Locked In with Ian Bick - I Was a D1 Basketball Player — Then Got 45 Years In Prison | Harold Doby III

Episode Date: August 19, 2026

Harold Doby III grew up in Georgia with a mother who worked as a correctional officer and a father who was secretly a drug dealer — and when his father was sentenced to 19 years in prison Harold was seven years old and sports became the thing that kept everything together. He had his first child at 16, went on to play Division 1 and Division 2 college basketball, played overseas until an injury ended his career, and then fired a single shot from his licensed firearm in self defense during a bar altercation he says he was not a part of — and watched that decision produce a nearly $200,000 restitution order, 20 years of probation, and eventually a 45 year prison sentence when job loss and injuries made the restitution impossible to pay in the time the court required. _____________________________________________ #justice #selfdefense #truecrimecommunity #prisonsentence _____________________________________________ Thank you to CASH APP for sponsoring this episode: Download Cash App Today: https://capl.onelink.me/vFut/ksjh06pb #CashAppPod Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App's bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. Cash App Visa® Debit Flex Cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC, and The Bancorp Bank, N.A., pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. See terms and conditions for the Sutton prepaid card, Sutton debit flex card, and Bancorp debit flex card. Discounts and promotions provided by Cash App, a Block, Inc. brand. Visit cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures. _____________________________________________ Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ _____________________________________________ Timestamps:  00:00 Introduction: From D1 Ball to Prison 00:25 Growing Up in Augusta, Georgia 01:16 Dad's Arrest and Double Life 03:16 Avoiding Trouble and the Golden Kid 05:21 Teenage Mischief and the Firework Incident 06:04 Dad's Legacy and Impact 07:57 Could He Have Avoided Prison? 09:21 Siblings and Different Paths 10:48 Becoming a Father at 16 12:42 Turning Point: Moving to Florida 14:27 College Hoops and the Georgia State Struggle 16:34 Finding a Home at Augusta State 18:16 Going Pro Overseas 21:01 The Career-Ending Foot Injury 23:07 Life After Basketball and a New Purpose 25:49 Sponsor: Cash App 28:06 The 2019 Night That Changed Everything 31:29 Self-Defense and the Warning Shot 32:42 Arrest and the DA's Game 36:34 A String of Unhelpful Lawyers 40:02 Tased by Police and Losing an Eye 41:13 The Open Plea and Sentencing 45:45 The Impossible $155,000 Restitution 49:15 Betrayal and the GoFundMe 51:55 Life on Probation and the Criminal Justice System 54:39 The Violation and 45-Year Sentence 56:34 The Disappearing Restitution Payments 58:54 Depression and the Reality of Prison 01:01:44 Jackson State Prison: A Brutal Introduction 01:03:28 Studying the Law and Winning the Appeal 01:05:51 Filing Motions from Prison 01:07:21 Prison Gangs and Violence 01:08:32 Witnessing Murder and Survival Mode 01:11:00 Accountability and Growth in Prison 01:12:40 The Appeal Process and More Obstacles 01:16:26 Delays and the Viral Facebook Post 01:20:20 Release on Conditions 01:22:25 Life Now: Work and Probation 01:24:16 The Future of the Case 01:25:17 Would He Have Gone to Trial? 01:26:53 Final Lesson for His Daughters 01:27:31 Closing Thoughts _____________________________________________ To advertise on the show, contact [e-mail] or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/LockedInWithIanBicka

How does a Division I basketball player get sentenced to 45 years in prison? My guest today is Harold Dobie III. He was living his dream playing Division I basketball before taking his career overseas. Then one night changed everything. Today, he's telling the story of how he lost his career, his freedom, and ended up serving time in prison. I grew up in Augusta, Georgia. You know what I mean? He's probably like two hours away from Atlanta, the home or the masters.

So when people hear about Augusta, that's the first thing they say. They play golf at the Masters, but it's more than the Masters that's come along through Augusta. Did you play golf growing up? Nah, I just played basketball, football, and baseball. You were very athletic? Oh, yeah, for sure. Is that something your parents instilled in you as a kid, or you just came to learn that on your own? That was something my parents installed.

Me, my mom and my dad actually played basketball. So it grew up in a sports environment. Like, our community full of athletes. where I'm from. Did they play in college or professionally at all? Well, my mom played a little in college, but my dad didn't. What did your parents do for work when you were growing up? Well, my mom actually was a correction officer, and my dad was an entrepreneur.

What kind of entrepreneur? Well, he had his own businesses. He had liquor stores, hamburgers, stands, gang rules, and everything like that. But later on in life, I found out he was actually a drug dealer. That's like some Jamie St. Patrick type stuff. Basically, yeah, ghosts. Wow. Did your mom know he was selling drugs? Eventually, I think she found out because she had to start working for a second because it was a conflict of his federal investigation and things like that.

So my dad actually ended up doing 19 years fair time. How old were you when that happened? I was seven years old. When he got arrested? Yeah. Were you guys close before that? Well, yeah, we were. You know, when he was around, like he was there when he can be. But him and my mom went actually together.

So like I said, like coming up, I have very little memories of my dad. But as he was incarcerated, it seemed like we grew closer on phone conversations. Now, Georgia prisons are pretty notorious. Did your mom tell you stories when you were a kid growing up about what her job was like? Oh, yeah. I heard a lot about Georgia prisons, not just even from my mom, but from my peers. because a lot of people in my community where I'm from was in and out of jail. And I was just hearing stories all the time on how Georgia prisons was and how prison was.

And I didn't really believe it until I actually went. How that make you feel as a kid hearing those kinds of stories? What do you think about it? It's like it makes you want to avoid it in every way possible. But then it became normal because everybody was going. Everybody was going and growing up in a lower class environment. and what we call the hood, that's what's normal. Like, that's what's going on

because it ain't really no other options, but to find your way getting into trouble or just doing things that's sending you there. And, like, you think there's no outlet when you led to drugs or gang violence and stuff like that. Did you think you were going to avoid that type of life when you were a kid? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

My mom did everything possible to lead me to avoid that life. Like, she kept me busy, She kept me in sports and everything. And I always was the golden kid to make it out of the hood. I had a promising future. You know what I mean? Everybody coming up was expecting me to be either an accountant or an NBA player because that's how it was.

And even like the older guys in the hood, they used to always give me advice and try to keep me out of trouble if something going on in the neighborhood, hey, this is about to go on, going to house. So I was led the right way. And everybody had respect for my mom's side and my dad's side in Augusta. So she did everything. kid could, you know. But as a kid, you know, if you tell a kid the stove hot, we still going to touch it

to see if it's hot. And it was coming up kind of one of those situations where I was still hanging with my peers and with my friends and just saw some of the things they did and certain things that I just tried, even though I knew it wasn't right. What are some of those things? It's just like being out late, just being around, like, for instance, like even I had a situation where like on the 4th of July where we like used to pick teams and we shoot fireworks at each other.

And I knew it wasn't right, but I still was involved. And it almost led me to juvenile at a young age because an innocent bystander ended up getting hit with one of the fireworks. And out of everybody that was out there, she said that I did it. So it was kind of like my first lesson of being getting blank for something that I really didn't do. Or who could you just pinpoint one person when there's 10 or 15 kids out there shooting fireworks? But I was always a household name because I was what they call, I was popper.

You know what I mean? I was a superstar in my community because of basketball. And I'm sick, sick, so I'm easy to get pointed out no matter of whether I'm going to stick out like a sole thumb. And it was like just a little simple stuff like that. I wasn't really into no real, real trouble. But it just was like basically just being the kid, you know, throwing eggs, things that kids do that we thought was fun, but it was actually kind of dangerous when you can come to look at it now. What happened to that fireworks situation?

Well, I ended up going to court and they, um, end up giving me like 30 days probation just to just say they did something I guess but because they really knew it was a group activity and you can't just pinpoint and the young lady family knew what my dad and who my dad was and my mom's side of the family and I think they were just trying to get a quick lawsuit so they tried to blame me and put it on me because if you ask anybody in Augusta they'll tell you my family pretty decent you know financially wise and like I say my dad had been labeled a kingpin drug dealer and having all these different times. type of businesses, they thought that we had money, and I think they were just looking for a quick come-up.

How did that affect your childhood when your dad got arrested in your community? Did people look at you differently, or do you think that made you cooler? What was that like? It's actually put a fuel in me to do the right thing and be the change in the community and show people that there was a way out, and I never wanted to be like my daddy. So I always wanted to take a different route and that why I stayed in school but then once I found out I had a kid that just made me drive and never want to lead her and so that's why me going to prison I tell people all the time I ain't do that time that I just did in prison I actually start doing time at seven because you don't realize that when you go to prison it don't affect you is it really affect your loved ones and who

really care for you so I was affected at a young age and to answer your question it showed me that the screens that my dad had and what he was pulling. Because, like, when my dad was home, I used to wear nothing, but Jordans, Jerry on every finger, like, reins on every finger, all type of Jerry, all type of latest fashion. And my mom, she kept me up to part with it, but I went from getting, like, two-piled Jordans to only one. And that's when I knew, like, oh, my dad was really carrying a lot of weight.

Because I used to get one to play in and one to go to school in, like, because I was an athlete, so I used to get one to play sports in, and then one to wear the school, so they can stay clean. But other the impact in my life in negative ways, I don't think it impacted my life in a negative way because my dad was a stand-up guy. He was solid. And people respected him for that. And I kind of gained respect off his word from him having respect in the neighborhoods and from the older guys because he did for a lot of people. He took care of the community. He had giveaways. He did Christmas drives. Like he paid the elder people rent. Like he took care of the city for sure. Do you think had he not gone to prison, you would have avoided prison?

Or do you think that would have been inevitable? For sure, I would avoid a prison. I tell people to this day, my dad going to prison and not being in my life, what's the difference between me going to the NBA and going overseas and playing basketball? Because my mom, like I said, she's a great mom. That's my superhero. Like, I love her to the bottom of my heart. She ain't do no wrong.

She did everything she could. But a man only can show a man how to be a man. You feel? me so it's certain things that my mom couldn't show me. And me being a man, teenager growing up in a rough environment, I learned some things from the streets, like on how to live and be a man. That if my dad was there, I wouldn't have to probably been in the streets so much. I probably wouldn't have been in the neighborhood so much involved in certain other activities. So do you put blame on him for that, looking back on it now?

No, I don't blame him for that. I don't blame him for that. Because looking back on it, he was doing what he had to do to provide for me and my brothers and sisters. He was providing for the city. He was giving people opportunities that they wouldn't have if he wouldn't be in his situation. So he was being a man. It just was he, he wasn't killing nobody or doing nothing like that. He was just hustling. It's there between a hustler and a drug dealer.

He was a hustler because he took care of people. He didn't do no wrong. He ain't got no bad name. Ain't nobody never say he messed over them or nothing. So he was doing what he do to provide. How old are your siblings? compared to you? I got an older, I got an older brother, an older sister, and I got two younger siblings. They're both the same age, so they're like two years younger than me. And my older brother,

he won't. And matter of fact, my older brother and my older sister is one year older than me. And where did they end up going in life? Did they go down the same path as you? No, I got a, I got a sister. My older sister, she's actually a nurse, and my younger sister, She's a teacher and she's a nurse also. But my older brother, I just ain't really found out he was my brother until my dad was incarcerated. But he also done being in prison also too. But he was one of the ones that we ain't know. Like he was a child that popped up later on.

I met him when I was probably like 14, 15 years old. Why do you think some people from the same family, same environment end up in prison and not others? I can say the way they raise, your surroundings. Your environment means a lot. and what you're around. If you, it's like a match. If you like a match and you stick at other matches that are going to catch on all along,

going to be on fire sooner later. So I feel like it's your surroundings and what you're playing with and who you're around for sure is why certain people go and certain people don't. And that's been my goal to break that chain and give my kids a future. So I got two girls.

So I think it's more at risk, I mean, it's less risk for girls to go to prison than boys. That's why your older sisters you don't think went down that path? Yeah, that's why I don't. I think so for sure. How old were you when you had kids? I was 16.

Wow. I was young. Do you think that put it in perspective of, you know, your dad going to prison when he had kids and then you would later go on to prison with kids? That made me feel like some type of way. I felt like a letdown when I went because I knew the feeling. Like, I knew how I felt when my dad went to prison. And my kids, they dad are girls. I got two girls.

They love me. Like, we do everything together. And when I went, I know that took a part of them. You know what I mean? Like at visitation one time, my youngest little girl, she looked me in my eyes. She said, Dad, they said, you're going to come home until you 75. And that puts something in me, man. Like, I went back.

That was the longest walk to the dorm after visitation of them. So, and I know, like I said, I know the feeling. And even like with women, how would a girl know what genuine love like if she never had her father? And I was there trying to prepare them to know what that love was like. Like I opened the door for them. I hold their book bags. I go get my nails done with them.

Like, them my babies. You know what I mean? And I wanted to set the standard when they started dating on demand that they should date. So if a guy making an excuse, first thing I'm saying, oh, my daddy did this. I wanted to be their hero. And when I went to prison, I felt like I was letting them down. And with that 45-year prison sentence, it's like, dang, I'm, miss them growing up, I'll miss everything, you know, and I ain't want to get them used to

visiting me in prison or accepting jail cause because it would have became normal to them. And once they started dating, they would have been cool with dating a guy that's in and out of jail or that's in jail of prison, you know? So I just felt like a letdown and it hurted me for real, like, hurted my soul. And that's put fuel behind me too to get that appeal done. So now when you were 16, were you still in school once you had your kids? Oh, yeah, I was still in school at 16. When I found out I had a baby, that's what shifted me to do better because no one really

shocked me down and told me that you needed grades to play basketball or to go to college. Because I was just playing basketball. I was one of the top kids in the nation, like ESPN, Top 100, Basketball player in high school. I was getting recruited by SEC schools, ACC schools, all the mid-majors. And when I found out I had a baby, I had to make a difference. I left hometown. I left Augusta, Georgia, and moved over my career. to Mark Christian at 16 when I found I had a baby because I wanted better for my kid.

And that's when I moved to Florida and got in the books and got my grades up to part to go to college. So she was definitely my motivation when I found that I had a kid. And like I said, I knew how it felt without having a dad in my life. And I wanted to be the difference. I want to break the chain. Now was the child's mother in the picture? Yeah, she was in the picture. She was.

And she moved to Florida with you? No, I moved to Florida on my own, just me. And your daughter? No, just me on my own. So you left. Yeah, that's when I found out her mama was pregnant. Oh, okay. And I left.

My mom, my mom and my cousin drove me to Florida nine hours away. My mom and my cousin drove me to Florida nine hours and dropped me off with, I ain't know a soul. I ain't know a soul. I just went down there on prayer and hope. But how I got connected with it was Clemson was recruiting me at the time. And one of the assistant coaches at Clemson knew the coach at Oldsmore. And he connected me with him and told him that I can move down there, go to the prime. private school, get my grades together, and a possibility I can sign to Clemson once is all

said and done. So that's how I got connected down there, but I never had physically met them until I got down there. So what ends up happening? Do you sign to a D1 school? Yeah, I signed to Georgia State. I end up going to Georgia State out of high school. I did a year and a half at Georgia State, and then our coach got fired, right? And they end up letting me go at Georgia State. But the situation with that was, you know, when new coaches come in, they want to bring in their players and everything. And it was a lot of, like, little small talk that saying I was parted and all that. But remember I told you, I had left Laney at 16. I moved to Florida at 16.

So I used to come back home, of course, when I'm coming back home, I'm going out. And back then, you know, camera phones went and all that. So you're going to take a, you see a camera, you're going to take you a good picture. And I had a lot of pictures on my social media and everything or me just being out. And so when they came in and did one-on-one interview, They were like I was partying all the time and things like that. But it hadn't been years of work added up on my social media. But I couldn't argue with them because it was perspective of reality.

If you look at my social media, it looked like I party all the time because that's all the pictures that I have on my Facebook at that moment. And so they told me that, you know what I mean? They're going to sit down and see what they're going to bring me back in. And then next they came out with, I have my next one. It was Florida, you need three masks to graduate. Georgia, you need four. So, but I hadn't already took this 99 class, Math 99, before I even got into Georgia State.

I took it that summer. So they came to me and they was like, I need to take another math because I only got one, I'm on short one math because I'm in as an in-town kid because I'm from Georgia. So I need that other math. And they tried to set me up to take this test. And I had to take the test within like 30 minute time. And I'm a friend, but leave will never stay nowhere where you don't belong or you don't feel comfortable at. So I knew right then they were trying to get rid of me and I ended up leaving. I transferred to a Juco college.

And the Juco had told me that, you know what I mean? I come there. They'll have my own place today because they understand I got a kid and everything. They'll fly my mom in. They'll fly my kid in to at least one game a month and everything. So I get down there. It's like two or three weeks in. I don't see no house.

I don't see nothing. What they're telling me? I'm staying on campus. So I went feeling that. So I ended up going back home. I flew back home on my own expenses and I just like, I'm just going to sit out this year. But at the time while I was home,

De Mietrich, the coach at August State, used to come to my house and visit me every day. I'm talking to my house every day. It was like, you know, you're in college. Once you get in college, that clock start. It don't stop. It's going to keep running. It ain't no time to waste no years.

You should just come here if you want to transfer within the next year. I'm cool with that, but it ain't no need for you to just sit out. And he promised my mom when he was going to help me get my degree. And that's what my mom always wanted me to do with get my degree. So that's all she needed to hear. And I actually went to August State. That's why I finished out at, and that's why I graduated from. And my grandma was getting sick at the time, and my granddaddy,

and I knew they was getting older. So that kind of kept me at home and kept me in Augusta. And did you play basketball there? Yeah, I played basketball there, and I ended up playing three years at August State. Is that D1 and 2 or now? It's D2, Division 2, but it's actually one of the better Division 2 schools out there. They didn't went to the, like in the last couple years, they don't been to the national championship one time.

They didn't have been to the final four, I think, two or three times. They want to top programs. If you want to go D2, that's one of the Vittin two schools that considered one of the best that you should go to. Now, did going D2 kind of hamper your professional goals? Or can you still get scouted in D2? Oh, yeah, you still can get scouted at on. We had actually Garrett Cyrus played in the NBA from August State, seven-footer. He played.

Then you got like Kishan, Cheryl, he's still playing right now. You got Dean. It's a lot of people from August State that's playing professional. basketball at the moment and I played professional basketball. I still went overseas. I went to Bogota. I went to Columbia, South America. I played all that for two years. What stopped my career was I got hurt. I broke my foot. So that happens right after college. Right after college. How do you end up overseas? Do you get recruited? Yeah, you get recruited. It's just like trying to go to college, you'll be your highlight tape. You can either sign with an agent or you can go on the web sites,

send out emails, blast emails your highlight tape. You just got to put yourself in position. It's just like anything in life, just being consistent and putting it out there. And someone, if they like it, they'll see it. They'll come get you. And you're paid to go over there? Yeah, you get paid. Yeah, you get. For sure. You know, and it depends on how good you are. It depends on the check. And the other thing about overseas, there ain't no tax. So whatever you make overseas, they ain't got nothing to do in America. And does your, the mother of your child and your daughter go overseas with you, too? No, I went by myself. And you stay there alone for two years? Two years. Wow. But it wasn't consistent two years. I was there like six months out of like six.

months, then come home for two or three months, then went back. What was it like playing ball over there? Man, it was one of the peaceful moments I ever had in my life, honestly, because you wake up every day, you're a superstar. Like, how they treat people in the NBA? That's how they treat people overseas, like you, they're professional. And I ain't have to do now. I had a maid, had a shelf, you know what I'm not?

I have to dry nowhere. And he just waking up and ain't no drama. Like, you can walk outside and scratch. Like, it was living like a movie. It was a dream come true. You ain't got no rarves. and you ain't got to worry about nobody calling, aggravating about nothing, asking you for something, it was free.

It was like freedom for sure. How much is the pay at that point in time? At that point, at that point in time, I was making like $2,500 a month at the moment, but it'll pay varies now. You can go from $2,500 a month to $10,000 a month to $20,000 a month. It's just all on you. And with me going through my situation from the Division II and all that,

they brought me in as a risk. So I had to take a pay cut to prove myself that I can play on that level. So that's how my pay was where it was. And it's that amount plus all your expenses are covered. Yeah, you ain't got nothing. You ain't got nothing to pay for nothing. Why you're over there unless you just want to go out somewhere and buy some clothes or something. But other than that, you don't pay for nothing.

They feed you, house you, everything. Now, what was your original plan to just play overseas for the rest of your career? Or were you hoping to get in the NBA? I was hoping to get in the NBA. Like, I'm always a player well or a person that I'm going to wish for the best. So I'm always going to shoot for the best no matter where I'm at. Even as a job, if I start out of janitor, I'm going to try to become a supervisor or the CEO one day. So the same with basketball.

You know what I mean? I might start off at the low, but I'm trying to get to the highest point or the highest peak that can get me to. So what happens with this injury you were mentioning? Well, I was in the game. I had that matter of fact, my senior high, I mean in college, I broke the same as at, foot. I came down. The doctor used always tell me, and the trains always tell me to stop winning Jordans. Like, Jordan's had became

a fashion shoot and not a shoot to play basketball then because the material had changed. And I wasn't listening. I just still always wanted to play Jordans. And I came down one day on the side of my foot and actually cracked the fifth bone in my foot. And I didn't

tell anyone I kept playing through it and I actually broke the whole side of my foot. And then when I went, they put a screw in it my senior year so I can back playing the playoffs. So I kind of came back to early rushing it instead of just sitting out the whole year. And once I went back overseas, it was just wearing, tearing over the years, and I ended up breaking that same bone around the screw because the screw was what I was actually walking and playing on the whole time. The bone was never actually healed. And when I got overseas,

basically like the same type situation, because I was very athletic. Like, you know what I mean? I'm a dunk, rebound, and that was my specialty, what I do. And I went up to get a rebound, and I felt like this odd feeling in my leg. And I just knew it was the same exact thing. And I ended up getting X-ray and I broke my foot in the same exact spot again. And that's a career-ending injury at that point? Well, at this time, I found I had another child on the way. And I was back home.

I found I had another child. And the doctor was explaining to me that if I keep doing insane injury, that it can possibly damage my nerves and my foot and I will never have a feeling again. And I end up getting a job at a chemical plant down there. in Augusta and the chemical plant, I was making what I was making overseas a month. I was making in a week there. And so I kind of fell in love with that. And I wanted to be around my kids and I just let basketball go.

And I just feel like that I can make my money and be around my kids and stay home. And I kind of let the game go. And I said, I just pouring to others. And I actually went back to school that year. That's when I got my degree in 2016. I went back to school and I started coaching as a student coach that year. So I was still around the game. but I just wasn't playing.

What'd that do to you mentally, you know, having your dream go out like that and kind of having to reposition? Man, like, I've been mentally scrowing my whole life and been facing adversity. So at that moment, it's like, it ain't really do nothing to me because I was still making money and I was still being me. You know, so it ain't really damaged me. It ain't really damaged me at all.

And it kind of helped me now because I realize that I was just living my dream and not my purpose. And God had a bigger purpose for me. And this is what I'm doing now, telling my story, talking to kids, motivated speaking, writing books. Like, this feels better than any basket that I don't scold in my life. And that's what I see. Like, back then, we might be doing what we want to do, but not what God do.

It's a difference between a dream and a purpose. Like, my calling wasn't basketball. Basketball was just stepping stone to my calling because basketball would have got me known. Basketball would got me popular. But now I'm into my car. calling them into my purpose. I could feel the difference for sure. How old were you at that point when you came back and started working at the chemical plant? I was 23. 23. And how long is that going on for working there? Well, I was actually working there for six and a half years to COVID hit. And once COVID

hit, that's when I stopped working there. But then my situation happened that sent me to prison was in 2019. So I kind of took a little pause there because the jail time situation and get my job back, but I end up going back and I end up really getting terminated until COVID, which they said that my FMLA papers was not turned down when COVID hit, but I never received them. And the thing with that going to that situation was the night that my incident happened that sent me to prison. In 2019, I had just got a promotion at that job to actually move up in the plant. And the job that I got that I was getting, it took five years for the average person to learn the plant. I had to learn the whole plant within two years. And so that gave me a promotion. And the guy that was the supervisor at the time, I would have been over him at that moment. And I feel like it was more of a job thing with him. And so because when I came back, because my coat defendant worked at the same place also, we both got out at the same time in 2019.

He got his job back right away. It took me like three months to get my job back. So I kind of figured they was after me in some kind of way since then. So when I finally caught COVID and I was out for over a month, that was their time to terminate me. And that's what happened. I have to admit something. For someone who interviews fraud investigators,

IRS agents, detectives, and former scammers all the time, I almost got got. I got one of those text messages saying, I had an unpaid toll and needed to pay it immediately. At first, I laughed, then I clicked it, then I thought, wait, did I actually drive through a toll somewhere? For about 45 seconds, I completely talked myself into believing it. Right before I was about to send money, I stopped and thought, Ian, what are you doing? That's the thing about scams. They don't always catch people who aren't paying attention.

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in the app or at cache.com.com. New Cash app customers can earn $10 if they use code Secure 10 in their profile at sign up and send $5 to a friend within 14 days. Terms apply. Cash app is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash Apps Bank partners. Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, member FDIC, Cash App Visa debit Flex cards issued by Sutton Bank, member FDIC, and the Bancorp Bank, N.A.

pursuant to a license from Visa USA Incorporated. See terms and conditions for the Sutton prepaid card, Sutton Debit Flex card, and Bancorp Debit Flex card. Discounts and promotions provided by Cash App, a Block Incorporated brand. Visit cache.com slash legal slash podcast for full disclosures. Describe for us what happened in 2019. That would end up sending you to prison. In 2019, I was out celebrating. and after the end of the bar in nightlife,

a fight broke out. I wasn't involved in the fight, but at the time I didn't know that the parties that I was with was in the fight as the fight was going on. So once I'm leaving out, you know, when you hear something, I don't know why people like this,

when you hear commotion, you run to it. Like, you just got to see what's going on. And it was around the building, so I walked around the building to see what was going on. But by the time I get around there, the fight was over, people was running back towards me then that's when i started seeing some familiar faces which was the

people that i was with so like okay so they everybody's leaving i'm like i wasn't involved in the fight so i don't have to leave i'm not leaving so i get in my car i'm trying to pull off as i'm sitting in my car another group of guys come from out the bar and from both sides and surround my car and one of them opened up my door but they was aggressive and talking crazy like and they opened up my door and one of the guys like they had something in his pocket So I had my gun license and my gun. I shot a shot out of fear like a warning shot. Just let them know I got a gun and I'm feared for my life.

And one of the guys ended up getting scrubbed. It was just one shot. That's it. One of the guys ended up getting scrook. Everybody ran. I stayed there to talk to the police that night. They let me go. They let me go home.

This was on a Wednesday. And Friday, I supposed to start a new position that Monday. So Friday I went out of town to get a mentally reset just like, man, I could have just lost my life. So to get a mental reset. And as I'm out of town Friday, my mama called. The police investigators down here at my house, La Hara, say, huh? Say, yeah, about the situation happening Monday. I said, I talked to the police.

She's like, well, they ain't coming down here. They got a warrant for your arrest because they put an investigator on the phone. So I talked to the investigator. I told them I'd be down on Monday to turn myself in. Right after I got the phone, like my phone was ringing off the hook, everybody calling me. They hadn't put me all over the news and newspaper wanted for aggravated assault, aggravated battery, like I was just a mass killer. They ran them clips all way until Monday night.

Let me tell you this. So Monday came. I went to go turn myself in. So I'm down now sitting in the visitation room. And I'm asking later like, hey, I'm here to turn myself in. She's like, okay, we got to get the warrants for you. So now it's about like 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I'm still sitting there.

I went to turn myself in like 8 o'clock that morning. So it's like 2 o'clock. So I'm like, hey, I'm still not going on. Like, y'all forgot about me or something. She's like, oh, no, we just got to wait till all the news clips run. Like, y'all got to wait to the news clip, right? Yeah, that was she telling me. So I'm sitting there.

I'm watching the news. It's still August State basketball player still on the loose. But I'm right here. Like, what's going on? I'm right here. So, yeah, so I end up, they end up booking me into jail to like 8 or 9 o'clock that night because they still had to run them articles. What were your charges?

Aggravated assault, aggravated battery, simple battery, and possession of a fire on. But I thought you had a license to carry. I did. So why would they charge you with that? I have no idea. That's a question that I always asked. And even with simple battery and the aggravated battery, I wasn't involved in the fight. So I got charged with everything that happened that night. Now, when you said you fired a warning shot, why not fire it in the air? I was in the car. So if I do that, I probably break the glass or something like that. He opened up the car, though, so I just shot where I felt the wind come through.

But you weren't planning on actually hitting someone. Never. I won't harm nobody. Like, I wasn't planning on harm them at all. Now, and Georgia, is the gun not allowed to be carried in the car like that? Was that the issue? Yeah, the gun can be carried in the car. You can have it on you. So, but I never got an answer to that question. Is that a separate permit, though? Like, I know in Connecticut you need a separate permit, I think, to actually carry it. No, I had my carrying license. Like, it's only one in Georgia, your carrying license. And I had that for sure. Now, why are they waiting for the news to come out about you? Like, as I learned the case, I started learning, and they say it's a political case,

which means when you're somebody known like that, that's how they handle the situations, I guess, so-called, because you've got to think about it, negative make money. And I guess they figured since I was a household name, I was this big star basketball player and all that, that they just want to run the clips to get more views. And do you end up getting a lawyer that day? Do you talk to a lawyer? What happens? Yeah, I had a lawyer.

I went down there with a lawyer. When I turned myself in, I had a lawyer at that moment. For sure. And what's he saying? He just dropped me off and left me. So I ain't really talked to him to the next time I talked to him was in preliminary here. And how long was that after the- 31 days?

And do they hold you? Yeah, I stayed in the 31 days. Why didn't they give you bail? They say they wouldn't ever give me the lawyer. told my mom not to bun me out because the long guy sit then the possible time where they can get the case dropped in preliminary. And when I went to preliminary hand, my coat defendants got their charges dropped. But they didn't drop my charges and I'm telling my lawyer like, hey, I told I wasn't involved in the fight. Why this the charges still sticking? He told me to be quiet and let him

handle it. I ended up getting the bunning out that day and I went and fired him time I bunded out. Okay, so you eventually do get bail. Yeah, I get bail 31 days later. And your co-defendants are the guys that were actually involved in the fight. Yes. So is there like a witness that's tying you to the fight? Why would the cops even charge you? Right then, my co-defendants end up taking a negotiation plea later on down the line.

And how the questions was read it, it seemed like I was involved in the fight. they left out some very important information about the fight. And that's how I ended up getting charged. And in 2022, like I had, I just had a major eye surgery. I had got taken by the police and ended up damaging my eye. I had a real eye surgery. I lost my grandma like a couple months later. My grandma passed.

So in 2022, I end up hiring another lawyer. And I'm going through all this. I'm in a very deep depression stage, you know what I mean? Like, I can't see. I'm like blind because it damaged my eye. I got tased. And he told me to just take an open plea. And an open plea is that I'm guilty to the situation that I was there, but not to the crime.

And he wants me to show mercy to the courtroom where it won't be a harsh sentence if I go to trial. And he'll get the charges that I wasn't involved then dropped because they know I wasn't in the fight. And the same time, the mayor of Augusta was taking me out to eat, having conversation with me. The mayor told me the same thing. Just take the open plea and we'll take care of it. And I'm going through all this at the time and this before I even got into the law, so I don't know nothing about this. So I took the plea. I took the open plea.

And that's how I ended up getting tied into the case. And then the sentencing, when I went to sentencing, that's when everything changed. That's when they sentenced me to 20 years. probation in a restitution and were to pay $155,000 within 12 months. So now there's no cameras, there's no other witnesses to call showing that you weren't involved in the fight? They had the camera. They wouldn't play the footage in court.

But why not just get a different lawyer than at that aspect? So I had to have five different lawyers on this case. And you fired every single one of them? Well, no, it went like, I fired the first one. Then the second one that I hired, they removed her out of the case. her husband had died and she was sick and they told her that she won't she won't be able to stand trial so they basically made her retire she ended up retiring while on my case but when i hired her she told me that my case was going to be her last case but they forced her to retire i just got a letter in the mail

that saying that she's no longer representing me and that's she the one told me that they told her that she won't be able to stand trial that she was sick but she's saying that she was ready to go to trial And so I end up getting a public defender. So I ended up having a public defender for about five, six months. And then she called me. And she say that I will no longer be representing you. She says it's a conflict. I say, how's the conflict?

She said, we're trying to figure it out. So I hung up the phone with her. Start doing my research. She never represented one of the victims. She never represented one of my co-defendants. So I was trying to figure out how she was a conflict. So I called her back and I say, well, did you find out yet? It was like a couple days later.

She was like, no, this just told me I was digging too deep. And she hung up the phone on me. She hung up the phone. So then I got assigned a conflict attorney, another public offender. So I'm talking to the public offender, you know what I'm saying? Like, I'm not taking no deal. I want to go to trial. I want to go to trial.

She told me that she was scared of the judge and she don't know how I'd go because she's scared of the judge. And then now this one, I'm finding out everybody had that turned on me at this moment. And that they really, she said that they really wanted me. So they worked a deal with everybody else. And that's when I knew then I had to get another paid lawyer. And I had a situation in college, right? In 2013, where they found the gun in my dorm room. In 2013, they found a gun.

gun in my dorm room and I end up having an attorney then he got my charge dropped because they found the gun I wasn't there I was at practice when the police went in my room and it was a guy in my room at the time they caught in the room with marijuana and they ain't charged him they charged me for the gun and the lawyer got that charge dropped for him so I went back and got him the same lawyer thinking that he's going to be able to help me but that's the one that led me to take the open plea So now this is what's going on over the course of the three years. Correct. All this happened in three years ago.

And you're on bail this whole time. Yeah. Now how do you end up getting tased by the cops during that time? Okay. So I got tased in 2022 on May 25th, 2020. And looking back, like, everybody says it sounds crazy. I know it, dude. Like, I know I shouldn't have been there up, but this don't sound crazy.

I was with the same exact people at the same exact spot. And a fight broke out. I was walking by trying to get in my car. The police turned around to taste me. I end up losing the eye. You did nothing. Did nothing. I was walking by.

I got it on footage. I think I just feel like I was already labeled. So the cops knew who you were? Yes. Like, I'm very known in Augusta. You can go anywhere in Augusta. Everybody going to know me. Like, we can walk in anywhere at any time.

I'm going to shake at least minimum 10 people here. 10 people are going to speak to me. Now, why would you go back to that bar anyways? Because it's three and a half, what, three half years later? And I don't cause no trouble. I ain't in no trouble. And it's like on certain days, that's the only spot that's open. You know what I mean?

And I feel like I wasn't harming nobody or anything because I don't, I'm not the type of person that involved myself in trouble. I defuse a situation before I start a situation. You know? Even at that time, I just got caught at the wrong place at the wrong time. And that's when I learned that God will give you hard lessons to you learn. And I felt like that was one of the reasons why I actually went to prison for a hard lesson. That's why my book called Blessings in the Dark and just let me know.

All nightmares, it's not a, I mean, all dark moments, it's not a nightmare. So it was a blessing in the skies that God was trying to save me from. So you weren't saying anything to the cops, you weren't instigating them, nothing. They just tased you and that was it? Nothing. They just taste me. I was walking by. Like, the video, I got video for the body cam.

And they tasted you in the face or the head? Well, I blanked out. So I lost the eye, I know. I ain't following anything. I ain't had no compact. So, like, I don't even remember that night, honestly. And then when you woke up, what happened? You were in the hospital?

I was in the hospital. And I went through surgery. And they tell you you don't have an eye anymore? You lost vision? Yep, they told me. So you can only see out of one eye right now. Sure. Yeah.

And are you in a lawsuit with them? Are you suing them at all? It's something that's being discussed. Okay. So that happens, and then how long after do you get sentenced? So that happened, and that's the crazy part. So that happened in May, right? I got sentenced in October.

But in September, my co-defendants went to court in September. They went to court in September first. I didn't go to court October 6th. But this new attorney, when I hired the attorney told me that they were trying to break my bun because of the situation that happened in May. With the cops. But I was never arrested or anything in May.

So in September, they was just trying to bring up an affray to make this other case look bad. So they wasn't able to do that because the month's time went by and y'all having to arrest me or anything. So when I actually went to court, they made it seem like everything was one big case.

So that may seem like everything happened at one time, like the incident for the fight and all this with my eye was happening at one time. And they said I went back in May, but they said that I was banned and I was trespassing, which I was never banned. Because actually the incident that took place in 2019 has happened in the parking lot of this facility,

which is a plaza. It ain't actually happened. inside this bar. So I was never banned. But when I went to court for sentencing, they tied it all together. They showed the footage from me getting tased, but they never showed the footage from 2019 to fight. They never did.

And you would have saw... I actually got a video on YouTube. It's called My Side of the Story, Harold Dover, that actually show and the live footage of what happened in 2019. I released that footage after I went to court. And when I released that footage, and they sent me to prison in 2023, the district attorney was telling my mom, I need to take that video down because it'll get me hurt in prison.

Why would it get you hurt? That's what I was trying to figure out. I was just showing my innocence. So now where's your mom and all this, how she's reacting to the initial charges and you're getting teased and getting sentenced, all of these things? You know, she's a very scorn woman. Like, I never seen my mama cry into my grandma died. And I knew we was going through a lot.

And she was trying to hold everything together, even from a young age. So she hid her pains very well. You know what I mean? And now recently to this day, like, I saw her health decrease. And I just know it's from all the stress that I've been taking her through. I'm my only child. It's just me and my mom. all we got.

And I just know it's from everything I've been taking her through. You know what I mean? But through these fights and everything these battles, she's standing ten toes with me. She's my other brain. What happened to your other siblings? They might have siblings.

Okay, they were just strictly from your dad. Yeah. Even your younger ones too? My youngest one. So your mom only had you with your father that ended up in prison? Yes. Okay.

I'm my only child. And I look at it as that with her. Hell if I look at it like this. I tell people all the time my mom, she like got bricks over her head with me standing on them. And I'm standing over the, I'm standing on top of the bricks with a rope around my neck. But the rope is to get over the wall.

But all she says to rope thinking that I'm trying to hang myself, so she's being so scrown to keep me up, right? So once I finally clamped over the rope, what got home free from prison, she didn't held these bricks up for so long. that it didn't become normal to her. She only realized she's holding bricks no more because she's staying strong for me

and for my kids. So when I finally came home, she forgot she had bricks and just wanted to hug me and grab me. So when she hugged me and grabbed me, the bricks come tumm and down on. And I feel like she was standing so strong with me when I finally came home.

She relieved a lot of stress and everything and kind of let her guard down and everything just started taking toll. So recently she had a health decrease, but other than that, I ain't see no, like, signs of it before then. So now you got 20 years probation? 20 years probation, yeah. That's a very long time of probation. I'm still up on the same circumstances that sent me to prison.

Like, and they never had, they said the restitution was for doctor bills. For the victim? For the victims. Never saw a doctor bill. Never had a restitution hearing. None of this was never proved. These documents was never proven. And I'm just finding out now that they just subpoenaed the hospital of July 2025.

I don't have been sentenced. I don't been in prison and all about this. They just subpoenaed the hospital in 2025. The hospital just sent back that the records has been purged. So my thing is, if I was sentenced in 2022, then revoked in 2023 and sent in prison for 45 years for not paying this restitution, why wasn't in my file? What guidelines I was sentenced off of it. If you never had restitution in my caseload,

if this evidence was never in my caseload, these doctor bills was never in my caseload. So what did this number even come from? And $155,000? And like I said, I had two major eye surgeries, and it wasn't that. And you're telling me just for something. And the guy got shot.

It went in his side, came out, and hit his elbow. So it ain't like the bullet stayed in or anything. I understand. You probably had to get staples or a rod in his arm. You know what I mean? Not taking that for granted because, you know, that's an injury. You know what I mean?

But I knew it wasn't no $155,000 worth. And if you take out a loan for $155,000, it takes at least 30 years for that. And you wanted me to do this within a 12 months time. Yeah, how did they even come up with you have to pay it in 12 months? I have no idea to this day. There's no financial affidavits you fill out to show you can't pay or anything? That post has been in a restitution hearing, but I never had the restitution hearing.

And that's how I end up winning my appeal. That was part of it because it's different between unable to pay and unwilling to pay. I was unable to pay. And think about it, if I was able to pay $155,000, how I would have been eligible to get a public defender? And I had two public defenders on this case. If I was making that type of money, I wanted to be eligible to have a public defender. Were they thinking your parents were going to pay that or something? My mom, for God, I ain't able to pay it.

My mom had no job because my mom stopped working in 2000. And I want to say, might be 14. Yeah, like 2012, 2014 because my grandma got sick. And my mom became an in-house nurse for my grandma. So my mom wasn't able to pay it. My dad was just getting out of prison. And even if they were able to pay it, that's not my income. When I was in court, like I had a non-profit too.

I do tour drives, I give away turkeys and everything, Thanksgiving, feed people on Christmas. And when I got sentenced, the courtroom was full. It wasn't no space in the court. We were standing room only in the courtroom. When I got sentenced and the judge told me to pay that amount of money in 12 months, I raised my hand. I said, Your Honor, I don't make that type of money in two years. He told me to turn around.

You do for the community. Turn around and ask them for help. I made a go fund me. I did that. And that didn't work? Nah. How much did you raise? I think I only raised like $5,700.

$57? That's it. So you leave sentencing that day. What are you thinking? Man, I bust out in tears. I just bust out in tears, and I couldn't believe everything that was happening. I thought what I had an idea in the community and what I stood for. And everybody that was there with me along the ride.

they jumped out the car. They jumped out of the car. They jumped out of the car on me. So I was left alone on that ride. And I just felt stupid, betrayed it and everything. And that's what taught me about life. It taught me a lot about life when you no longer value. Like, as long as I was valuable to people and beneficial to them,

they was there with me. But at that moment, I was no longer beneficial to them. So everybody left me alone. I got people in position where they needed to be at, and they turned their back. So now, where are your daughters at this time? I got one. Actually, matter of fact, she's a senior in high school, right? But she's taking college classes at the moment.

So she can graduate high school this December, but she's going to finish out the whole school year and go to college. And I got one that just started in middle school. And both of them is actually eight honor roll students. No, I'm talking about when you got sentenced. Oh, and I got sentenced. Yeah. My oldest daughter, she was right there with me. She was right there with me.

She doesn't been there with me every step other way. Everything I've been through, she doesn't saw it firsthand. Because when I was younger, and my dad went to prison, my mama and my cousin, they told my dad was in college because he was gone. I found out my dad was in prison from one of my basketball teammates. And that hurted me. And that kind of like roughed up my bummed my mama because I felt like she lied. But I didn't understand she was protecting me.

And so when I got older, I always found myself, I'm going to keep it 100 with my kids. I'm going to be honest with them. And that's why my oldest daughter, I let her be there with me, every step of the way. And is the baby mother in the picture at that point? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I got two different baby mammas in all of us cool. Like, my baby mama's cool. They talk more than I talk with them. Like, I don't have no problems. I ain't on child support. I'm living. I'm good. But me and my baby mom was, we took a trip together like with the kids.

And both my kids, four days apart, one on birthday to 16th, one on birthday to 20th. So we have to plan accordingly. And they plan out their birthdays so I can make both of their birthdays. So one of them might do it the first weekend. One on might do it the second weekend. So I don't have no problems. Now, when you get sentenced to the probation and the restitution, what are you doing for work? Because you lost the other job?

I was actually working a shutdown at the time. What is that? It's like hole watching. It actually was at the same plant but it was a temp job until a contract run out. So that's what I was doing at the moment. Because I was doing light duties

because remember I was just coming out of eye surgery and like sunlight was hurting my eyes and everything. I had migraines to this day still. And I was having real bad migraines at the time so I really couldn't do no heavy duty or no work. And I ended up getting laid off that November. So the whole time, from that November until I went to prison.

I wasn't working at all. So you weren't paying any money? I was getting what I could. How much were you paying? Do you think a month? Like the minimum $10 I'll be up to $100. And is the restitution monthly? Is that how it works?

It was monthly. Okay. But for a year, they want you to pay it all in a year. They want me to pay everything in a year. And then I learned as I went to prison, the restitution law, that goes back to what I said, the difference between unable and unwilling. I was unable because I was paying. every month. And when they come to restitution, that they can't really put a price on what you

can pay if you never had a hearing to show your finance situation. I was getting food stamps and everything at the moment. So you know I wasn't able to pay $155,000. So do you make it through the whole year before it becomes an issue? Yeah, they let me go the whole year. They went exactly 365 days. So what happens on day 366? Okay. So. So, Remember, I got sentenced on October 6th to this restitutionary. So the following year, 2023, they brought me to court. So I didn't have a lawyer. When I showed up, well, I still had the lawyer that I had that I took the plea deal with.

But when I showed up, he wasn't there. And the judge asked me was my attorney. I was like, I don't know. I haven't talked to him since the day you sentenced me last year. I ain't talked to him. But, my fact, let me go back. I did talk to him. I talked to him like a couple days later.

And I was telling him that I want to redraw my job. my plea. And he was saying that wasn't possible. That what he was telling me. It wasn't possible in all this. And I ain't talked to him then. And so when I went to court, I like, I didn't have no lawyer. I mean, he's not here. I haven't talked to him. And the DA was like, well, we'll take a quick recess. We're going to go call him. So about five minutes, they come back in there. The DA said, I just got out the phone with his lawyer. He said last time he talked to Mr. Dobbins, they almost got into a field to altercation. Like, huh? Y'all, I haven't even seen this man face-to-face. How? So, like, well, you got to go down to the public offender office and sign up for a public defender.

And I see you back next week. So I left out, went to the public defender office, signed up to a public defender. They ended up giving me another court date for October the 12th. When I got the court, October the 12th, they had then gave me the same public defender that they said was a conflict. I'm like, how could I have the same attorney that was once a conflict on the same case number? If it was a conflict then, why it's not a conflict now? So she pulled me outside and she was like, I guarantee you going to prison.

She said, I thought you was going a year ago. All they did was bought you a year of time. I went in there. The judge brought me up to the stand, said my name, and he asked the probation people what was my standards. The probation was like where he's in good standards. He never felt a drug test. He showed up all his appointments.

He then paid some money towards his restitution and everything. And it was like how much he paid? She was like, well, it looked like for the figures that I have, he only have $3,000 left to pay out $155,000. And the DA was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, your honor. He only paid $310. And the probation people was like, well, according to us, he made a $9,000 payment, he made a $10,000 payment.

He doesn't make $65,000 payment. Like, well, that can't be right. The DA saying like, that can't be right. So then judge is like, well, we're going to do it like this. Have you paid towards or have you paid it in full? She's like, well, he haven't paid it in full. We're like, okay, that's it. Well, we're going to rescinds Mr. Dobe up on the First Defenders Act.

20 years aggravated assault, 20 years aggravated battery, five years possession of a fire arm and 12 months for a simple battery. 45 years confinement. That was it. All for not paying it. All for not paying it. That's crazy. I haven't committed a new crime.

I haven't gotten into no trouble or anything. And he's just saying it's a violation of probation by not paying the restitution. Yep. So where did they get those other payments from, those larger payments? I'm still trying to figure it out to this day. And that was eye open when I went to prison, right? And my counselor, she asked me what I was in there for. And I was telling them I was in there for not paying restitution.

Like, my probation got revoked for not paying restitution. And she pulled up my restitution receipts, and my restitution was at zero. It was paid off. And I got the receipts. And the receipts actually said my restitution was paid. off on October, uh, 2023.

Who paid it off? I have no idea. So still to this day, you don't owe restitution. So now I still to this day, they saying I owe restitution, but on paper it's saying zero. But the DAs keep saying I owe restitution.

And when I read my coat defendants transcript from day sentencing, the DA said that there's no restitution because the victim advocate program had paid majority of it and the victim had insurance. So he mentioned that in my co-defendant transcripts.

But when it came to me, it was different. It was a whole different lane, a whole different ballgame. And then that's when I learned about restitution. It's two steps that you take before you incarcerate somebody. You can either give them community service or you can put them in a class. You just don't go scrape to imprisonment. So they skipped both of them steps and sent me straight to prison. So they take you from the court that day.

Did they give you any time to prepare or you get handcuffed and hauled the way? Went from the street, straight to the prison. Scrate to the hole and cell. I wasn't prepared, no nothing. It was a wake-up call. And I was still, and it's crazy because I was still so depressed and trying to recover from my eye injury and my grandma death and grieving from that, bro. I ain't even hit a judge say 45 years.

I ain't know I had 45 years until I actually got on the flow to the hole in cell and called home. I had no idea I had 45 years. I was so out of it. I ain't heard nothing in the courtroom that day. I was in a deep depressed state, and that's when I knew I was depressed. Like, oh, I ain't know that I was just giving stitches to something that needs surgery.

So I hadn't been depressed for at least two and a half years and I ain't know it. I ain't realized it because my whole financial situation changed. I couldn't work. I couldn't do nothing for myself once I had my eye injury. So I was paying bills still taking care of my kids and spending money and wasn't making no money. So I went into a financial situation.

the hardship when that happened and I ain't realizing I was just depressed and I ain't know it and I used to be out doing things drinking and stuff just to keep my mind going because in my city I don't pay for nothing like we can go anywhere I ain't paying for nothing somebody gonna take care of me I'm gonna know somebody the line can be right around the building I can walk straight up to the front order whatever I want and don't have to pay so I don't need no money to move around my city and I was financially like no no people ain't people ain't know difference if I had a dollar if I had $10, if I had $100 in my pocket. But majority of days, I ain't had nothing.

I ain't have nothing. Now, 45 years, you know, what's going through your head when you get to that holding cell after that? That's what brought me out of depression. That's when I started getting on the ball. Like, ain't no way I'm going to do the rest of my life in here for something that, first of all, I wasn't involved in there. And over a dollar, and that's when I went. They got his little blue box called a kios. That's when I went on that and start looking up the law.

Start looking up laws on restitution and things like that. And that one I was like, okay, well, I'm at least be here for two to five months because I saw after sentencing, you got sitting in a county jail for two to five months. I got sentenced on October to 12. But first of all, I sat in the intake and the holding cell for eight days. Like, they ain't take me onto the flow until the eighth day. So I started in the holy cell with my same clothes on from court for eight days. So I'm thinking like it's a game.

Like they're just trying to teach me a lesson. They're going to let me go home. I ain't know what. They just gave me 45 years for not being able to pay something for no money. So they came. They put me on the pot. So I go in the pot. I'm there I call.

Like, I'm on the flow now, mama, or whatever. She's like, all right. So I'm like, well, I might be here for at least two to five months. I remember my birthday was October the 22nd. October 21st at midnight. they came and got me out of the cell, gave me a white paper thin suit, put me in a black SUV. They took me to Hancock State Prison first, then I went to Baldwin State Prison, then I went to Jackson. Why do you go to three different ones?

Because they had to train. They say I was a celebrity status, so they had to transport me a different way. So nobody knew how it was moving. Oh, so you just passed through. It was like an overnight stay. No, it was a couple hours for real. Okay. Yeah, a couple hours.

It was a stop, pit stop, and then I finally got on the bus. And then that's when I went with everybody else from all over the other state of Georgia, Jackson State Prison, one of the toughest prisons in Georgia, Jackson, the worst prison in Georgia. Why is that? It's diagnostics. So you got people from all over there coming through there. Like, you make it through Jackson, you can make it through anywhere. Jackson, I won't wish that on nobody.

You got rats, the size of cats, you got stabments going on every day. the food, trash, you're eating cold meals, it started at three. And if you coming from a jail, you might not get no commissary because the money ain't going to get on your books to probably like 30 to 40 days later. So you ain't got no snacks. Your phone calls ain't working. You got no contact for people 30 days. It's rough.

And so when I got to Jackson, like, man, that was one of the craziest experiments ever, man. When I got out of that bus, it's like my energy changed. They didn't make you script down to none. bunch of underwear, so you're around a whole bunch of other men and just your underwear. And this in October, it's freezing cold. So I'm out there in my underwear. Coal is, I don't know what. I was just letting people, everybody get in front of me.

Like, I don't want to go in. They ain't ready for this change yet. So I'm just letting people just get in front of me, get in front of me. I'd rather stand out here in the cold and enter them gates. So I finally go in there. They spray you with little stuff, shave my head off. And I get my card. Say my possible release date, October 6th,

They were like, it's real. It's real. I got to do something about it. And I go to the parole board, sit down with him. And he was like, it's something weird with this case because you got a felonist, aggravated assault, aggravated battery. But your grid is showing minimum level security. So I was like, well, he's like, but your parole date, possible parole date ain't to 2030. So he was like, your grid, you can go to a transitioning camp.

but your time ain't going to let you go to no transitioning so you at least got to go to a medium or a high prison you're like this your first time like yeah like he's like something awful with this case and so he's like you need to talk to somebody

so when I got back to the thing I talked to the I called him I asked the lady her name is few I'd never forget her I asked her can I go to the Lala Bayer and she looked at me like I was crazy she's like what you got going on

I'm like I just want to go to the Law Library. That's not something that people ask at Jackson. Nobody never go to the Law Library. So she thought I was trying to pull a move, pull a slip on over her head to get something done or go stout somebody or something because that's what go on around her. Like, that's what happening. And I get to the Law Library and I get to talk to the librarian and tell her my situation, you say, you're serious? I say, yes. So she gave me, she let me just come to the Law Library from six in the morning to six in the afternoon each day and I study the law. And that's how I got my appeal. I got there in October.

I hadn't on one. My pill hadn't got granted by November before I even made it to Washington State Prison. I went to watch State Prison in November 14th. My appeal was already granted. I hadn't did all that in two weeks. So you went through the whole appeal process in the court system over the course of a month? Of course in a month. Because you got sentenced at October and then November the appeal's already done.

Appeals granted. How? The system doesn't work that fast. Okay. That's what I thought too, right? So the day I got, the day after I got sentenced, I had put in for a to get remanded. I mean, not remand it, for a re-sentencing. Your lawyer did, or you did?

I did. So you fire your lawyer. You have no lawyer at this point? No, no, I ain't. I don't fire him yet. I just had put it in. Okay. And asked for a resentencing or a sentencing modification.

So it was already in. And I look at it like this now, check this out. So if you go to a store and you get a cash of $10, all right? if she give your items $5 so you know you're supposed to get $5 back and change. If she give you $3 back before you walk out that stove, you know something wrong. So you're going to ask for your change right then. Like, hey, you owe me $2 more. You only gave me $3.

I've posted got $5 back. But if you leave out that store and come back in and say that you only gave me $3, it's going to be an argument. She's going to say, now we've got to run these cameras back. We've got to do this. So time I got sentenced and I knew it was wrong, that day I put in this paperwork and these motions

well my mom did my mom did so since she I guess since she jumped on the ball time I got sentenced it was already in transit and in the system because they didn't put first of all they didn't post ship me after two to five

months I post you're able to do that within 10 days to go back through sentencing modification and all that within 10 days I think any Senate I think in the state of Georgia anything over seven years or 10 years automatically post to go through them steps anyway but by the head and shook me out so quick

and put me in the system and diagnostics, I was already ahead of the game. And everybody said me to this day, like, well, you're blessed. You're the first person ever to give back that much time and come home within nine months out of prison.

Now, why were they going to transfer you again after you had already gotten to Jackson? So Jackson is just a temporary stay. That's just like diagnostics for your blood work, physical, things like that. So some people stay in Jackson. They got actually,

Jackson has a prison for a long term, but majority of the people are going to stay to Jackson from 30 to, with, 120 days. Then why is it so bad there? I have no idea, but that's the worst. Like, I guess because you got people coming in trying to establish themselves. You got people just joining games. They're getting used as crash dummies, and they're trying to get their rap before they go to prison, have a name for their self. So they're just doing crazy stuff. It's a vibe of the fitness.

Like, it's dog-eat-dog real, like, Jackson. Do gangs approach you at all? Well, I was already known for basketball and stuff like that, and people know I wasn't known. I wasn't no game ever. And, like, people always tell me that I don't belong to, even people that was in there. Like, you're different.

My aura was just different. Like, when I walk in a room, the energy change. Like, people just always knew I was different. And the guys that was from Augusta that got high-ranked, hadn't already put in a word that, who I was, and I wasn't involved in anything. So I ain't had no problems. I was blessed going through prison.

I don't saw people get killed. and all that, but it was never my way. Now throughout this experience, is your dad helping you at all? Do you have any contact with your dad? Nah, me and my dad kind of actually lost contact as I went through prison. I talked to my dad at one time while I was in prison and I was trying to tell him the situation

and he told me just sit back and just at least be prepared to at least do five years. And that rode me the wrong way, so I don't like to hit no time. I don't want no negative, so I ain't talked to him since then. I had that ride while I was in prison. I ain't talked to my dad until I came home and probably like about four months after I came home. Now, you mentioned you saw people get killed, the why was that?

Gang. Gang related. Like, I saw a guy over a pack of noodles. I saw a dude get sliced from the top of his head all way down to his mouth over a pack of noodles, one pack of noodles. Like, everything you hear about prison, believe it. I saw a dude right there. I'm in there laying down, my bunkmate come up.

Hey, put everything up. Such and such just got killed. And time I walk out my doorstep, he right there laying in front of the dope blood just everywhere, blood everywhere. Like, the whole day room was full of blood. It took them out two and a half weeks to clean up that blood and guts. Like, that was some movie type stuff. And what happens after that?

Do you guys just get locked down? Just get locked down. And after 24 hours, life go back to normal. It was a guy that I was in there, I was in there working out. I'm on a pull-up bar. The room was right here. I don't know what was going on. Some people say that, you know, he got in there.

Some people say he overdosed our drugs. I don't know what happened. You know what I mean? I was minding my business. because you know in prison, you see stuff, but you don't. He was only there for three hours. Three hours. Walked in there, three hours, he was dead.

Three hours, that's it. And all right now working out, and the door come over. He's just laying there. Like, they got to keep it pushing. But he was only having been in prison for three hours. Did you think you were going to do or survive years in there? I mean, parole would have been, what, seven years later? I'm a survival.

I was going to do whatever it takes to survive, and I was going to make a home to my kids and my mom. You know what I mean? Like, I can defend myself. So being worried about that, you have to because that's just how it is, and you're seeing it happening. But you got to be on your P's and Q's at all times

at any given time in prison. Like, that's from sleep until you wake up, eating. And I can see how people come home and be the way they are, like, just be aggressive and don't take nothing lightly. because it don't rehabilitate you at all. It makes you angry. It forced you to be aggressive.

It force you to be a monster. Because you have to be on that time. Because you never know who on that time. So you gotta be on demon time at any given time. On the wake up, even when you sleep, shower. Like you gotta take a shower with your back to the water at all at any given time. Don't wash your hair.

Like, because you never know who plotting on your who watching you. And you're dealing with 1,500 different personalities a day. You know what I mean? somebody might be mad because their girl ain't answering the phone, or they just hungry or it's hot, or the CEO done made them mad, and they take it out on you. So you got to be on that at any given time, at any given time. Now, when you're there, are you thinking about how you got there,

all the events that led up to it? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I felt myself in accountability. I hold myself accountable for everything, because just like I stayed that night of the shooting, I could have left, but I stayed. but I was thinking since I ain't do nothing, I can state. So I don't blame nobody from what I did or how I ended up there.

I blame myself. Just like how I learned the law to get out of prison, I could have been learning the law on them little four years I was out on bun to avoid prison. But no, I didn't. I was out partying. I had my priorities all mixed up. I did that. I sent myself to prison by not being on my case the way I should have been.

It shouldn't have took me to go to prison. to be on my case, and that's what it did. That's why I say, all dark moment is not a nightmare because I found myself again. I became a depression. I already had a college degree before I went to prison. But while I was in prison, I gained nine other certifications. I got back in shape.

I wrote two books. And I got my appeal. I won my appeal. All while I was in prison, the nine-month spent. I did all this. So when they approve your appeal, though, you said it was only the first month. They don't release you?

No, they didn't release me. I still had to go through the, processes of the DA's writing their briefs and all that go back and forth. I didn't actually get released from prison until September 11th. So you know, my appeal actually got signed off on September 11th. I got released from prison on September 26 of 224. 2024. So 2023, though, you hear about the appeal getting accepted or? Yeah, I get, it got accepted. That means they're going to hear the case. They're going, yes. Okay. So, and you. get transferred to what do you say it was Washington State prison Washington State okay and what

kind of facility is that watch state it's a it's a medium facility but it doesn't turn it up what they call it's a thunder like man people they just had a big right down there that made national news uh I think at the beginning of this year it doesn't mean people getting killed down there every day they told me it was a medium it was a sweet camp when I got down there I saw four people die down there I saw a dude I'm just watching out the window dude on the basketball court drop dead. Like I say, the dude right up under me, get stabbed up. I'm working out the dude right next to me and the dough right next to me. He do pop open. He did. You know what to me? And I don't saw the guard getting beat asleep. Like, I saw some stuff in that, man. I don't saw some stuff in that

I won't wish on no man. And when I got released from prison on September 26, Richmond County picked me up the same day and helped me in the county jail. They helped me in the county jail. So the The appeal board when I warned it, they remanded it back to the lower courts, right, to make it right. Because it was still numerous errors that they didn't even acknowledge end up here. They just, they just said, it's just too much. I'm just going to let Richmond County handle their mistakes and let them clean it up. So they sent me back. So Richmond County picked me up on September 26.

Help me in the county jail. Remember, I came to prison from the streets. So I'm thinking if I get released from prison, I go back to the streets and we'll get a court date later to handle this. Nah, they locked me up that same day. Help me in a county jail and I posted had a court date October the 5th. They ain't taken me. They gave me another court date on November 7th. So they take me down to the jailhouse on November 7, I mean to the courthouse on November 7. I'm sitting down there and holding said all day. The jailer or whoever the last guy come to lock everything up, you come and say, you're still in here? I say, yeah, how else I'm going to go to

a chair? He said, oh, the DA, the judge, everybody been gone. I ain't no court. I say, huh? So he said, yeah, we're going to transport you back to the jailhouse. So I went back to the jailhouse. I called my mom. I said, hey, ma'am, you know what the folks just had me in the court all day and nobody was there? She was like, what? Ain't nobody even telling me nothing? I said, I guess not because on nobody there.

So she's like, first thing in the morning, once the phones come back on, call me in the morning. So the next morning, November 8th, I get on the phone, come home, and she was like, son, I'm at the courthouse right now. You got court the day at 2 o'clock. You're the only one on the docket. You got a court at 2 o'clock. So I tell the CEO that come around

Like, hey, I got court today at 2 o'clock Make sure I'm on that bus today Now y'all took me down there yesterday for nothing Make sure I'm on that bus So it's like 1 o'clock I get the Baming on the dough Doo do do do do do Hey, it's 1 o'clock

Y'all ain't taking me down for court She come tell me I ain't say nothing about you got court I said I just talked to my mama She told me I got court So I'm calling my mama why I'm on the wall phone Then the other CEO come around And tell your mom stop calling down here

I know son I said you know son That sounds like a threat But they don't know I'm on the phone So the public defender and my mom hear it. But the whole time, it's the public defender calling to the jail trying to get them to escort me to the jailhouse. So they let my mom in the courtroom with the phone and the public defender tell the judge,

hey, he's still at Fantasy Road. He's still at the jail. They haven't even brought him down here. And he was like, what? So she was like, well, I'm going to get somebody to escort him down and now. That's what the judge saying. So the judge says he's going to call him. my bad, he's going to call the jailhouse.

So he called the jailhouse to try to get somebody escort me. They tell him they don't have nobody compatible to my size to escort me. So I don't even make a court that day. Why are they doing this to you? Why are they screwing with you? Man, that's what I'm trying to figure out to this day. How would your behavior inside there? Did you press anyone off?

I never had a DR. I never had nothing. I was helping people in there. I was the one that kept the violence down enough. I was educating people. I ain't had no problems. I never had an argument in prison or in jail. never had a DR. I never came close to even getting into nothing. It was one time when I,

when I've been in a room in certain places, certain things ain't going to go on. Like, that's how much respect I had. When I'm around, ain't nothing crazy going on. And that was I trying to figure out to this day, like, why I'm going through all this. And, but the Bible do help me understand. Like, Job, Job ain't do nothing wrong, but he lost everything. They took stuff from him because they just said he was just a good guy because he had it all but once he started losing it they were like oh he'll cuss god he'll cusses he'll cusses he'll cuss him but nah he stayed the same joseph got betrayed by family false imprisonment got sold to the slaves everything he didn't change his character integrity he stayed alone daniel he changed his diet they wanted him to eat certain

He didn't want to eat certain stuff because he knew who he was. And guess what he became the most physical soldier. He came in shape. He was the best. So I only eat seafood now. Going through, they all had to go through isolation to become who they are. And reading that Bible keep kept me motivated and kept going and just keeping me going to this day. I just know they're just trying to get me to curse God and come out of my character and be something that I'm not, that they want me to be.

but I ain't changing that because for so many years all these years perspective of reality yeah I might been around these things but I haven't been involved I mean I couldn't pick where I grew up at I had to go with what my mama can't afford or where I was at I can't change my history but I can change my future but I've been judged our family names and where I came up at all my life and it's perspective of reality. And I understand that now. But why are they doing it? They're trying to break character

because they don't paint this picture to the people that don't know me on who I was that they still trying to poke to get that out of me so they can say they write instead of just admitting. They made a mistake

and went out of perspective instead of getting to know me as reality. And I feel like that's what it is. It's the only thing that I can think of because if I'd have been this guy, I'd have been in prison a long time ago or I still been in prison. I won't be here talking to you to this day. So now you finally make it to the appeal hearing after they play with you a little bit. What happens? So you're talking about in December.

Yeah. So I never had it. I still never had a hearing to this day. Oh, I thought you went the next day. They finally take you to court now. No, I don't go. They say they can't take me. I don't go to court until December 3rd.

what happened in November, November the 8th, right? I never made the court. They told me they didn't have nobody to transport me. So I never make it to court. So I give my people my Facebook information and say, log into my Facebook and tell this story on how they're doing me. That I don't been at Fantasy Road with no charges.

They can't tell me what they're holding me for since September 26th. I don't have three court dates that they're not taking me to. It went viral on Facebook. On December the 2nd, they took me to court. and the judge just let me go. He said, well, I'm going to let you go, but you got to pay $500 a month towards his restitution, start in May.

And this is a new judge. It's the same judge. Oh, it's the same judge. The same judge. He actually said, I understand. If I knew all the evidence that I had, I would never send you to prison 12 months ago, but a lot of stuff wasn't said.

But he never would go in details of what was said or what it was. He's just like, I'm just going to let you go. And he let me go. And so I came home, had to pay $500 a month and 20 years probation. So you're still on probation now?

Still on probation right now. And still paying $500 a month. Well, since we just got the hospital bill that said it was perched, my restitution is suspended. Okay. So, but my thing is, if the hospital bill has been perched and there's no bills, why is it suspended and not terminated? So you have to be kept with them words. Like, somebody doesn't know, like, if you were told me this in 2021, 2021, I would have been like, okay and cool with it. But I know now it's different termination.

Suspended mean they can still pick it up or it's still there. Terminated mean is get rid of. So why is it suspended and not terminated? So I'm still going. I'm still, I just put in for my dismissal for probation and all this, like within a month or two ago. So I'm still going through it, though. They still drag along. And I don't have been home 18 months and I'm still going through it.

Why didn't the appeal hearing just get rescheduled then after you missed it? Richmond County. They won't reschedule it. Richmond County. Every time, I don't been on the. case docket like six times since I don't been home. Like I signed to me home since December. And you're hoping they reverse this, everything. Yes. And every time, I only saw

the DA this last time when they suspended it. But the first four times I went to court DA and show up, the DA wasn't there. I go to court day one now. And it's like somebody got to, I hold myself accountable and it's crazy with the law because if I miss a court date, I have a bench warrant or something. But they can miss all kind of court dates and nothing happened. You got me taking time out my schedule and work. And I'm on a point schedule that work. So if I keep taking out, those points adding up. So soon and later, you keep bringing me to court and ain't resolving nothing or we ain't get no results, I'm going to soon have to find

another job. And there's already trying to find a job with y'all got this felony on my record. I got a felony. So it's hard to find a job already. Have you been able to find work? Yeah, I'm working now. I work right now. What do you do? Fiberglass. I expect fiberglass. And also, you know, like I say, I'm a motivation of speaker. So I get my book, been doing well. I've been getting speaking engagement is telling my story. And probation, what are the terms of that? Is there strict restrictions? I just have to let them know when I'm traveling with like a week ahead of time. Of course, drug tests. But other than that, that's about it. And like I said, they just suspended the payments last, well, in May 28, they just suspended the payments 2026.

Now, you still live in the same community? Yeah, I'm still living the same community. Were there a lot of articles and whatnot on this case? Oh, yeah. You can Google them. They're all over the place. So how do people treat you about that? Are people on your side? Are they? You got both. You got the people.

You know what I mean? Like, I live in a community where they go on whatever people going with. So when I first went to prison, everybody was like, I knew it was something about him. I knew I knew that was going to happen. Then when I came home, you got people that's like, I'm glad he's home. I knew he didn't deserve it and all that. But when I went to prison, bro, I had a petition on the internet with over like 5,000 signatures that people were signing. and saying that I don't deserve to be there.

I'm a community man. They don't knowing me for giving back and stuff like that. Like, I'd have had over like, probably like 60, 70 character letters sent to the judge about me. So, you know, you get best of both versions. Not if people smile in your face and when you turn your back, they say something else. Because it's just something to talk about to them. Now, what could be a possible outcome with the appeal? Will they reverse the initial guilty plea you put in?

or no contest plea? I think, see, that's the other mistake that I made that I just learned as I was going through this situation. It's hard to get out of a plea deal. If I had went to trial and loss, it possibly would have been over. But the plea deal is the only thing that they can hold me, too. But I can be our probation because in George, I think, it's three years. No matter how long you're on probation, long as you get three years with no tech violations,

you can get our probation early terminated, long as you don't have. no fee. So the restitution is the only thing that's possibly holding me on probation because they gave me credit for one for three. So every one day I did in prison, they gave me three years of probation counted for, credit for it. So as of today, it's like I done did six and a half years of probation, right? And with that being said, six years with no violations, I'm eligible to get my probation terminated. But I can't get the probation terminated as long as the restitution is still in effect. And that's why I say you have to watch things in the slick termination that they use. So as long as it's say suspended, that means restitution still implaus somewhere.

That's why I need to say terminated. So once it's terminated, then I can move to the next step with getting this probation terminated. Looking back on it now, do you wish you went to trial? For sure. I wanted to go to trial. It's just like I say, the mayor of Augusta played a big role in it. And my depression stage and grieving and watching my mom going through that, I ain't want to keep taking her through this and dragging this case. And I thought that they was going to help me in more ways than what they did since they knew I wasn't involved in that fight. And they had the footage shown I wasn't involved in that fight.

And my coat defendants had that only got 10 years probation with no restitution or nothing. Remember, they hadn't got sentenced in September already. So I already knew what they had. So I'm thinking that they only got 10 years probation that I can't get done no worse. I'm not fend to get more than 10 years probation or anything of no restitution. I could have did that. So that was the other reason. I was like, all right, let's go ahead and get it over with.

Do you talk to any of them now? No. I speak, but I don't talk. Like, I move different now. My whole surroundings don't change. Like, I'm not the same. Like, I did that. From 2019 to 2022, I was around the same people.

And then guess what? I lost the eye. You know what I mean? So I can't keep going back to change. Or to change me. I got to change my surroundings. I got to be an example on who are on what I'm going to change I want to see. Do you think that's where you went wrong?

the company you kept? I ain't going to blame nobody else. It's my decision. I ain't going to put the blame on nobody because I knew what I was getting into. I knew what certain individuals and certain surroundings of brain. And so I say,

I ain't going to say it's a company I kept. I said it's the places I was going, me, the surroundings I was in. If there was one, you know, lesson that you want your kids to take away from your story, what would that be? Hold yourself accountability and know your surroundings and don't take not for granted because

every day count in life because I'm still dealing with something on a decision that I made seven years ago. So just know everything you're doing life and everything that you got going on will follow you no matter if it's good or bad. So be the person today that you want the people to see you as in the future. Well, Harold, I appreciate you coming on the show today, man. Thanks for making the trip up here. Man, I appreciate you, too, man.

It allowed me to be on the show after everything that we've been through from the first time, the weather counseling it, to the other day, the flight situation. Man, but guess what? God, timing are always right. The devil might be busy. And I tell people every time, change your mindset. It'll change your life.

Don't let your location be your destination. It's on you.