I actually interviewed the warden that episode's coming out this coming weekend. The warden of this correctional work facility. And it's just amazing how much money individuals can make. It's insane.

It's $20, $30 an hour. And they're paying their share so it's not coming out of taxpayer dollars to support it. And they get out of the facility. And they're probably the hardest working employees. you someone could find. Yep, they are because you know they're going to show up every day because, one, they want to get out of the facility. Yeah. So when I got sentenced, if you had at the time, it's a little bit different now, but if you had five years in a day over, you go straight to the Maine State Prison. Okay. If you have five years in a day or whatever under, you go to the place called Wyndham, which is a prison. It's just a correctional facility.

So Maine technically only has two real prisons. The other facilities are work release programs. So you have to get down to your last, I think, now it's five years until you're able to go to the farm. We call it the farm where you're able to go and get work lease. But once you get there, you're not able to get work lease until you're down to your last 30 months. So when you're down to your last 30 months, you can put in for a job in the community and you immediately start working, but you pay them 10% for room and board. So every check that comes in, they take 10% out of that check.

but your check goes right into your account like it's supposed to. And you can buy your kids like Christmas presents and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's incredible. I mean, I had no joke. Like, I had friends in mine that would come home with $60,000, $70,000. Yeah, that's what the warden was telling me. And I think that's where, like, the federal system fails because there's not really anything like that.

The camps are kind of like that, but they're paying you cents. Yeah. Literally sense. Yeah. And they have you doing maintenance. It's so wild. Yeah, that is crazy. What's going on out there?

And I think they should definitely model after some of the states. There's so many inconsistencies across everything. I think so. They definitely are not on the ball with that. That's where they need to make some changes. And it really does help people. You know what I'm saying? Like, in other words, most of the time, you're getting released with a $50 gate fee.

So if you have someone, let's just say, for example, all right, you have someone that's repeatedly been in prison for one having a drug addiction and selling drugs and they're in prison for that and you release them with a $50 gate fee what do you think that that person is going to do yeah you know what I'm saying like at the end of the day I'm not saying that's right but I'm saying like put them in a situation where maybe they don't have to do that they can set themselves up I'm sitting there for I sat there for almost three years and what did I accomplished in there. Probably came home with nothing too long.

Absolutely. The only thing I did was lose weight in prison. That was the only success that came from that. And then obviously the stories that came from it, which I used to start this, but it's just you're wasting time. You're just rotting there doing nothing. That's why when I got down there, I was like, I actually felt like I was like, man, I can progress now.

Like, I was able to get my driver's license down there. I got my, I finished my GED down there. I mean, I've probably completed 14 or 15 different programs. Um, they do have a lot to offer, but on, at the end, the work release program is great. But the ins and outs of that place is just so corrupt and crazy. Like this shit that I witnessed when I was in there was like, wow. It's fucked up. It really is, you know?

Like, you were just saying you went to a work release program and you talked to the warden. And when I was at the farm at the work release program, you know, there was so much corruption that was going on inside there. I wish I, I'm trying to think. of like just one I can think of on the top of my head, but basically, you know, when I was at the prison, you've got people that are watching over you, but they're getting, you know, in trouble from bringing cell phones in and having sexual relationships with inmates, you know what I mean? So the same person that's a unit manager, okay, that is running security for that building, okay, is bringing cell phones in and having sex with the inmates.

but yeah if I get something do something wrong if I don't make my bed right or if I do this you're going to give me a write-up you know what I'm saying like that's crazy to me there's been multiple situations where you can look it up on Google I mean just type it in mean state prison there's different allegations that are going on and a lot of them have just got fired the ward they they walked the warden the deputy warden and a bunch of the caseworkers out for all being involved in this big sex ring I guess So as an inmate you kind of know which guards are sleeping with inmates And it's not doing what I'll say that I never got that lucky when I was there I can say that it's not like that You know and the cell phone thing it was not like that

You know I was up there for six years And once you're up there for at least a year or two You know the ins and outs of what's going on Like in other words like you know who's bringing in what and what's going on You know what I'm saying And there weren't no cell phones You know what I'm saying you had people in there that were willing to pay $7,000, $8,000 for a cell phone if they could get their hands on one, you know.

But there was never one like that, you know. And then when I got out, you know, and I went down to the farm and got transferred, that's when I guess shit started hitting the fan up there. Yeah. So let's talk about why you went to prison. You got almost a six-year sentence, right? I got an eight-year sentence. And this was the third offense.

The first two words like juvenile stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So this is my technically, technically, It's my first offense. It was my first felony. Okay. Okay. Um, so I was arrested at May 31st, 2018 for drug trafficking, aggravated trafficking. Um, I went to the jail, obviously. I was addicted to drugs. I detoxed, went through that. And I kept getting in trouble for petty stuff when I was in the county jail. And they kept putting me in segregation over it stupid stuff. And at the time, I wasn't in a very

good mental state whatsoever. I mean, I'd been a drug addict since I was 15 years old. And at the time, I was 21, so it'd been seven years. I had never been clean. And that was seven years. And I went to court, and I remember the lawyer came out and he's like, hey, he's like, they want 20 years, also spent it about 10. And I remember when he said that to me, I remember I was like, I put my head down, I was like, Jesus Christ, I couldn't believe it. Like, I couldn't. I couldn't grasp the fact that it was that much time, you know what I'm saying? Because you could have figure the longest time I'd ever done before, that was a 30-day shock sentence in Jubey. So I went from that to, hey, you're going to go do, you know, 10 years in prison. So I was like,

fuck that. I'm not taking that. I was like, I'll sit in jail for the next six, seven months. And he's like, listen, I'm just letting you know. The DA says that they're not willing to go below eight years. So I'm like, all right. So I go back. A month or two later, I go back. I'm like, tell him I'll take 16 all but eight. Okay. So I agreed to take this 16 all but eight year sentence, all right? But at the time, I don't know the law and how things work. You know what I'm saying? What I should have done was go back to myself and fight this case for the next six months to a year.

And I probably realistically would have got five or six years, maybe straight with no probation. Instead, they gave me a 16, all but eight years sentence, all right? I remember the day that I took this deal, right? There was a guy that was sitting beside me and he looked over him and he looked over him. He goes, dude, you're a fucking nut. He said, I can't believe you just took that fucking deal. And at the time, I took the deal, because I was thinking that, because my lawyer, in the beginning,

he's saying, don't worry, you're going to be four years. Because in the state of Maine, an aggravated trafficking charge is a mandatory minimum four-year sentence, okay? The only way you get less than a four-year sentence is one, if they draw up to class A to a class B, which can be two to three years, or you cooperate, then they'll draw it, then they'll drop it. So no matter what, I knew I was doing four years. So the lawyer's like, look, he's like, I think I can get you four years, just hang on.

Well, his attitude changed once the DA gave him that 20 all but 10 years sentence. Then he's thinking he can't help me and 16 all but 8 is a great deal. So I'm thinking, okay, I got a good deal when really I didn't. So I got sentenced that day, four days later on a Thursday. I got on a bus and there was five of us in the first. vehicle and I was by far the youngest in that vehicle and all five of them went to Wyndham because they had five years and under and I was the only one that went to main state prison I remember we pulled up to the gate I was so fucking scared I was horrified and I went to classification and

then I started talking to people and everyone's like you know put a post conviction in like that's crazy you know so I was like all right fucking I'll do it so I put a post conviction in they accepted it. So I'd go to court and basically they're not willing to come off that 16, but all but eight years since whatsoever. They said that I agreed to take the deal. So basically, whatever it was, Stan. So I knew right then, I knew not to get my hopes up beforehand, but I knew right then, like, basically, I just got to accept it, do it, get it past me, and move forward. What's that feeling like to get a sentence like that? When you're signing, like a lot of people are never faced with that there are a lot of people but there aren't at the same time

when you're you're signing your life away for X amount of years what's that described that feeling and the thoughts in your mind and that experience like what's going through your head in those moments everything's going through my head honestly I didn't think I in my head I considered that a life bit honestly that's why I had no fucks to give you know what I'm saying when I first got up there I was you know getting in trouble and and getting write-ups for stupid shit and just going to do D-time and saying all this shit, you know, I never went to Seg for any period of time. I'll say that. I did do D-time, which is a difference.

Basically, D-time is like at the time it was in a block, and you go to that block, and you're locked down for 23 hours a day, and, you know, you got to basically, you come out for an hour and lock back in, and that's it. And I did that for four months, and that shit really, really fucked with me, honestly. That sucked. So that's what I was like, I got to a point where I was like, you can live good in prison or you can live like shit and you see all these crash dummies doing stupid shit. And it's like, dude, I want to, I want to try to live as lavish as I can in here. You know what I'm saying?

And make the best of it, you know? Yeah, I always think about like I'd meet so many people in prison that got 20 year sentences because in the feds a 20 year and a tenure are extremely common. Yeah. And I'm just like, how does someone get one get themselves into this to sign for them. that because they're accepting these deals. I can understand, you know, going to trial, but just accepting that. But then when you talk to these guys afterwards, it's like, it's like nothing when you look at it in that perspective. Like me, at the time when I got my three years, I thought my life was over and that was everything. But looking back on it, it's such a small chunk of your life. Do I wish I could

have it back? Of course. But it's just such a, when you look at the perspective, I've been out now longer than I was actually in prison for. Yeah. That's awesome. It puts everything in perspective. Now, you said drug trafficker. Are we talking like a kingpin status? What's a drug trafficker in Maine, deal?

It's not really like you think it is. You know what I'm saying? No one's moving kilos or nothing like that. See, I asked that because this is important because these charges are so vague and widespread and it can apply to a low-level guy. So say you are going to look for employment and they see drug trafficker on your thing or adjective, anything, you know, that is such a vague net accompanied on you. And that's not fair. So when they gave you the title of drug trafficker, what does that mean?

Well, they actually charged me with aggravated trafficking. That's what they call it, Class A aggravated trafficking. So basically, if you have, I mean, in Maine, let's just say this, right, if you have six grams or over, you're drug trafficking. okay so at the time back in 2018 a lot has changed now I've been away so and I'm not really in the game right now so I don't know what's going on you know well we'd hope not what's that we'd hope not yeah so but at the end of the day when you know back in 2018 when I got caught with that that was a lot of stuff you know what I'm saying and it was like you know big you know but now that's nothing because there's so much more coming in you see what I'm saying so I feel like now if you know if I

I would have got caught with that now. Honestly, I probably do two years, three years, you know what I'm saying? So so much has changed and evolved in that world in the last however many years I've been away, you know. What kind of drugs were you selling? Cocaine, fentanyl, heroin. Now, looking at what's going on with fentanyl now, do you feel any type of way about that that you were selling that and putting that out there? Definitely. But at the time, so when I had started, it wasn't really, most of it wasn't fentanyl. In other words, it just started coming out. You know what I'm saying?

So it was like the beginning stages of it, which is why I think they made such an example of me, was because at the time it was just not saying that like the public is used to it now, but it's been going on for a while now. You see what I'm saying? So in other words, back then it was all new. So they're like, what, no, what? Yeah, he's going away for 100 years.

But it's also extremely dangerous. 100%. It is. And at the time, but I was using, you know, I'm a drug addict myself. And obviously it was a little bit more than supporting my own habit. but at the time, you know, a lot of people go out, rob, steal, do shit like that. I chose to support my habit by selling drugs. It doesn't make it right, but that's what I did.

So give us a typical day during that time period for you. From the time you wake up, the time you go to bed. Well, at the time, most of the people that I had been seeing was like on the coastal of me. So I would wake up in the morning. I would bag everything up, do what I do. I would drive down to the coast and I would leave and come home at the end of the day was five grand. Five grand in one day. Every day.

What's a profit on five? Four. Really? Probably four, 3,500. That's a good mark up. Some of the low-level guys you talk to, they'll say, oh, it would cost three grand, and then they only made a couple. But I guess you had a good plug. Yeah, I guess so, yeah.

Yep. Are there a lot of drug dealers in Maine? Like, was there a lot of competition? that was but I think I just happened to have the right person to get it from at the time you know what I'm saying like that's basically what it boils down to

you're gonna be able to know where to get it and to be able to get it cheaper than everybody else can and be able to give it to them cheaper than what they're able to get it for so walk us through the day you got caught Jesus um so the day beforehand

um I had kind of already felt like the heat was coming. There was some, a couple different events that had taken place. So I'd taken a few losses for a lot of money, like $60,000 worth at a time. That was, that had gotten stolen from me. So I knew, and someone had posted something on Facebook. And I knew immediately, like this person basically said they were going to call the local drug task force at this time. So I knew right there. I was like, yeah, shit's going to hit the fan. So I started taking the stuff and putting it on someone else's land out back because I figured hey listen if they come in they're not going to find it yeah well

one night I happen to go you know out back and grab it and I got high and went to sleep and the next morning is when probation and DEA was there to do the warrant and it was 530 in the morning and I was in my bed and I was in my boxers out in my mother she was happened to be staying there that night um she was staying on the couch and uh I thought I was being robbed, honestly. When they hit the door, I immediately thought, and I had a gun at the time, right? So, long story, but basically there was a gun there,

but there was no firing pin in that gun. So basically, you might as well have had a squirt gun. So, but when I got caught, of course, they, oh, he's got a gun, and it's like, dude, there's no firing pin. You know what I'm saying? So anyway, they come in, they do the warrant. I'm in bed. So when I wake up, because I'm sleeping,

I wake up to the door being crashed open. Well, at the time, the Somerset County Sheriff's Office that did the search warrant on the house. His name was Detective David Cole was his name. Well, his father is Eugene Cole. Now, Eugene Cole was a caught from Somerset County that got murdered two weeks beforehand. And they had just finished the manhunt looking for the dude that had killed Eugene Cole. And so he was pretty hot and heavy.

His son, he was pissed. Well, when they come in, I thought it was being robbed. So I went for the gun. I could I just fucking killed you I said I didn't know what was going on You know they immediately put me in cuffs Then my mother was already in cuffs And all the stuff was

Right in bed with me Sitting beside me in bed You were caught red-handed Red-handed They could pull the sheet back And it was all right there Who sleeps with it in their bed Well like I said

I grabbed it the night before and fell asleep I had no Like who Listen I'm on probation at the time Sleeping in the house with $30,000 with the drugs in the house at the time. So probation serves a warrant with them. With them.

And I had been going to probation for the last two or three weeks beforehand. And, of course, once I got my paperwork, I start reading all this shit. And I'm putting two and two together. I'm like, yo, this is nuts. This has been going on for a little while now. And I really didn't have a clue, you know. But I'll say their investigation started before Eugene Cole had gotten killed. So when he had gotten murdered, my investigation was like, they didn't care, you know what I mean?

So they waited a month and then that's when they started the investigation again once they found the dude they killed him or whatever they. Yeah. How do you, did you ever find out how the DEA got involved? 100%. So at the time, I had just moved to this place. It was in Pittsfield, Maine. And little do I know. This is within a thousand feet of Manson Park, which is a school zone.

Might as well be a school zone. even, it's a park, okay? And I think there's a school there too, but I don't know. I'm not paying attention to that, you know what I'm saying? And there's a neighbor, the neighbor downstairs. He doesn't think I know this, but I know for a fact it was him. And I just started at first smoking weed with him, and we started talking. He had done time in prison, seemed like a good dude, you know what I'm saying? So we started talking back forth. One thing led to another, I started dealing with this dude. Well, little do I know. This dude's like, like, been following so the, you know. chief of police of Pittsfield.

His name is Peter Bickmore. Now, Peter Bickmore used to be a cop in Ellsworth too. Well, this dude, was my neighbor, was from Ellsworth. So he's following this sheriff deputy around working as an informant for this dude. You know what I mean? Who knows how long? So it said, like, all the information, they said that I leave the residence several times daily on the full wheeler and that they would not be surprised if I was keeping large amounts of drugs on someone

else's residence, like shit like that. Like, how else would you know that unless you saw me leaving on that full wheeler? You know? As soon as I get arrested, I go to jail. Within three days, all the pot plants on the back yard were all gone. He stole them, packed all the shit. See you later. It's only getting every customer's order right.

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Wow. He seen him since. That sucks. Would never want to have anything to do with him anyway. I have to get me 16 years in prison. But he got me 16 years in prison for, which don't get me wrong, I'll take responsibility for being involved in what I was involved in. I don't think I deserved to get that amount of time.

But, yeah, he was charged with false reporting a crime and criminal driving. Which is probably misdemeanors. On a non-extraditable warrant out of another state. So the state didn't even want to extradite him. So he's just like, yeah, let's just give you the information so I can get out of this whatever. Do you have co-defendants at all on the case? None. It was just you.

Thank God. When the DEA is involved, normally they're looking to turn witnesses and whatnot, were they trying to get you to rat out? At first. So when I got in the car, I don't know if they interviewed me or my mother first. I got my paper exaggerate in there that basically I admitted to being, you know, a drug addict. And right from there on, he looked up to me and I invoked my right to remain silent. I was like, listen, at the end of the day, I'm all set.

When I went to court, actually, when they gave me that first 20 all but 10, I went back at them with 16 all but eight. The DA met with my lawyer in the judge. and was like, listen, you know, if he's willing to work with us, with anything to do with this case, we'll work with him on it. And at the time, I think they had offered, like, realistically five or six years straight if I was willing to cooperate, or at least they wanted the suppliers who they wanted. And I told my lawyer, I said, listen, I said, if you, they're going to give me eight years, I'm going to do six anyway.

So I looked at it like, basically, it's not worth doing that. At least I know that I can go in, I can keep my head held high. I can get a look over my shoulder every day and I know I'm good. Wow. Yeah, it was pretty crazy. Does Maine have any drug courts that they could have put you through? At the time, they didn't.

Now they do. Now they have all kinds of drug courts and stuff like that. How would that have affected your sentence now if you went through the system? They probably would put me in a rehab, honestly. I think that they would still put me in jail. You know what I mean? But now so much has changed. They want to help people now.

I've noticed it tremendously with probation. Yeah, you were telling me about your probation officer. I'm telling you, I don't want to knock on wood or anything, you know what I'm saying, but he's been decent to me, and I'll be up front and decent to him at the end of the day, you know. A good probation officer changes someone's probation period. I had a great one when they're fair, they're not up your ass. I had a very negative experience with my supervisory lease officer before I was even convicted. They were tough on you when you're going,

and the feds when you're going through pre-trial. Which in the state, it's different. There's no, like, I don't think there's a pretrial officer. You just get bond and whatnot. Yes, yes. So a post during probation one, that's great to you and it's kind and nice. Yeah. That's everything.

That's so important. It is because it's not like, like, we stress that. You know what I'm saying? Like, if you're going to lose sleep and I wondering like, man, what's this going to be, you know? So when I put in, I'm actually on a home confinement program, which is an early release program that you're able to get for good behavior. You're able to get it with your last, I think, 24 months of your sentence. And technically, you hear home confinement, you think house arrest. You're not supposed to leave the house.

You're not supposed to do this and that. But now home confinement, it's SCCP, it's supervised community confinement program or something like that. But basically now you're allowed to leave. go to, you know, I can, I come and go as I please. Now, he always says, hey, if you leave the county or Bangor, just shoot me a text, say, hey, you're not asking me, he said, you're telling me. Now, when it comes to going out of state or on a vacation, obviously, I was like, hey, is there any way I can do this? And I don't, honestly, I don't know if he has to do any paperwork or not, but so far, I mean, I went to Miami and, and I'm down here now, and he's approved both of those.

Yeah, now, like, the thing with probation officers is, I feel like where the issues become is they have to stay neutral and they can't let one case affect the rest of their cases because there are the bad eggs out there that ruin it for other people. And when those probation officers start treating everyone else because of one bad experience, I think that's when it causes a rift. Yeah. It's not necessarily the probation officer themselves. It's their taste in their mouth from the experience of dealing with another individual that I feel like that's where a lot of the issues become. Yeah, we were just, me and him are actually just having a comment. conversation here a few weeks ago about, um, so I'm on home confinement. So my probation technically does

not start until my sentence or home confinement is up, which is right now, it's January of 2025. Um, that's when my four years of probation starts. But like he was saying, I want, or I mentioned it, that I'd like to try to put in for, to get my probation terminated early. And he brought up the fact that, you know, a lot of his clients and stuff, they're in their homeless shelters, you know, he's, in other words basically you can tell if somebody's doing good. So when someone's walking in and, you know, they're working, doing what they're supposed to be doing, you know that maybe give them a little bit more trust, you know what I'm saying? But he said basically, you know, he continued doing good and hopefully we can bring this to

the judge and the judge will side with me, hopefully eventually, you know what I mean? Because getting my four years of probation is a lot. Now, I don't want to just get four years of probation just for nothing. the reason why I'm saying is I want to be able to travel without having to ask permission to travel. You know, I feel like I'm annoying him by saying, hey, I'm leaving bang or I'm going here. You know what I'm saying? Even though that's his job and that's what I'm told to do, I feel like, man, I got to do this, I got to do that. You know what I'm saying?

That's awesome. So now you're in prison. You get to prison. You have a 16-year sentence, but you really only serve, what, eight out of that? Eight out of that. Okay. So you get in the prison. What's your first day, like switching?

Because county to prison prison, it's a whole different experience. What was that like for you? And describe Maine prisons in general. Is it gang-oriented? Is it what kind of charges are there? Because I feel like Maine's just its own, it's like Alaska, it's its own entity. Yeah, it is completely different than what you'd expect. So when I first, so when I got sentenced and I first got there at the time,

segregation was the classification unit at the time. And you had to go down there for, at the time. I think the turnover rate was like six or eight weeks. You stay down there for six or eight weeks. You get classified. They say, hey, you're a close custody, minimum custody, or medium custody. Whatever you are is what building you go to. So you have the close unit, medium unit.

The close unit, you have two close pods, close custody pods. But the other pods that are in that unit are all medium. So you're intermingling with all the close guys who are like supposed to be like, you know, bad guys of the prison. You know what I'm saying? but the first day, so we're locked in nonstop for the first 23 hours a day for the first six or seven weeks. And then once you get classified, which I was medium custody, they moved me to the close unit. And I already had known a few people that were there.

So the crazy thing is, is this town where the prison is at is in Warren, Maine. I grew up in Waldeboro, which is probably a 10-minute drive. So a lot of the people that were at the prison in there and working there, I knew went to school with, used to go to pit parties with and stuff like that. I actually just had a conversation with it. He's a friend of mine. This kid was my best friend since I was probably 10 years old. And we just went two different paths.

He chose to go in the Army and do the right thing. Got a wife, married her. I chose to go to prison. and I remember the first day that I got to the jail I was laying in my bunk sleeping and I woke up to him kicking the door he was a corrections officer this is my best friend that I've known since I was like nine years old

kicking my door and he's like what's up so I come to the door and he's like dude he's like you know I told my mom he said that what your sentence was I don't think she believed me and he said I had to take a screenshot up and send it to her so she believed that sentence that I got but yeah it was pretty crazy having one of you best friends, you know what I'm saying, that you've grown up with your whole life, you're on this side, he's on that side. Yeah.

What's the demographic? Is it mostly white guys? Is there a mix? There's a mix. Okay. And how are they treating the white guys that, you know, you got a baby face, you were younger at the time. Yeah.

How are they treating you? I mean, it helped me knowing people up there. So that was a big thing, me knowing people and those people knew people that had been up there for years. So I just happened to get in with the right people at the time, which probably would have helped me because I'm sure of different situations. You need people to be behind you, you know. But there's a lot of black people, Spanish people,

but realistically, probably 80, 90% of the people that are up there that, you know, are black or Spanish are all from out of state. That just got jammed up in Maine. Trafficking. Okay. So. And they just got caught sentence there. Or whether it be a coming to Maine and a drug deal going bad and a murder.

I mean, I don't know how many people I know up there that were from New York that were up there doing 50, 60 years for murder for something going wrong with it. There was a lot of violent offenders in the prison. Yeah, there definitely was. The prison itself was, I mean, there was a few things that had popped off. You know what I mean when I first got up there, but then it calmed down. They said that. So I think like 98% of the assaults up there was all drug-related. So once they started giving people suboxone, which is what people,

were smuggling into the jail at the time. Once they started giving that out at the pit window, that's when things started changing. The salts went down, the violence went down, like 95% or something, like a crazy percentage. And then it was like, everything changed almost like overnight. You know what I'm saying? The segregation unit that I went in for classification,

they now called that the Earned Living Unit. So they took all the doors. You're in a supermax prison. They took all the doors, painted everything. You can customize your room to whatever way you want to customize it with paint. You have a grill. They go to Hanford once a week where you can order food. And this is inside of maximum security prison.

Dudes that are doing 50 years are down there eating chicken wings and ice cream. And it's crazy. You wouldn't expect it. The food was good. The food was good, but they have this thing called the annex up there. So I guess it's changed since I still were able to text. with people up there through the tablets, so I still talk to a few people,

but a lot of exchanges up there through the annex. I mean, I guess you can buy shoes, you can buy strawberry chocolate milk, everything you can think of for ice creams, all kinds of shit. You were telling me you could have a PlayStation. Yeah, PlayStation 2s. PlayStation 2s.

How does that work? Like, you buy it on the commissary? So now they need to be grandfathered. So back in the day, you were able to buy them. Then they stopped. Now they have this new system. I think it's a PlayStation 3. three or four.

And the games are all preloaded on them. No internet capability. No internet. They have internet up there. However, the internet is blocked. So in other words, they're able to go on YouTube.

They're able to, well, they'll be able to watch this on Spotify. Wait, really? Yeah. My boy wrote to me, he's like,

yo, I'm going to be able to watch that on Spotify. I was like awesome. That is so cool. Yeah. So they got, they just started selling

22-inch flat screen TVs with Bluetooth headphones and shit. I'm like, is the YouTube restricted what they could search for? though? Yes, I think it is. Like what if they start searching how to escape prison

on YouTube? That would immediately So most of it is all run by the college program So they have a team of people up there That go through everything. So in other words, like You could try to do some dumb shit like that

But at the end of they, they're going to catch you eventually. You know what I mean? That's so cool that they could watch like a show like this and in there. And on TV, regular TV alone, I wouldn't be surprised they could watch it on that honestly because that's how many channels

They have like 250 channel. Every channel you could ever imagine they have up there. Yeah. Wow, that's incredible. It is crazy. So they want to like, especially this earned living unit, they built that earned living unit to hopefully as like a pilot program to spread throughout the rest of the prison.

They're basing it off a prison in Norway. So those are the ones you see on the news and stuff with these nice facilities. That's what they want to do. And that unit that they did it down there. I mean, if you walk. down there, you wouldn't even see the difference. If you go to Google and you type in Mainst, or YouTube, mainstate prison documentary, it's a PBS documentary.

It's about an hour and 40 minutes and it's about the prison back in like 2013, 14. Take a look at that when you get a chance. So when they rolled out these programs, do you guys see a drop in violence and danger in these prisons right away? immediately you know what I'm saying obviously there wasn't it wasn't that violent in the first place there obviously there's a few things that pop off here and there

but it's not like a regular prison that you would go to where people are getting stabbed every day and overdosing every day it's not like that but when you did see when those things did happen say once in a blue moon it must have been a big scene because it's not used to it you're not getting out like shit like that I remember

so I was an E-Pod which is in close and there's a pod that's next door to us and someone had taken a bowl of sugar and melted it in the microwave and threw it in this kid's face. And I remember we were on our way back from Chow that day. And he threw it in this dude's face. And I remember hearing that fucking scream and it was like crazy. His whole ear had like melted off.

And that dude ended up getting out and killing like three people like within three weeks. The guy that got injured. The guy that got hit with the with the sugar. He went out to go murder people. He was shooting people with like snipers going down the highway and bowed and shit. Yeah, it was crazy. Was he in prison for a violent crime to begin with? I don't think so, but he had some severe mental health.

I think prison made his mental health worse, honestly. And that was like the trigger for him to laugh. Plus he was a shitbag anyway, no good, you know what I mean? So people knew to stay away from him, you know? And I think he just knew that like so many people just disliked him and was like shunning him. So he just snapped finally. Do you guys use terminology like chomo in there? Yes.

So that's everywhere you go. Yeah. I mean, I heard that more in county. We just call him Skinners. Skinners? Yeah. That's what we call them as Skinners. Wow.

Fucking Ripper or Skinner or something like that. That's what we call them. So there are sex offenders there too? Yeah. And unfortunately, they're not segregated. They're all mixed in with you guys. Yeah. How are they getting treated?

Um, I think everyone's just on a type of time up there where they're just trying to do their time and get the fuck out of there. So they're not trying to create any problems unless a problem arises. So if there's a certain situation that arises where some fucking Ripper does something disrespectful, then obviously you need to do something about it, you know. But they know their place. Don't get me wrong, you know what I'm saying? They stay out to, I mean, most of them do.

You know what I'm saying? I'm sure there's some that aren't. Was there ever a time that you were disrespected that you had to stand up for yourself in order to show that you're not to be someone that can be disrespected? I can't think of like, well, you actually had brought it up before. I remember when I was just telling my girlfriend about this too. So when I first got there, so you take a shower, you go to the shower, whatever. I had my shirt off, of course, like you said, young baby-faced kid.

So there's this dude that was in there. And, of course, I don't know who he is, you know. And he's been in there for, I don't know, probably 30 years, 40 years. He's never going home, you know. But he's an older, just a slouch, you know what I'm saying? Like, basically he can't fight type deal, you know? So I come out of the shower and someone had whistled or something, right? But I didn't know that it had come from him,

and another guy pulled up on him, and he was like, hey, he's like, and I'd been there for probably maybe a couple days, maybe, a week or two. And the guy's like, hey, you heard that, right? I was like, yeah, he's like, hey, listen, he's like, tell that fucking weirdo, don't have to do that again, or else it's going to be an issue. So I was like, all right, so I didn't take his word for it. I didn't say nothing.

I just drop it, figured it would go away. Next time I go take a shower with this motherfucker whistles again. I'm like, oh, no, here I am, you know. So I had to go to this dude's room And I'm not acting like I'm some crazy tough guy But I'll fight And I don't care if I get my fucking ass kicked either So I just went to the door

I was like listen at the end of the day Like don't disrespect me like that If you know if this ever happens again Like it's not gonna be us having a conversation It's gonna be me coming in your room He apologized and said I'm sorry I didn't mean to disrespect you And it was done and over

A lot of the What's the word for You know respect is a big big thing up there And I didn't honestly I mean, I've always been a somewhat respectful kid, but I really learned respect once I got up there to say, excuse me, you know what I'm saying? I remember within the first couple weeks

being in the wait room and getting in someone's way and dude flipping out on me, you know what I'm saying? But I don't fucking know, you know, I just got here. And maybe even just looking at people in the eyes, you know what I'm saying? You can't look at, like, if you're looking across the chow hall and all of a sudden you catch eye contact with someone, you know what I mean?

There might be like, yo, what the fuck are you looking at type deal, you know? Yeah, I can't look on someone's cell. Right, so certain. At the prison that I was at, most of the top tier was all single cells, okay? So, once you're in that unit for a while, you get to know everybody. So they're not really so, unless you're some weirdo that just came in the pod and you start going around looking in people's cells, then there's going to be an issue. But if you've been in the pod for a while and you, it's not like that. You know what I'm saying?

Like, they're not going to flip the fuck out on you for looking in their cell. Manners are extremely important in prison. Yes. And like I'm even in my apartment building and walking around, people could be like so like there's no thank you's for holding the door. Yep. There's like no one will even, you're in the elevator with someone. No one will even say hello. Like just anything.

And then you compare that to prison, you would literally get beat up. If you do not say, someone will call you out for that for not, for not saying thank you or excuse me. Yeah. There's just like I'm cutting in public, you know. you could get stabbed for cutting someone in prison. It's just, it's wild. It is. I was just saying that because we were down here

and a woman got out of a car and she looked at me and I didn't know if she was a part of this place or whatever. I said, how are you doing? And she just looked at me like basically like, fuck you. Didn't say, I'm like, wow, people are nice down here. Well, this place is a little weird because they're not used to all the felons coming into this building. She's probably what it is.

She's probably seen the tattoo. Yeah. Oh, that's not common for here because we're in Richfield, small town. Yeah. There's got to be not many people with tattoos. Guests will come. Like literally kingpins come on this show. Wild.

And they go down the deli. And the people in the deli are great. It's what's cooking deli. Like the staff love the food there. But it's the customers. They're all staring like when we're walking it and stuff. It's so funny because they're not used to it. You know?

It's, yeah. People could be not polite. And it doesn't make sense. You go a long way to say hello to someone. Say hello the people at the drive-thru. when you're getting a coffee or getting food or anything. Just be polite. Ask someone how their day is going.

Right, because you don't know what they're going through or whatever. Exactly. It's wild. Do you think that going to prison helped you overcome your addiction? 100% it did. Without it. Now it's like before I couldn't go longer than a month without being like, man, I just want to get high. You know what I'm saying?

And now it's like you could put it in front of me and I wouldn't touch that shit. You know what I'm saying? I wouldn't. I'm all good with it. I'm disgusted by it. I just want to like, I think it's been so long. That's probably why. You're going to figure it's been almost six years. A couple of days will be six years. That's awesome. Congratulations. So, I mean, that's all. So a lot of people I'll say that to be like, what? Six, man, like, how old are you? You know what I'm saying? 28. 28. 27.

Oh, we're the same. I'm 28. Yeah, 27. Wow. You've loved quite a life. You missed a lot of your 20s. Yeah, most of my 20s. Luckily, I got, like I said, this home confinement, I was able to get out early. Now, I'm curious about something. You met your girlfriend while you're in prison. Yeah. How does that happen? Well, we had known each other beforehand.

She happened to be with somebody else at the time. And then once I got down to the work release facility, I started talking to her and she started coming to visit me. How do you guys link on a dating site or Instagram? No, no, just Facebook. And you can have a phone in the work release? No, you're not supposed to. Okay. So you guys connect on Facebook.

Does she know you're in prison? At the time, she did, because I had tried calling her back in 2019, 2020. And at the time, I think she was still with the other dude at the time. So I don't know if she ever knew I was still in there that whole time. You know what I mean? Because a lot of people thought that I got out, maybe going back in and stuff like that. But how did she feel about your situation? She's pretty understanding, you know what I'm saying?

Basically, I look at it like this. If you got someone that's willing to be with you when you don't have nothing. When you're at your lowest. When you're at your lowest, you know, um, that's why now, like, I try to do whatever I can for, you know what I mean? Spoil or any way I can if I can, you know? Yeah. Because at the end of the day, I'm so used to not having that, you know?

I have to being in there for six years. No affection, no nothing like that. That shit fucks with you, dude. I have to be in there. I don't know how someone, after being in there for fucking 25 years, dude, I couldn't imagine. I remember just the first time being able to, like, actually hug her, you know what I mean? and Kista was like, holy fuck, dude, you know? What does her family think about your situation?

I think her mother at first wasn't happy about it. Which is understandable because from her point of view, she doesn't know me. All she's hearing is your daughter's seeing some dude in prison. Well, what the fuck's he in prison for? You know what I'm saying? But I think now that I've gotten out,

I've somewhat trying to kind of prove myself to her or tried to prove myself to her. We get along every time I see her Say, how you doing? I give her hug And so yeah, it's good Her whole family really I get along with Most of my family is not up here My dad, my uncles and stuff like dad are up here

But most of like my mother, she lives in Florida My brother lives in Florida And my aunt and uncles They live in Massachusetts And my grandparents live in Florida too What message would you give to parents Who are skeptical of their daughter or son Dating someone that was in prison before?

That's a good. good question because I'll say this if I had a daughter that was in prison that was dating someone in prison I don't think I'd allow that to happen and you're someone that went to prison I'm someone that went to prison but I think it would depend on what this situation is that they're in there for I'm not trying to be judgmental to certain people's crimes but I mean but that goes back to you being labeled as a drug trafficker right if you saw your daughter dating someone that's a drug trafficker I think you got to at least you know give them the opportunity to explain that charge. Obviously it's a little bit different

sexual assault or something like that. That's what I'm saying. Murder. But even murder you don't know kind of like the situation of what happened. There's guys that have been on the show that went to prison for murder where it had to do with being gang related and it

was just different. I really think you got to give someone a chance. Like openly as a whole society because it's very very job. I remember dating people after prison. Yeah. And parents can be extremely judgmental. Yeah.

And I wonder how it would be now, like now it's different for me because I have a platform and a following, but there's so many people that don't have that. Yeah. Where the good that you're doing in the world is not publicly displayed. Right. And you could just be a hardworking dude who's just trying to support yourself and you have those challenges too. Yeah.

So it's those emotional challenges people face coming out of prison too. 100%. I agree. Now, do you think it was easier to? To reintegrate into the working world because you had the work release program. Yes. You were able to come home with money in your pocket. You knew what the situation was in acclimate.

Yeah, I was able to set myself in an apartment, get a car, where most of the time you're like, man, I've got to be able to get a job right off the rip. So the good thing is, is I had some money saved up. So I was able to take the first, like, I'm not doing shit for the first month. And that's what I did. I just tried to enjoy myself for the first month. And then I started working. And like I said, I set myself up. So now it's to the point where, like today, I don't have to, I didn't have to go to work today.

Obviously, I could come down here, you know. Because you said you own your own business now. Yeah. So I started Northern Power Wash Co, is the name of it. In Maine, I feel like the last couple years it has, but there's not a lot of pressure washing, power washing services. Like, strictly just that for business. You have people that paint that'll do power washing on the side. So I was like, you know what?

I was like, I'll start it because I live in Bangor and, you know, I live downtown. There's, you know, businesses that might want their dumpster pads done or they're outside of their vinyl siding on their house, anything. So I kind of just started and at slow, I was like, man, I don't know if it's going to take off, you know, and now it's starting to when I just added window cleaning to it. That's awesome. I actually reached out to this girl. She posted an ad.

She was looking for window cleaners and she asked me to work for a company called Vacasa, which is like Airbnb. They own 105 properties. across Maine. So I have two of her properties to do right now for window cleaning and I'm sure more will come. So that's a good opportunity. What advice would you give to someone that's fresh out of prison that a lot? Because I feel like a lot of guys are very, they want to be entrepreneurs when they get out of prison. And they have these ideas.

What advice would you give to them about piecing it together and starting their own thing? Well, the thing is, the saying is it takes money to make money. You know what I'm saying? So when someone's getting out and say they only get a $50, gate fee, well, it's hard to be able to start a business with only a $50 gate fee. So obviously you have to start somewhere. So I would say just get a job, find something that actually suits you because you don't want to go, like when I got out and I had that $16 an hour job.

I was disgusted going to work every day. You know what I'm saying? So I wanted to find something that was like, wow, I can actually take care of my family this way and not have to stress and wonder like, oh, paycheck to paycheck. You know what I'm saying? So I would say probably just find, you know, a good job that best fits you. save money and then eventually whatever your plan is put it to that yeah i mean that's what i did i worked and uh built up credit to be able to start something credit's everything i'll say this before

before i went to jail i never had a bank account i never messed with any of that and now the potential that just from having a bank account in in a business and being able to run is is insane well said uh what do you think the next five years looks like for you what do you want to accomplish what are your goals. Well, I'm hoping that this business gets really takes all to the point where where I can hire, you know, numerous people and to run it for me, not run it for me, but basically, you know, do the work and I can just be a manager, you know what I'm saying? No, I'd have to work, you know, still work, but not physical work as all. But probably just that, maybe hopefully get my own house. I'd like, have a family with her. How does it feel to be able to sit here having goals and having

dreams because I'm sure there was a period in your time when you never had that where you were just focused on the next time you can get a fix-in or the next time you can make it some money off of a sale. So how does that feel that to be building something and have something? I didn't, so I started setting goals when I was in prison and then once you start completing those goals, whether it be something small, then you start feeling better about yourself. It gives you more confidence, you know what I'm saying? So then you start setting more bigger goals, whether it be something. something as, hey, I want to get my GED or I want to get my driver's license, something like that.

You know, do it, get it done. And, yeah. Now, I'm not someone that lives with regrets, and I don't encourage people to. But what's one thing that if you could take back or change in your life, or what was the one defining moment, like, if you could just reflect on, that you could go back and address that? Become a drug addict. 100%.

What about that? Because, I mean, if you think about it, obviously my drug addiction is what led to me selling, which led to me going to prison. So if I would have never became an addict, I would have never been in this situation. Who knows what would have taken place? Everything happens for a reason. And I think the best thing that happened to me was me going to prison, honestly. Do you think you'd have the girlfriend, the business, the life you have now if you never went to prison, if you never got addicted to drugs? I don't know.

Those are the tough questions and life, you know? They are. That's a good one. It's so, like I reflect on that all the time. Yeah. And I think you can live your life and look at life differently when you, when you ask yourselves those tough questions and kind of dwell on and think about those things. Right.

And it helps prevent people from going down certain paths, either again or people that are just listening and watching. Yeah. I think that like when I was in there and, you know, I used to look up to some of these guys, you know, and then I, just within the four and a half years that I was actually at the mainstapers and I'd see these people come in that I looked up to that would get out and would come back two, three, four times just within the time of me being there. And I just started thinking myself, I'm like, yo, like, what the fuck is going on?

Like, all these people coming in and out. And then when they come back in, the cops, being like, oh, you're back. You know what I'm saying? Like, dude, I don't want that to be me. You know what I'm saying? To me to come back in this cop being like, oh, I feel. fucking knew you weren't gonna make it. Like, I want to be one of the ones that's like, you know what, dude?

Hey, look, I fucking made it. You know what I mean? And the dude that when I got my home confinement program, you know, the caseworkers, all of them said the same thing, you know, don't be one of these guys that goes out there and gets fucked up and has to go back to jail, you know? Because technically, if I violate for anything, I'm going back. It's not me going to county jail and waiting to go to the prison. It's, hey, get on the bus.

You're going back to the prison. Yeah. So. And that's a downfall of probation. Yeah. This is home confinement, so it's even stricter than probation. Yeah, I was on home confinement. I feel you, man. So I wish you the best, Todd, and good luck with your business, and thank you for taking the time to sit down on the show and come out here. And I hope you have a lovely weekend in the city and keep doing your thing, man.

Yeah, well, thank you. I appreciate you for inviting me on. And this is a great experience. I can't wait to see it when it comes out.