Locked In with Ian Bick - Inside an Ex-Drug Dealer’s 400-Month Federal Prison Sentence | Kendrick Fulton

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

Kendrick Fulton talks about his 400-month sentence for drug dealing, how he navigated life in federal prison, and what kept him going. #LongPrisonSentence #FederalPrison #TrueCrime #DrugTrafficking #JusticeSystem #CrimeAndPunishment #HardTime #exconvict Thank you to LUCY & DRAFT KINGS for sponsoring today’s episode: Lucy: Let’s level up your nicotine routine with Lucy.  Go to HTTP://LUCY.CO/IANBICK and use promo code (IANBICK) to get 20% off your first order. Lucy has a 30-day refund policy if you change your mind.  Draft Kings: New players can get FIVE HUNDRED CASINO SPINS ON A FEATURED GAME! Just sign up with code IANBICK and wager a minimum of five dollars to receive FIVE HUNDRED CASINO SPINS ON A FEATURED GAME.Get 35% off polarized glasses at shadyrays.com - code LOCKEDIN Connect with Kendrick Fulton: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifeinthefeds?igsh=MXB4ZDJwMjdtbDZoZw== Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Presented by Tyson 2.0 & Wooooo Energy: https://tyson20.com/ https://woooooenergy.com/ Buy Merch: https://convictclothing.net/collections/convict-clothing-x-ian-bick Timestamps: 00:00:00 Kendrick's Journey Back to Society 00:05:20 Childhood Lessons on Work and Values 00:11:00 Navigating Probation and College Life 00:16:34 Why College Isn't for Everyone 00:22:10 The Misrepresentation of Small Operations by the Government 00:27:40 Federal Drug Investigation: Conviction Strategies 00:33:19 Escaping to Denver: A New Life in Colorado 00:39:18 Prison Transport Journey and Challenges 00:44:41 Turning Yourself In: The Emotional Journey 00:50:18 The Meaning of Forgiveness 00:55:53 Lessons from the Streets to Legal Business 01:00:54 Defying the Odds: Success Stories of Children with Incarcerated Parents 01:06:09 Disparities in Sentencing for Drug Offenses 01:14:23 Early Release from Prison Due to COVID-19 Pandemic 01:17:18 Life After Imprisonment: New Beginnings in Austin 01:22:57 Transition and Trying Viral Chicken Sandwiches 01:28:31 Future Podcast Plans with Kendrick Powered by: Just Media House : https://www.justmediahouse.com/ Creative direction, design, assets, support by FWRD: https://www.fwrd.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Fuel restrictions apply. Seasite for details. Kendrick, welcome to Lockton, brother. Man, thanks, Ian, man. glad to be here, happy to be here. Yeah, it's an honor to have you on the show. Man, welcome home. I know you got home fairly recently.

Not too close, but you are kind of new to society again, and we appreciate you coming all the way from Texas today. Definitely, man. It's a beautiful thing, man. It's a beautiful thing being with other brothers that's been through the system, maybe not as long, but who have come out here, who are doing things different, and just all for the betterment society. So, yeah, I've been out a while.

I've been out close to five years. Oh, it's been five years. Oh, okay. Sean was making it seem like it was a little sooner than that. Well, well, well, we'll get into that. I just finished my sentence December, 2023. That's what it was. Yeah, so technically it's 13 months.

Okay, gotcha. Technically it's 13 months. So I wasn't too far off. Yeah, yeah. And shout out to Sean Gunby for connecting us, man. Yeah, man, he's a good dude, man. Yeah, Sean was on our show, the corrupt accountant. Oh, yeah, yeah.

He ain't told me his story yet. I need to interview him. Oh, he's a good one. In my podcast, once I learn from you guys, I'm going to have him down and have him on my show. I'll come on too, brother. Yeah, definitely. When you got it, let me know I'll come down. Definitely, man.

Yeah, definitely. I got you. You got to come in Dallas anyway. Did you grow up in Texas? From Texas, man, from Houston, Texas, born and raised, typical kid, growing up, both parents, mother and father, you know, knucklehead, getting in trouble, kissing the girl on the cheek in kindergarten, and she hitting me. And, you know, just doing, you know, doing kid stuff. athlete, smart kid,

too smart for my own good at times. Just growing up as a teen, start making some, you know, bad decisions. Let me all the way to federal prison. Did you have siblings? The siblings. Youngest of four.

Oldest, brother and sister, twins, middle sister. I'm the baby, so. Was it hard being the baby? The youngest? Well, yeah, because you're spoiled. You know, mom would, you know,

hey, go tell your sister to come the house, go get your sister, you know. I don't know, but hey, mom, she's down there kissing that boy. She wouldn't come. And so that was hard because, you know, my sister, they're not having it. They go, why are you to tell? Why are you? You know, so they kind of beat me up a little bit.

But, yeah, it made me tough. Made me who I am today. What did your parents do for work? My father was a construction worker, man, a contractor. Man, my father passed in 2018, and just recently, at the end of last year, I got to visit my childhood church. like we will talk about it later, but I just came home from federal prison. So the church that I grew up in, I got to come back.

So just imagine being nine or ten in church and come back at 50. So when I came back at church and they were talking about my dad being a contractor, contractor, his dad was the pastor at the time. So now the son is the pastor. He was saying how my dad paid him $300 a week in the 70s. And $300 a week in the 70s was more than what grown. own men made. He was in high school making that kind of money, buying his own school clothes. And he's like, man, your dad just taught me how to drive a truck and taught me how to do different

stuff. But he was paying them $50 a day. And it was like a, like, it came back to me. And, like, my mindset comes from my father. Being a business owner comes from my father. Running a business comes from my father and my family, but I was just running the wrong kind of business. So that was like, that was one of the things that, man, I just learned this just six months ago. What did your mom do? My mom was secretary. She worked for, she was secretary at the HCC, Houston Community College. Yeah, so mom's secretary, administrative assistant, whatever you call, HCC.

You know, as a kid, you know, you don't know. Your parents come home, they feed you. You ask for stuff, they buy it, they don't buy it. You know, you really care where they work, you know, as a kid. But yeah, man, so. Did you guys struggle for money or were you guys okay financially? You know, as a kid, you don't even realize it's a struggle. I mean, you don't really realize how well you're doing or how bad you're doing because you're a kid, you know, your family provides.

But as you got older, as I start having kids, my mother would tell me, she would say, I don't really understand these new age moms or these new moms. Moms of today. As a parent, she said she, because she had twin, her first kids were twins. So she said that she would go without for her kids. And she said that people today are not doing without. out. And I didn't really understand what that means, but now that I got older. So, you know, especially having twins at the first time, it was probably some stuff. You know, I guess she was making rough to how girls get their nails done. They get their hair done now.

Back then, that was out. That was, that was unheard of in the 70s, you know, late 60s. So my mom, you know, she said, she just go out for her kids. You know, typical upbringing, I mean, like I said, as a kid, you don't really know if you poor or not. You just live it. You just, hey, you know, you fed every day. day, you got a roof over your head, you got some lights. You know, hey, so you know, you just living. You don't know what parents are going through, you know what I mean? How was your relationship with your parents?

Who were you closer to? I was close to my mom. My dad was more of a disciplinarian. My dad was more of a, uh, it was kind of like this. If I say, hey, mom, I want to go to the store. I want to go to the skating ring. Can I have some money? Ask your dad.

I'm like, dang. He's going to say no. I know him. You know, he's going to say no. But he instills some. good values him. He instilled some values in the work into, dude, okay, come work with me, come, go cut some grass, go cut some yards,

go, you know, that's always been in me in, but like, later on in my life, then he started taking a turn for the worst. I started I started seeking money, financial gain, in other areas, so, but yeah, I mean, I mean, yeah, close to

my mom, you know, you know, mom, one thing about mom, mom is never going to, you know, dad might, oh, he all right, that's my son, but mom, she's going to always love you, man. always be there for you. How would people describe you as a kid? Me? Spoiled.

My sister said I was spoiled. They say I was spoiled. My dad was one of those kind of people. Somebody hit you, hit him back. But he didn't really explain, he didn't really explain that too well. So one time a teacher might have popped me or something and I might hit the teacher back. And my mother, I mean my mother like, you need to stop telling him that. You need to, because I have to go to school with him when he gets in trouble.

You're not going to school. You at work. I got to go to school with him. him. So most people defraved me a spoil. Like, you know, I would say, I'm going to tell my daddy. I was one of those kind of people. I'm going to tell my daddy. And my brother, my brother's, he's look out for me too. I was one of those kids that would talk a lot of trash, but knowing I have my older brother to back me up. So, yeah, I would say spoil. What did you want to be when you grew up if you had anything in mind?

Man, you know, of course, from Texas. So, of course, I was a Dallas cowboy fan, Tony Darset, Houston or Earl Campbell. You know, you play sports growing up, probably a football player. I didn't really have a, I didn't really have a, you know, you just see,

I didn't really have, like growing up, like people say they want to be a lawyer and a doctor and, I'm going to play football. I'm a, and then that kind of like, vanished, you know,

as you get older, you just really just like, hey man, I just, at one time, you just be glad just to get older. You know, at one time in the 90s,

you just be glad to make 20s. So it wasn't really a thought anymore. Were you into sports? Did you play? In the sports, man. In the sports, was a football player. Football, I was actually better than football than basketball. But in the seventh grade, we moved to Austin, Texas.

I'm going to junior high school. So football season is over in. And a friend of mine, good friend of mine, Ray Jackson, he played with Michigan, played with the Fab Five. They're in the gym before school. They're playing basketball. And all the girls are watching. And I'm like, dang.

But I don't play basketball. I don't know how to play basketball. I'm in the seventh grade. So I'm like, man, I got to get out here on this court, man. I got to, you know, the girls are watching the guys play basketball before school. So I started playing basketball. Of course, I'm trash. Of course, they block my shot.

So I started, like, just working harder, jumping harder, jumping harder, so they wouldn't block my shot. And eventually, I had like a 40-inch vertical as I got older, so I could jump. Now, my shot, my ball handling wasn't that good. But I would just jump over people. So there's more athletic than anything else. So basketball was my sport, but I was better than football. Tell us the first time you got into some trouble, maybe if it was in high school or before that, or maybe not at all.

Oh, man, I'm not getting trouble. Growing up in Houston, Texas, I was always going back and forth to the country. I always to the smaller towns where my grandmother lived. So what I would do is I would go out there for the summer. And of course, being a city kid in the country, that was kind of like the hip thing. That was kind of like, you know. So I'm just looking at how things are going because there's some marijuana around. Of course, there's some drinking wine, you know, boons form, MD 2020, night train, Thunderbird.

Anyway, you're just seeing stuff and you're just realizing how much stuff costs, how much more expensive it is in the country, versus in the city and being a I guess have an entrepreneurial spirit or being an industrial person I'm just looking at like man I can pay $100 for this

and I can sell it for $300 so it's just like you involve you're doing stuff so the first time I want to say I got in trouble I was probably 17 years old 17 years old a guy who I thought was a friend of mine was always asked me about some drugs.

And I would just throw them off, throw them off. And you hear stuff about people, you hear stuff about people being in a rat, you hear stuff about people being in the police, but you don't want to believe it. So what I did in, I finally gave in. Finally gave in, I got the guy, I don't know, something of $300. I don't know what it was. Long story short, they charged me with delivery of a controlled substance. 17 years old, it's probably 91.

Delivery of controlled substance to this guy. So I get arrested. I get a bond. So I'm out on bond. And back then in the state of Texas, a year was a month. So if you get seven years, you do six months and you come home. So I'm, you know, look how crazy I am in. I'm like, listen, I'm not going to stop doing what I'm doing.

Let me go ahead and take the six months. Whatever. Let me get the seven year. Let me do six months and come on out. But my lawyer, man, a lawyer by the name of Kent Birdson, it was in Amarillo, Texas. He said, hey, they don't want to give you probation. They don't want to give you seven years. They want to give you probation.

I said, that don't make sense. He said, yeah, they want to give you probation because the sentence carries five to 99 years. So they want you to hang yourself. Give you the probation. You're exposed to five to 99 if you violate the probation. They can give you 70 years. They can give you anywhere between. He said, so they don't want to give you seven years.

They want you to hang yourself. So I was like, man. So I took the probation. During the time I took the probation, a young lady I was dating, she was like, listen, you got to, you know. I had just lost my brother. My brother had just passed in Houston. She was like, listen, you need to do something different. So she enrolled me in college.

I did my phosphor or my financial aid or whatever. She did my financial aid. And I went to college. during the time David Koresh was doing his thing down in Waco. So I'm in college. So I did that, man. I lived down in probation. Of course, I wasn't doing right, of course, you know,

but you're in college now. You're back and forth. And so that was like one of my first times, yeah. Were you selling drugs in college? No, I wasn't selling drugs in college. But you're coming back on the weekends. You're around the people that are. You're in that environment where to where it's like you're not

You're not doing it, but you're around it. So you might as well be doing it since you're around it. What attracted you to drugs the first time? Was it the money aspect? Hey, hold on one second. Can we pause? Yeah. It's not getting warm to you?

It's not getting warm to you? It's just the heater. Yeah, it'll cut off. I don't want to start sweating. No, no, it'll cut off in a few. Okay, good. It stays at a certain temperature. I got you.

Okay, so go ask your question again? You say, what about the what? So what attracted selling drugs to you the first time when you got popped at 17? Man, it's just a lifestyle, Ian. As I got older, I started looking back. It was just really they sold us a dream. They lied to us. They tricked us into thinking the streets is a thing.

You see people with nice cars, jewelry, the women, the lifestyle. But they don't tell you what comes with that lifestyle. You don't see the other side of that lifestyle. And then it was just kind of easy, too, Ian, like, you know, I grew up with this is your brain on drugs. just say no, and they paint the picture as you're a drug dealer, you're just on the corner. Hey, buy this. Hey, let me. Hey, you want this?

It's the quiet opposite. You know, I'm in the park. I'm playing basketball and I'm just, I'm, you know, I'm just hanging out. And hey, man, this guy's trying to buy this. Hey, can you give me this? And, you know, they're looking for you. And that's the side that don't, that people don't speak to. And they also don't speak to drug addiction is real.

But that lifestyle, people are addicted to money. you're addicted to live in a certain kind of way. And they don't really treat that side. You know, they don't think that, hey, that stuff is addictive too. Like being a compulsive spender, being a compulsive gambler, you know, that's another side they don't address. So that's what kind of attract me. It's just a lifestyle, just a look, and the fact that it was just so easy to do. How did your parents react to getting arrested that first time?

Oh, man, I don't even think my mom knew. Because by this time, I'm not living at home. When I'm 17, 18 years old, I'm not at home. so they don't really know. They like, no. But, like, parents, like, when kids get in trouble, like most parents back then, they didn't, okay, you're in trouble.

You know, especially if it's not costing them anything, if they'll pay for a lawyer or a bond and kind of like, they know you're in trouble, but you're out. You're on a bond. So in their mind, it can't be too bad, you know. And that was the thing, like, when I got in trouble federally, you know, I'm pretty sure that I hurt my mom because my mom really didn't know to the extent

of what her son was doing. or how her son was living. But, you know, when you're grown, moms out there, parents out there, hey, when the kids are grown, tell them. That's one thing I love about my parents. I love about my family, friends. They told me, hey, you're wrong. Hey, you need to stop.

Hey, you need to do something different. And so when I got in prison, when I got on the other side of that fence, I could really appreciate it versus patting me on my back. Hey, man, you're doing good. Hey, let me get some money. Hey, let me. and then not writing me in prison, not communicating. Now I'm in prison for so-called helping y'all,

or I did this for y'all, and y'all never told me. So I appreciated them telling me I was wrong. Are you guys looking for a nicotine experience that actually keeps things fresh? Enter Lucy Breakers, the 100% pure nicotine tobacco-free pouches that put you in control of your flavor. Each pouch has a built-in flavor capsule. Just pop it open when you're ready for a burst of extra taste and hydration. I've been loving tropical mango.

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And here's the fine print. Lucy products are only for adults of legal age and every order is age verified. Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. So do you end up graduating college? I don't graduate college, Ian. I'm not college material. My mind doesn't work like that.

Like, college is not for everybody. So I sat in college and I could always, I was one of those kids in school in Like, why do I need to know how to diagram a sentence? I'm like, what job am I going to have To I got a diagram this sentence? What job will I have Why I need to know how to use this math

Or whatever, the case maybe? That was just how my mind worked. And I'm pretty sure it was a job that you could use that math in But for me, my mind didn't work like that. Like, I can sit there and talk to you And be thinking of five of different things Because that's just how my mind works. And I never had a desire.

to work for people. It's kind of like I had my first job when I got out of prison, working for Coca-Cola and driving with delivering windshields. But there's always somebody above you, Ian, that doesn't know it that's like... They promote wrong.

I'm like, you know, I was delivering for Coca-Cola and they would do our routes, but they would like get our route. The route would just be so backward. I would pass a store, and they're on my way back in. I got to go to that store. I'm like, why I didn't do that store first?

So, like, working for people in there's always someone that's over you that they really don't know. So, like, I'm learning this now as I, like, as my life, as I'm looking back over my life, it's kind of like the way my mind works. It just works different.

And then everybody's mind doesn't work like that. Like, I just can't explain it, but just far as, like, working and just, just being out. And it's like sitting in a classroom, I couldn't do it. It was just, you know, taking them classes. I didn't, I was undecided.

I was just taking my basics. And it was really just to not be in trouble. I was really going to college, undecided, hey, what I want to do in my life. Hey, come to school. And school just didn't work for me. So what ends up happening? So I'm out of school. I'm back in the streets.

Of course, I think I'm slick, you know. You think you slick. And that's the condition of the heart. If you don't have a changed mind and a change heart, you're going to keep doing the same thing. And my mind in, I'm not going to sell crack. They're giving too much time for crack. You know, I remember they had like the crack riots. I remember watching C-SPAN.

I had some friends that were in federal prison. So I remember, hey, man, watch the news. They're going to change the crack. They're going to change the law. So I remember watching the C-SPAN hoping that they would change the law. But they don't change the law and they tore up the whole federal prison system. It was riots all over the system. So in my mind, dang, you can't sell crack.

You got to sell powder. that's what I'm saying. Your mind is, I'm trying to, I'm trying to beat the system. I'm going to sell powder cocaine. I'm not going to sell crack cocaine. But the problem, the problem that I had when I went to trial, what I didn't know is when I went to a jury trial, the government witnesses who testified that I sold them powder,

they testified that I would cook an ounce or they will cook an ounce to see how good it was to test the quality. But instead of that one ounce of crack, I bet instead of me being sentenced for one ounce of crack they turned through a whole kilo in the crack they turned through a whole half a kilo in the crack the way the government works is it's what you're going to do with it so that's how I got so much time so but I didn't know that I'm thinking okay they'll charge me with powder I'll get five or 10 years and it'll be fine I'll do seven years or whatever and so be it but no if they had a

whole they baked me a whole another cake how long was your run for man I want to say I I jumped up the porch early. I got in the streets, man, 16, 17 years old. So 15, 16, 17 years old, I got arrested at 29. Oh, so you had a fairly decent run. Listen, I had a, listen, it was, you know, I had so many chances, so many opportunities to do stuff different. And I used to do concerts.

I used to do record deals. I used to do all kind of stuff, real estate. I had so many opportunities. and at the end when I started getting the real estate, I was on my second rental property. That's when the feds came. What was your operation? What did it look like?

Like how are you getting the product? How are you transporting it? How are you selling it? Man, man, it's all kind of ways. It's all kind of ways to do stuff, Ian. You would meet people in Houston. You would meet a connect in Houston. And you may just transport it, get it transported.

You made, go back, I remember, I remember in the early 90s, the bus used to be the thing. But this is before the bus got hot. Then the airplane used to be the thing. But then after 9-11, the airport was dead. So, you know, you have cars. And then after a while, they would just deliver.

You know, you get it delivered. Or you just, you know, one thing about, the money talks. So when you got money, people are going to do whatever. They're going to get it to you however you can get it. But, yeah, man, just different kind of ways. I mean, you know, it's hustling. Like, there's no, you know, people that come up with this immaculate scheme to do stuff, I applaud y'all.

I take my hat after y'all, but it's really just, it's just being careful. And thankfully, I never got in trouble. But I wish, Ian, I wish I would have got a possession charge, though. It's better to get a possession than a conspiracy. So the kind of time I got, I wish I would have got a car with 100 kilos or 50 kilos. That way, I got a possession. When you have a conspiracy, that's a whole other answer. Were you hands-on or did you have people operating underneath you?

This is the funny thing about my case. I had like probably two or three customers. Like two or three customers, they might buy five, they might buy ten or whatever case may be. But the government indicts you. They make you out to be this big organization. And it's like, this is crazy. You got a couple of customers. You got maybe five, let's say five people.

But the government is saying you're supplying Kansas and Oklahoma and different parts. to Texas and you're like, the government just blows stuff out of proportion. That's why when I see the government say stuff now and you still have news, like, I'm like, y'all don't really understand how the government works. Like, they'll make you bigger than your just to prove a point. But it was just really just people like, you, Ian, like you would say, hey, hey, Ken, hey, man, this guy, he wants to buy a kilo, he wants to buy whatever case maybe. I would like, hey, Ian, listen, let me tell you something.

That guy wanted to kill himself in high school. when his girlfriend broke up with him. And now he wants to buy what? I was like, man, you know he gets caught, he's going to tell on you, man. Remember the girl broke up with him? I remember that, yeah. So you think he's going to leave the girl now,

whoever he's with now, you think he really wants to leave her and go to prison? Hey, man, I'll give it to you, Ian, and you sell it to him, but don't tell him you got it from me. You know, that's the kind of thing I would do, man. But as far as, like,

like, I'm at the latter part of my stage, too. So I'm at the latter part of my sentence. Now, you got a mind, 17 years old, 18 years old, and you're late 20s, you know, you've been there, done that. You know, you might get you 30 of them a month, 40 them a month. You might just put an extra thousand on them. Just make you 30,000 a month or 40,000 a month. And that way, you're not really hands-on.

You know, you're just giving the people. And what you're doing is you're not taking away from other people. You know, and you have this, that's your thing. Why would I come to your spot? and take over, then that's going to make you mad at me. So you know what? I'm just going to let you eat. You let the next person eat, and it's the trickle-down effect.

But nowadays it's not like that. You know, you'll try to move person moving on the territory. And before you know it, you got problems. Was there violence and danger within your organization? No, listen, man, it is. You can't, violence and all that, that's bad. Like, I was telling, I was telling Sean, like the gang, when I went to prison, that was my first time being around gang culture.

Like, in Texas, That's not our thing. You know, I grew up in the 90s. The gang stuff like now is big, but in Texas, the gang culture is not big. So one thing about me, I didn't want to be a gang member and a drug dealer in court.

You don't want to have gang member and drug dealer in your paperwork. That's like, it's bad enough you're selling drugs. And now you're a gang member too. That's not a good combination. So I was one of them kind, you know, I come through the airport with my backpack looking like a college student.

You know, it might be 70,000 in my bag or whatever, you know, but you're looking like a college student. Now, again, this is before 9-11, you know, this is, and it wouldn't be in my bag because they can't go through x-ray like that. But you might have it in your boots or whatever or strapped on you, whatever the case may be. So, yeah. How much would you say you made over those 12 years?

I don't know. Man, listen, I couldn't even count. You know, if you, if you selling, if you selling 13, 30 of them a month at 30,000 apiece, you know, for just say two years or three years. You know what I mean? That's what? 30,000? 360.

That's 700,000 in two years. So, I mean, it's nothing. Even on a smaller note, it's nothing waking up being flat broke in. It's nothing waking up and you go to bed and you got thousands of dollars. It's just, it's just nothing. Waking up with product with no money and going to bed with all cash. Did you let it get to your head? Were you flashy?

Looking back, man, yeah. Looking back, you know, you had fights with Tyson fights. You had All-Star games. You had Super Bowls. For that time period, yeah, that was too much. For a 20-something-year-old to be, you know, mingling with people at Tyson fights and Super Bowls and driving S-500, you know, it was just too much.

you know, but when you're doing it, you're not thinking about that. But as you get old, you're like, hey, man, I was tripping. Did your parents ever pull up on you? Say, hey, what are you doing, making all this money? Hey, man. You tell you my mom, man, my mom used to come see me at visitation, man. My mom, man, I love my mom. My mom's come see me, say, hey, remember I used to tell you,

you stopped doing what you doing? I was like, yeah, mom, you used to tell me. And she said, yeah, I told you. I said, yeah, ma'am, you did. I said, what did I tell you? she said, you told me if you get caught, you're going to do your time. I said, what I've been doing? She said, you've been doing your time?

I said, yeah. That's respectable. That's it. I mean, my mom, yeah, she's like, hey, man. Say, mom, do my time. They used to tell me, I get caught. I got to do my, I got to take my lick now. It's just the way they gave it to me in.

It's just the way, how I got the 400 months in federal prison. So let's talk about that a little bit. I got indicted for five kilos of powder, five kilograms of powder, 50 grams of crack. Back then, I think that started level 32, category one. It's like 121 to 151 month. It's a minimum 10 years because of the 50 grams. Well, what the government wanted me to do, instead of the five kilograms of cocaine and the 50 grams of crack, the government wanted me to plead to 1,500 grams of crack, which is 1.5 kilograms. So instead of level 32, the government wanted me to plead to a drug amount that put me on level 38.

So then they also want to say, hey, admit that you supervise or manage five or more participant. And we want to give you a full level increase to level 42. And then that's 360 to the life. 42 all over across, 36 of the life. I think it's life at category six. And then if you accept responsibility, we'll give you a three-point reduction. We'll move you to 39. 292 to 3.2 to 327, something like that.

And my co-defendant actually took that deal. He actually played guilty. And they gave him 300 months. And I was like, man, 25 years to somebody that ain't did one day. That's a lot. I think I did two weeks when I was in for that probation. I think I was in two weeks and I got a bond. I think I was in two weeks anyway.

But 25 years of somebody that only did two weeks in the county, that was like forever to me back then. but looking back again, I should have took that deal because the laws changed so much, I would have got home sooner than I did had I took that deal because of, but you don't know, you don't know the law is going to change. You don't know if, you know, so.

When did you realize that the feds were investigating you or did you not realize until you were arrested? No, well, our conspiracy was a four-year investigation according to the indictment. You know, if you read my indictment, it says beginning in 1998 up around October 2000, 22 federal agents or government investigated, blah, blah, blah, you know, that's their run. So you hear about the feds, you know, I would come to the airport in Houston.

I'd be working for my bag and you were here like dogs barking and, you know, you see it like you would see cars and let me say how arrogant I was. And just looking back just crazy. Like, you know, thank God for age and wisdom and being able to reflect. Because I look back, man, I just say, you know, you. some of the dumbest stuff. Like, I was like, man, I'm the gingerbread, man. Catch me if you can.

You know, y'all have a job to do, and so do I. But I didn't know that the people on the street were doing their job. That's, I didn't take into account you have the police officers. Then you have the civilian police officers. You have the people on the street that are helping them. So, you can't beat them both. So I knew they were investigating us. Just looking back in the airport, you may get stopped in the airport, you know,

they may stop you in Denver, hey, pull you to the side, search your bag, let you go, seeing different cars, seeing different, you know, like it comes back to you once you got in trouble. You know what all that was. What was your end game? Did you think you were going to be a drug dealer your whole life, or were you trying to get to a certain amount just to build your real estate portfolio? Oh, no, I was done. And this is a crazy part. I wasn't even selling drugs when the feds came to get me. Oh, so you got indicted later on after 29? No, well, no.

I got indicted in 2002. And how old were you then? I'm 20, I'm 29, yeah. So you stopped selling drugs before 20. Yeah, before 29. So I'm not even selling drugs. I'm not even in the gang. I want my second rental property.

When the feds came to arrest me, October 3rd, 2002, I'm at Home Depot buying a toilet for my rental property. I got up, a Home Depot opened at 5 in the morning back then or 6. They opened early in the morning. So I had a HUD inspection at eight or nine That the toilet was leaking So to pass inspection I got to fix this leak So I called myself getting a Home Depot

Before they open By me getting up early to go to the store for the open I guess the feds ways They do the 5 o'clock raid or you know how they do early in the morning So my wife calls me, I'm on the aisle I'm pushing the cart Me and a buddy in mine Delvin Wilson man Shout out to Delvin man

So we're pushing I'm like man he looked at me like what My wife said a deep So they have to my house. They got a warrant from my arrest. So I'm like, dang, you're like, me, what you want to do? You know, my mind, you know, my mind, I'm thinking. Like, man, I got this inspection.

You know, and you just, listen, hey, I'm in trouble, but, hey, the business, you got to go. So I'm like, man, let me see your keys, man. Let me, uh, so I got his car. I got the, I only pay for the toilet in. I'm that shock. I'm that, you know, I'm like spooked. So I just walk out the door. Like, and he walking with me.

I'm like, man, this is crazy. I said, man, you know I didn't pay for that toilet. You know, later when we talked about it. He's like, yeah, man, so I guess it's five in the morning. So. Wait, so you stole the toilet? I guess. I guess I stole it. You still brought the toilet out.

Listen, man, I had the toilet. I got the toilet in the car. I drive. A buddy in mine is working at a hotel. He's an overnight person at the hotel. I go to the hole. He checks me in. Some kind of where he does something to the room,

to where the room is blocked to where they won't rent it and they want something. So, man, I'm watching the news in. Man, I'm on the news. I'm in this hotel. I'm like, man, you know, I'm, I'm tripping. I'm seeing the people, you know, they come down to federal court. They're on the bus. I mean, on the shackles.

And so I got to figure it out. So now I'm on the run. You know, I'm waiting till dark. I got to find a ride out of town. Got some other friends. Got a car. I go to Colorado. I go to Denver, Colorado.

You know, I stay in Denver. We do the HUD, especially. collection, house pass on hood, it's rented. My wife is getting the rent checks, you know. So yeah, man, but that's the thing. And it's kind of like when you're living that life, when you're breaking the law, you don't have no problem. But the minute you try to go legit, here they come. In my case, that's how it works. The Great Rewards Hunt is here and the adventure starts now with Draft King's Casino. Follow the path to huge jackpots, weekly bonuses, and exclusive games.

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com slash promo. ends 4, 27, 25 at 11.59 p.m. Eastern time. What was the statute of limitations? Like five years or 10 years on that? Five years, but the conspiracy, the investigation is four years. It starts in 98. It ends in 2002. So I got five more years from 2002.

So it would have been a while. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it don't, you know, it don't matter. I think that makes it sting even worse that you were out of the game. him. Yeah, yeah, that's the thing. I'm at Home Depot. You know, they talked about that. They didn't give me a bond.

You know, he was at Home Depot. He absconded. He left. We found a vehicle, you know, so they made me look bad at my detention hearing. I'm guessing you didn't do bond. Oh, I went for bond. Listen, I turned myself in seven months. Crazy, Ian.

I turned myself in seven months later. And I still went for bond. They're like, man, wave your bond. I'm like, man, listen. Man, you know, I don't want to go to prison. Man, I don't want to go to jail. So they deny the bond, so I'm in jail. So they come with this crazy plea bargain.

And I'm like, listen, I tell my lawyer, look, I'm not just innocent. I take 10 years. I'll take 15, you know. But dang, you know, you're pushing it. They're like, man, they don't want to give you that. They say you're responsible for more drugs. And I'm like, y'all don't have any drugs, though. Now, I can see if you have physical drugs, I'll be more accepting, Ian.

But by them not have any drug, that's what made it sting, man. That's what. They got to put in the work to get you. Yeah, that's what made this thing, man. So I reject the plea agreement. I go to trial. I turn myself in May 15, 2003. They put me on the rocket docket.

August 4th, I'm in trial. Did you sign that, though, for a speedy trial? No. So how are they able to do that? Man, listen, they got discovery. They come with the plea. I mean, because, listen, you got to understand, this is May 2003. Everybody's plead in my case.

Everybody's pled and is in prison in my case. So they're like, the statements have been made, everybody's debriefed, we know what's going on. You just don't know what's going on. You just think, you know, I don't know, like, what do you think?

They thought I was crazy. I was like, man, no. I just couldn't wrap my mind around people with felony convictions. People have pled guilty. People that have 30 years in prison in coming back testifying for a sentence reduction. I just couldn't wrap my mind around it.

I just couldn't, I just couldn't, I just couldn't, you know what I mean? So I end up losing a trial, three-day trial, August 4th, August 7th. You know, a co-defendant's testify against me. They have to tell them this. I bought this, I bought that. He sold me this. He sold me that.

You know, they end up, they found me guilty. Judge orders a pre-sentence investigation. Pre-sentence investigation comes back, you know. It's kind of hard to determine the amount of drugs. that Kendra Jermaine Fulton's responsible for based on the complexity of the conspiracy, but we can reasonably say he's responsible for 7 to 8, 10 kilos of crack and 13 kilos of powder.

No, 7 to 8 kilos of crack and 13 kilos of powder. But more realistically, as a conspiracy, 10 kilos of crack and 80 kilograms of powder. So the PSI, level 38, 4-level enhancement, 42, 360 to like. I'm on the phone. I'm talking to my lawyer. Hey, man, you got to object.

This ain't right. Look at this. They're, you know, he's, I'm going to object. Don't worry about it. We file our objections. The government come back with their objections. So the judge, we're at sentencing now, Ian. The judge is going to address it as sentencing.

You know, DEA agent gets up there, you know, the officer. Stephen Thomas. Man, he gets up there. He tells him something. I don't even remember. Overrule. Objections overruled. PSR is adopted.

Judge said, I hear about a senator. you to 400 months in the custody of the United States Department of Justice followed by a five-year term. He runs it off so fast in my sentence. But I'm thinking I'm going to get a life sentence. So when I hear 400 months, I'm kind of like glad, but then I'm still like, man, that's more than 360. But it's not life. And he said, like, step aside. You know, he's like, just step aside.

So like, dang, he ain't look at me. So now this is October, October 31st, Halloween. I get sent it's Halloween, 2003. Friday. You know, like Bushwick Bill, you know. This year, Halloween fell on the weekend. So, yeah, it was Friday. And I stayed in the county, probably another month, December.

Crazy party in December, December, like, Thieffer, December 19th. We're on the bus. They put me on the bus with a witness that testified against me. We're in transit. We're going to Oklahoma City. You know, transit. I don't know if you came out this way, but...

I went to Oklahoma. Yeah. It was Oklahoma. They bused me from Lubbock, Texas to Oklahoma. I'm on the bus with a witness who testified against me. So it's a big Indian dude. They come from Latuna. The bus comes from Latuna, Texas, to Big Spring, to Lubbock, to Oklahoma.

That's the route. And they go back. Big Indian driving the bus. He's like, hey, man, listen, I know this you're co-defendant, but don't say nothing to him. We're not going to have no problem with him. They put me in the back of the bus. They put me in the back by the toilet,

with the guard with the gun. You know, he got the gun back there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm back there. You know, I'm fresh in. I'm on this hot stuff. You know, I'm on this rat. You know, on the streets being hot is popular.

But in federal prison, if you're hot, they mean you're a rat. So I'm on. I'm back there. It's a four-hour ride. You know, I'm letting him have. I mean, this dude of rat. But he's on his way back to USP Florence. He's going back to the Penn at Florence.

And I'm like, listen, I ain't worried about him. You know what I mean? He's going to have more. problems where he's going with me. I'm thinking that they own this hot stuff. I'm thinking that they stabbing rats. They're doing this to rats. Listen, it happens in.

Don't get it twisted, but it don't happen like people think. So the guy don't pee or nothing. The guy, he don't get up a pee. He up there, he ain't saying, he looking straight ahead. He just, and I'm back there, you rat, you this. You know, the guard, looking at me. I'm like, man, dude, the police. But I don't know.

The federal system is on drug cases in. A lot, most people tell on drug cases. I can't speak to white collar. I can't speak to fraud. I can't speak to gun crimes. But most dudes with a federal drug case, if they got that acceptance, some kind of way that accepts me

you to respect responsibility. And if you accept responsibility, I have to say sometimes, I sold Ian this. Hey, I got this from Ian. I have to do that sometime. And that's what they don't understand that, that provision, except for responsibility.

So I get to Oklahoma City, and they put me in the hole because he's there. And I don't know. I got another co-defendant that's housed at Oklahoma City. He works in the cadre. So I'm in the hole.

You know, I'm in the whole seven days. But the good thing about the hole in Oklahoma City is you're the first one to leave. You're the first one on the plane. So you don't have to sit downstairs though. Yeah.

So like, you know, I'll be there a month. No, because they got to clear the shoe out. They need the shoe. Yeah. So I'm in the hole. I'm in the hole. You know, they're bringing it. And they feed you.

They get, you know, the chicken wings and the, you know, the trays, you know, they bring the tray, they're hot. And I'm thinking, I mean, it's federal stuff. You know, I've been in the county. So, man, I get to Oakdale, Louisiana. They fly us to Pollock, Louisiana. And there are some buses going to Polack, USP, and their buses going to Oakdale, Louisiana. So I go to Oakdale.

That was my first institution, medium high in Oakdale. Why didn't they keep you in Texas? Man, I got a bunch of separaties. The marchers put in my five. I'm a CIM case. So if people made statements against me or if people testified against me, I couldn't go to their prison.

So they only got Beaumont medium and they had three rivers medium. Those only two mediums in Texas. So people were at those prisons. I forget he was at Three Rivers. I know who was at Beaumont. They were witnesses, not technically witnesses,

but just made a statement. So I can't come. It took me a decade to get back to Texas. So you didn't have penport? points? Huh? I got camp points. No, you know. I came in, I came in like, if I had under 10 years, I'd went to a camp.

Yeah, because you didn't have 10 years or under. But because of my sentence length, I got to go to a higher custody. They didn't send you to a low? No, they sent me to the median, medium high. Okay. Yeah. I didn't go to the pen, thank God. That was about a grace guy.

I didn't go to the pen. I guess they looked like, listen, he don't have a background for the pen. He got, I got pen in time, but I don't have a background for the pen. So they sent me to Oakdale, you know. So Oakdale, you know, I'm impressed. And, you know, you know, prison is prison. I'm here now, you know. Then this thing about prison, man, like, at the USP, everybody got a lot of time.

Well, a lot of people got a lot of time. Life sentences, so. But at the medium, not a lot of dudes getting off their bus with 30 years, with 30 plus years. So I was like one of the, you know, and a dude got a lot of time. Leave them dudes alone. Them dudes, you know, they, you know, so I guess that was one advantage I have. And I'm respectful. So I'm not going to, you know, I ain't bother nobody, but don't bother me either because

I got enough time. I can go to the ADX and work my way back down as much time as I got. So it's kind of like, you know, most guys are trying to go home anyway. So I really have no problems in prison. When you turned yourself in after being on the run for those seven months, how did they react? Like what was there, like facial expressions? And where did you show up? Like the FBI building?

That's a federal building. Man, listen, man. You just walked in today. I'm Patrick. No, I called him. Man, my buddy, man, my buddy, man. My buddy man, Luan Cooper, man, out of Lubbock, Texas. I called him.

I called him Marshall. I was like, I got a warrant for my arrest. And I, you know, I need to, you know, turn myself in. And they're like, we don't have a warrant for you. In that split second, Ian, that split second, I was like, man, I need to just. And I called back. And the guy was like, we don't have a warrant. He's like, man, let me, let me call somebody.

They kept telling me they didn't have a warrant for my arrest. I had to call back like two times. And he finally said, yeah, we got a war, you know, when you can come down. I was like, dang, man. You know, they were actively searching for you or no? No, they were. No, they wasn't. No, they wasn't, you know.

You know, they might go by my grandmothers or go by, you know, but, nah. You know, one thing about the fed, they know it's just a matter of time. You know, it's just a matter of time unless you just, yeah. Yeah, well, something I've noticed about the feds, too, is like when they're making an rest. They don't really do much surveillance on you. Like, they're not as smart as, you know, they make themselves out to me because the day I got indicted, right? They did the whole 5 a.m. bust. They sent people to my nightclub. They sent people to another, like, office area that I had and my parents' house. So I could have been anywhere. Right. They didn't know where I was. I was at my

parents' house. I just got back from the casino that night. But, like, they didn't have tabs on me leading up to it. So I could have been on a plane already, you know, halfway across the country or whatever. They wouldn't have known. They don't know. And this is 2015 in their advanced technology and everything. Same way in 2002.

They don't, they don't know. They, you know, but they, you know, they just, you know, they got people working for them. Like, so they'll see you. Somebody calling on you, whatever case may be. But I was just tired. I was just trying to, you know,

one thing about doing wrong in, like, you know when you're wrong. And, you know, sometimes you got to face, if you want to just keep, living like you're living on the run and avoiding them because you're going to have to do something else to, you know, support yourself.

So that's one thing you don't want to do is catch another, commit another crime on the run from another crime. That would just be crazy, man. What was your dad's reaction to your sentence? My dad was, my dad sat through my trial. So my dad was, my dad was pissed because he saw my childhood friend testify

against me. My dad was, you know, I remember one time, man, watching my dad, I'm coming through the court before trial. Of course, I got on a suit, but I'm shackled. So I'm, and I don't know about having my head. I don't know what I was. I mean, I was looking down. And my dad was like, he was like, man, put your head up.

And that's one thing I remember about my dad. Man, my dad passed 2018. I remember being in my trial and just seeing me, man. And like, man, keep your head up, man. Like, don't let these people know you're defeated, man. So, but, you know, he was upset. He was, even when he comes to see me, man, when he was. just, I'm like, look, that man.

I was to the point, man, it took me a decade in to just reflect and just start taking accountability, like for my action. Yeah, those people testified against you. Yeah, those people got sentence reduction. But what was your role? I started looking at myself. Like, they told, but if you're going to work every day, they're not going to tell them people that are going to work every day.

If you're not breaking the law, the government is not going to tap your phone. They're not going to do air surveillance on people that they're, it's just a waste of resources. So had I been doing other stuff or had I not been dealing with these people in that manner, they wouldn't have nothing to tell. Yeah, that's like my daddy sat through my trial and to this day he ate the people that had testified against them. These are people that would come to our house and hang out with us and eat with us. My childhood friend since I was 12 years old, best man in my wedding testified against me. Crazy. Yeah. My son, he's my son's godfather. I'm his daughter's godfather.

Now my son, my son hasn't forgiven him, and he's like, Dad, you can do it, you can forgive him, but I'm not there yet. So I'm like, hey, you know, I can't make him,

but I would hope that my son, you know, because I've done the time now, Ian, I've done 20 years. So why be mad at him? For what? Now, we don't have the same relationship. We can't have the same relationship

because, for one, he's a government witness. So, and I'm on federal probation. So I can't be around a government witness. And, there was a situation when Michael Vick, when Michael Vick got out. And this is what I have to be mindful of. Michael Vick gets out of prison and his cousin ended up testified against him or telling on him or something like that.

Michael Vick gets out of prison and they throw a surprise birthday party for Michael Vick. Michael Vick is at the party and the cousin shows up. So Mike Vick leaves the party. Now I hope I'm getting this right. He leaves a party. The cousin ended up getting shot. Who do you think they came to get? You see what I'm saying?

So I'm mindful of that. Like if I'm somewhere and he's there And God forbid Something happens to him They're gonna come think I'm and I'm just You know I'm not like Vic was just,

It's his birthday party It's like a surprise You know so Yeah man so But you know I seen him recently You know I seen him I see him I speak You know hey

It is what it is man You know Cause like Unforgiveness Real real in Really Unforgiveness is like drinking poison

And waiting on another person to die that's what unforgiveness is like You know, unforgiveness is, forgiveness is for me It's not for the other person Because I used to sit in federal prison in I used to watch them guys Man, them guys are rats, told on people But them guys living their life

They're playing tickets They got bowls They're talking like they tough dudes Some dudes even shot callers for their car And I used to look at them like And this man that knows He didn't toll on this whole city This man that murdered his whole town

with telling, and he ain't lost no sleep. He all feels like he's just a stand-up guy. And I just think to myself, that's how, I bet that's what my co-defendants are doing right now. My co-defendants right now are just, you know, they're like, they're not worried about me. They're not losing no sleep by me or by my kids. So, you know what?

Let me get past that, you know. And to get past that, my faith, my faith in Jesus Christ, that's what helped me like. Because look how many times I've betrayed God. Look how many times I've done God. wrong. So that's what kind of helped me like resolve that. And sometimes you got to just, you know, you got to take

your lick in, you know. Nobody gets away. So, but I'm better for it. I'm back. All this is working for my good. It's like, now I'm able to talk to parents. Now I'm able to talk to mothers who have sons who won't listen. Hey, can you talk to my son?

Hey, can I said, listen, you see me now. You see my, my success story now. But I was your son. You can't tell me nothing. I was the same way. So what you need to do is love them, tell them the hard truth. God forbid they end up in federal prison or in a prison period. But when they do, trust me, they're going to appreciate you telling them, hey, you're wrong versus patting them on the back. Yeah, and so many people spend their prison sentences and drowning and hate towards the people

that told on them, plotting revenge, plotting all that. You're going to do all that just to go end up back where you are if you do ever make it out. Man, I was in Forest City, man. Crazy thing, man. Forest City, right next door to my dorm was the drug program. Drug program, 30, 40 dudes go home at a time, you know. 30 dudes getting out when they graduate, they go home. And God leaves the drug program in.

Goes to the halfway house. This is like all this week. On breaking news, Little Rock News, the guy kills the guy that tells on him, kills his girlfriend that's with him and the police kill him. And I just seen this guy on the compound. He had like a five-year sentence, six-year sentence.

And I could help but think, man, he probably sat in this prison every day thinking, man, man, when I get out, I'm going to get my man. What's the point of that? I thought, and he didn't, you know, like me, I got 30 years. And I used to like, man, I used to like hate when dudes come in with 41 months and 57 months.

I worked in a law library. So guys coming in, man, I'm trying to peel my case. One guy got 60 months for the gun in and 57 months for the powder cocaine. They found a half kilo of powder. They gave him consecutive five for the half a kilo. One guy has 84 months. He has drugs, but there was a gun in the attic. And they gave him a two-point enhancement.

So he's saying, I shouldn't have got the two-point enhancement. The gun was not there. It wasn't around, whatever. I said, hey, man, this guy got a consecutive 60. you only got 24 months extra. He got a consecutive 60. He wants your 24 months. You know, so I used to list these guys cry about this time.

And then God just showed me like, hey, listen, that's their 400 months. That 51 months they got, that's their breaking point. That's all they can take. That's how I made them. You know, it's going to take that for me. It took that for me to get them where I want them to be. See, you, you're a little bit of more hard. head of

kids. You're a little bit more hard headed. So I got to, I got to stretch you

out a little bit because truthfully in, if I didn't went to prison with a 10-year sentence, camp points,

low for 18 months, go right to the camp, cell phone, getting a car you can leave, people having babies at the camp, I wouldn't learn

my lesson. I wouldn't experience the lockdown. I wouldn't experience the violence. I wouldn't experience the being separated,

You know, I'm in Leavenworth, Kansas. You know, I'm a thousand miles from home. But God used all that to, like, get me to where he has me today. So. You know, switching prisons, though, does make your bid go by faster because I went to so many different ones and finally made it to a camp. But when I was at the camp, you'd see guys that get a clean 10. And they're doing that, that whole, whatever, the eight years or seven years at that camp, they'll never leave. Never.

Provide they don't get in trouble. Yeah. That's crazy. I think that's insanity. It's so cushiony. It's just like you get stuck there in limbo, you know? And they are threaten you guys. Hey, we're going to see you to the camp.

We're going to see you behind the fence. But people that's been behind the fence, man, that's nothing. I feel like everyone should go behind the fence for a little bit just to learn the culture because there's so many guys that get to prison that just – and that's why it's tougher for the guys that came from behind the fence to a camp to adapt in that environment. It's a lot harder. But, yeah, I would have went to a camp, man.

And, you know, I wouldn't experience nothing. I wouldn't have learned because, you know, guys are, you know, they getting stuff in. You know, hey, you know, and it's, I tell people now in business, like, if you're from the streets, if you have a street background, if you're a hustler, I tell people it's like dope game 101, buy low and sell high. You know, if you want a bottle of crown and I can get you a bottle of crown at the camp, I pay $20 for. I might sell it you for $100 or whatever you want to pay for it. So it's the same way in the real world. Just do something legal. Find something legal for a cheaper price.

Sell it for a higher price. That's not too bad. And that's how you make money. But yeah, I'm glad I was able to start at a higher custody. I never made it to a camp, though. I got sent home before that, though. So, yeah. Did you have your son before going to prison?

Yeah, my son was three. My youngest was 18 months. So, yeah. And were you married to that one? I was married. I was married. Yeah. Man, my wife, my wife,

My ex-wife, she sent me the divorce papers, man. I want to say about 2016, Ian, man. Wait, that long after? Yeah, man. She rode with you the whole time? Roald me the whole time. You know, of course she was living her life, you know. I mean, I can't.

That's one thing about me, like women would reach out to me. Because you know, you're living that life. So you know women. They would reach out to me just to, hey, check on you. Hey, how you doing? You know, hope you're doing all right. Send me birthday, Christmas cards, whatever. But I was one of those guys.

Hey, I'm doing time. I got a 2030. to release date. It's 2008. So why? You know, thank you for reaching out to me, but I want to get 300 minutes a month. That's 10 minutes a day. I got to call my family. I wouldn't want to hold nobody hostage like that.

I'm in here because of my mistakes. I'm in here because of what I did. So why hold you to, you know, so, yes, you see me the divorce papers. I signed a divorce papers in 16, 17. Then, man, a few years later, COVID hits. here I am. Do you think she would have sent you those divorce papers if she knew you were coming home just a couple years later? You have to ask her that end.

I don't know. Do you guys talk now? Yeah, we're good. Yeah, we're good. We're definitely good. Yeah, we're definitely good. We're good. How old are your kids when you guys had the talk with your kids?

And did that talk happen in prison? What is the talk? The talk about your dad's in prison. Oh, shoot, they've been coming to see me since they was, you know, you know, you know, You know, they was coming to see me early on. So they were, you know, they kind of like grew up. But they didn't really understand what it was until you guys told them, right? Well, I didn't really have the talk.

Like, we didn't really have a talk. I had to talk with my son, man. My youngest son was like, he would hear all these stories about his dad. And I wasn't, I didn't live up to the stories he heard. So he was kind of frustrated with me. Because he was heard that your dad, this, your dad, that. And I was not giving him that. I was not glorifying that lifestyle.

I didn't even want to talk about it. So finally, man, this was probably about, I was in Beaumont when we had to talk, so it had to be 13 years later. 2016. So, yeah, so I was like, hey, son, I say, don't believe what people tell you about me. If you want to know something about me,

ask me. I say, because those people that tell you those stories, ask them, hey, what's my dad registered's number? Say, I know my dad is in prison, but what's his address? So that let you know if they know me or not They didn't know my register number They didn't know my address

Because you know, you can go to BOP.gov And look somebody up So I said son, I don't want to talk about that life Because that lifestyle has me separated from you I'm separated for you all these years Because of that life. So I'm not proud of that life I'm not, I don't want to talk about that And then he understood that

Once I told him that So that was kind of like the talk we had him I was like, listen. But if you want to know something, Just ask me. I'll tell you, you know. You said this place was steps the water. We just haven't found the steps yet. How much did we save? Enough. Enough to get lost.

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melting of cheese, or just grabbing one more spoonful of yogurt. Keep it real. Look for the seal. Real California milk by Real California Farm Families. Yeah. But now my daughter, now we didn't really really, I didn't have too much had to talk with my daughters, nothing like that, yeah.

Do you think it was easier for them to have a father in prison back during that time period when there was no social media while they were growing up compared to if you were in prison now and they were young? They might be more, you know. Yeah, they might be a little more. It might be bullying or anything like that. Well, man, I don't know. Like, you know, this bullying stuff is like, like, all that stuff came on when I was gone. So, like, I'm not, it's like, you know about that end, but I don't really know about that bullying. It's kind of like, I'm pretty sure my son, you know, I'm pretty sure they felt some kind of way on daddy, daughter, day, or when, you know, parents, they came up, you know, showing up their mom all the time.

I know it affected them some way or another. But, yeah, growing up now, it's tough. It's tough. It's tough with kids, you know. I definitely know that it was definitely some pain. It was definitely some kind of harm, you know, done to my kids from me being gone, being absent. What happened to your siblings? Did they go off and on the same path or did they become successful?

I'm the, I like to say, Ian, I did enough time for the whole family. I did enough time for the kids, the grandkids, the great-grandkids. So, man, the great thing about it, none of my kids have been in trouble. I have an older son who thinks he's, he thinks he's some kind of street dude. I'm like, son, listen, you, you grew up with iPhone and Jordans and your grandmother spoils you, man. Stop it. You are not, yes, I am. Listen, stop it.

But, man, that's the great thing. And that's, they use that statistic. Like, if one parent is incarcerated, it's a high percentage that their kids are going to be incarcerated, I defied those odds. You know, my daughter's ex-military. My, one of my daughters graduated high school, graduated college before high school. Now, that was like some new, new stuff to me. So, hey, I got to graduate college on this day, then I graduate high school. I'm like, what, what are you doing?

What is, you know, so, man, my kid, I got some great kids. They definitely had been in trouble. Like I said, I've been in trouble for everybody. So I've done time for everybody. So hopefully y'all ain't got to go that route. Did you play politics in prison? Me? Yeah.

I kind of, I got away from the politics because, like I said, man, I was in Forest City, Arkansas, and they had, like, the Texas table. They had, like, you know, the Texas car and this. But they wasn't checking no paperwork in. So, and I'm one of them guys, this is 2000 and, and five, so I'm 32 now. I'm getting older now. I'm almost 35.

So I was one of them like, hey, listen, we're from Texas, but my home boys that I grew up with told on me from Texas. Do y'all honestly think I'm going to come to prison? It'd be cool with some people from Texas I just met. I mean, we all right, we homebo, okay, we know some of the same people. I mean, though. But, nah, then y'all ain't checking paperwork like,

and I was on the paperwork thing, man. But later on that, that's. I realize, Ian, that's all fake. So they weren't checking paperwork. Now, I'm working at a law library. So all the GDs, everybody comes, you're in a law library, you're the man. Because you can help people get detainers off.

You can help people get tickets off. You can help people get the hat. You can write up the BOP if they're not putting their halfway house in. So you're the man. So, man, I'm sitting with St. Louis guys. I'm sitting with the Kansas City guy. I'm sitting with the Colombians. I mean, I'm sitting, listen, long as you straight,

we're good. I didn't care what color you are, what car you was in. man, as long as you wasn't a rat, I sat with you and we were good. Did you feel yourself getting like institutionalized as your years went on? Man, you know, you think about it and you try to avoid it. You know, you try to, you know, actually I was, you know, I'm sitting there. I'm in the TV room with my, with my shower shoes on. They're like, man, go put your shoes on, man, you know.

Like, man, listen, I'm not, you know, I used to do all that. You know, never get caught without your tennis shoes. Yeah. As a while, I'm like, man, forget all that, man. You know, listen, man, I'm all right, you know. I'm going to defend myself, you know, but, you know, you do, you get caught up in the prison politics. You get, you get caught up with some stuff. The sale, hey, man, that's a Texas sale.

You'll get caught up in that concert. You start realizing like, oh, man, stop it, man. You know, no, that ain't, you know, oh, man, we got to have a sale. So when somebody come and you get caught up and that, but then you start realizing, man, listen, you're not going to take that cell home with you? You're going to take that table with you when you go home? I said if the warden coming in there right now say get up you're going to get up so that's not your table so stop it

you know what I mean so yeah chairs on the TV room the imaginary spaces are ridiculous yeah you got a spot yeah that's my spot and I say hey man you're gonna take this spot with you and I was one of them you know I got shipped all over the country in so I'm all you know so you know now I'm from Texas and in Texas we're like more like players in the South

we're more like you know we're cool so I would be in Leavenworth and guys were like man this is my section I said, listen, man, if you was in Texas, I wouldn't be tripped about the remote. This is the Texas TV. Here, man, here's a remote in. You from Connecticut?

Here, I'm about to go outside. Look, don't get the remote taken because we're supposed to have a remote. You know, the officer, what's they had in the remote? You know, they want the officer to have it. But, yeah, you get, you start thinking about it like, man, you know what? No, it ain't that serious, man. I'm not thinking this is their stuff.

This is the government stuff when I leave here. And I like to tell people, Ann, I was in prison, but I was not of prison. So people are like, man, how did you get out? How did you come out and you did so well? I said, I was in jail, but I was not of jail. See, when you be of jail, you're into the politics and the, I watch CNN every day. I watch Fox.

I watch MSNBC. I watched the stocks. I watched all the news to know what's going on in the world. So I stayed up. I didn't watch the Kardashians or. Love After Lock. Yeah, I didn't watch all these. There was one show, First 48.

I'm like, man, why are y'all watching this show and them dudes tell? They always tell. And that lets me know, man, I know what y'all. I know what y'all on, man. Y'all know he's going to tell. Why are you watching this show? You know?

So, uh... What happened to your properties? Did they take those? Didn't take the property. I ended up selling them. They didn't take anything for me. You know, I guess they eat 400 months. They probably like, hey, man, that's enough, man.

You know, I was reading... This is another thing, man. In 2009, I was in Leavenworth, again. And I'm reading Big Meach's story. And I used to feel some kind of way about Big Meets. I used to be like, man, this dude is the police because he has like 500 kilograms of cocaine that they caught on this case.

And he got 30 years. And here I am, I got 80 that they made up. And I got 33 years. So I'm reading this case, man. And I'm like, dang, man, this dude, if he didn't tell, he is the luckiest person. But I was looking at, I read his sentencing transcript. And they didn't discuss, you know, I don't know what he did.

But for him to get 30 years in, for the amount of drugs that he had, he needs to be on every part. He needs to be shouting to the rooftop telling all young people, hey, man, that's not the way to go. That guy, he got blessed because it's people with life sentences that have, that they're still in for the amount of drugs he had. So as far as them taking, I say that to say this. I was reading his sentencing transcripts. I think they only charged him like $100 a fine. They might have forfeits some stuff that they found, like cash that they got. from him. He might have forfeited that, but they gave him $100 assessment. I was like, dang,

you know, just a regular court case. So, no, they didn't take a name from me, no. Wow. And his system was very elaborate, too. Man, listen, man, he... I read some of those, like, what is it, like the hood books they call him in prison about him, him and Fat Cat, too. Listen, man, there was a case out of California. The guy came down in the 80s. I could send it to you. Guy came down to 80s in the 90s. He had a life sentence, 500 kilograms of cocaine. And this is when he's filing a 3582 motion. He's filing a motion for the new laws that came down.

And the judge references, he said, I'm reducing his sentence to 30 years. And his sentence is compatible to other people who have sentenced. And he mentioned Demetrius Finney and Terry Fennery. He mentioned their names. So that shows you, this guy had a, you're supposed to get a life sentence for that amount of drugs. But the judge looked at, okay, these guys got 30. I'm eligible to give you, I'm able to give you 30. under law.

So I'm going to give you a sentence that's the same as the same people with the same conduct. But he's blessed, though, man. I mean, like, I know they got stuff on the internet. You know, some of his crew say he work in. Whatever they say, you got to live

with that. You know, I used to be on that. Like, I'll say, I put the book down. When I saw that, you know, because I don't know who meets is, you know, I'm in prison. He came down 05 after me. So I don't know who this guy is.

So I put the book down. I'm like, man, this dude here, man. Come on, man. Stop. I said, but. And I'm seeing how these dudes glorifying it, how they like own them. I'm like, but that let me know my environment. They like welcome that, like, guys that really told, not saying he told.

But if he did, they throw him parties when they get out. I was looking at the Rolling Stone magazine. I saw Rick Ross. And Rick Ross is in there getting perfect attendance for being a prison guard, right? So this is the same time I'm reading the Big Meach book. And I'm like, and I'm looking at these guys. They listen to Rick Ross. And I said, man, I get tricked him.

I say, man, I wish I was double-joining so I could kick myself. These guys are glorifying a guard. You know, he's taking people's porn. He's taking their onions. He's taking their bell pepper. If the warden say, put him in the hole, he's going to take you to the hole. He's going to shake your cell down. And they're saying, oh, he's bringing stuff in.

Man, he's the police, man. I mean, like, I was on that. I was on. You're the police. Like, it's the police. But, like I said, that was my mind. I first came in. Now, I was like, man, I was in the wrong business.

This officer is getting $70,000 a year. He only even want to open the door every hour. One officer told me, he said, hey, man, I really feel guilty. I want to just leave the door unlocked. Y'all are not going nowhere. He said, man, I don't even want to open the door for y'all. I just want to just do my aid and go home. And I'm getting $70,000.

I was like, man, I was in the wrong business. Because the inmates are telling them everything. Like, they're going to, you know, I'm like, you don't have to do his job. The in the end may going to come tell them, hey, they're doing this, they're doing that. So I was like, y'all's in our own business then for real. Because you had an entrepreneurial mindset, were you hustling at all in prison or were you good financially? My thing with hustling in prison, my thing with doing anything in prison is guys in prison have told on people. So I would have to be crazy to do something wrong or illegal or not just any kind of hustling.

and I'm around people that tell. It's like, you know what's in here. So why would you do something? And then when you get caught, they told on me. Oh, they, man, you do know what's in here, right? That's part of the game. You do know what's in here.

You got called with a cell phone, but this dude just told him a 60-man conspiracy. I mean, he just told him his grandmother. He didn't let his grandmother out. They found the stuff in his grandmother's house. He didn't take the case. That's what they said. There's no honor amongst thieves.

Yeah, so, no, I didn't really like, no, I'm like, I was just trying to get out. Not since I got, I didn't get in trouble. I got, my first shot was an out of bounds shot in. Well, walking on the track. No, listen, so this is a Sunday. I'm working on my case. I come in working on my case, and I was at the law library end, 7 o'clock work call to yard recall, 7 to 10.30, go to lunch, work call at 12 to recall.

Then I'll go back after child to 8. o'clock for like two years. I probably know more law than most paralegal. So I was just working on my case. So this particular Sunday in Oakdale, Louisiana, it's a Sunday. It's raining. Nobody's outside. So the cops, they're like, hey, nobody's

in the track, nobody's on the yard. They got to be in other units. And the unit is connected. I go to the unit next door on the move and I say, hey, man, there's such and such in the unit. I need to get this case. Who the officer? Who working the door? I mean, going to

He cool. Lock down. Censors count. Man, I'm in another unit. I give my first shot, man, being out of bounds, man. So when I'm applying, for all this reductions,

why is the government using this 316 or whatever it is? It's like a, why are they using this shot to deny me getting a sentence reduction? Then I got a shot for you and somebody phone.

I had some phone minutes. You know, I got a silly patty stuff. But that's a 200. You know, that was a 200. They took like 80-some days for me for that. Wow. So they government is using all this.

It ain't like I can get no knife shot. I ain't got no wine. I didn't get no wine shot. But yeah, that's kind of stuff I got. I might got a, what they call it? Disobeyed direct order. You know, I forget what they call when you talk smart to the police. I forget what they call.

I got some of them, yeah. You ever get yourself a little counselor, case manager, boo thing or anything? Because you were down for so long? No, man. Like, the guys are going to tell. And, like, I was just so locked in on my own. I was locked in on my face. man and I was locked in on just better than myself so it's like I don't know my like like prison to

me man was just like you can't do nothing like the Bible says be sure your sin going to find you out you know and it says there's nothing hidden that won't be revealed so if you still trying to be slick in prison a chaplain told me one time he was like man he was preaching and he's like guys if you're in prison and you don't think you need to change your life, there's something really wrong with you. And that's stuck with me. And that's been, it's been about 15 years since I heard that. If you're in prison and you don't think you need to change your life, it's something wrong with you because it's nothing worse in prison than being dead.

I mean, that's the only thing worse. Because in prison, you're not even living. You're just existing. It's no like, you know, guys are in prison. They're being all they can. It's like the army. You be all you can be. You, all you have 100 kilos coming down.

Oh, I was, man, stop it. You know, man, prison, you know, to me, man, it was like, I just, I just know much more that I can do. I know other stuff to do. And that was another thing that was hard in. I'm not a dumb person. I'm not the smartest person, but I know other stuff to do. You know, I sat in prison of many days. I was like, man, my problem is that fence.

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And once I got from behind it in, it's been on, man. It's been on, so. So clearly it's not 2032 right now. How did you get out early? Man, really? It's definitely by the grace of God. You know, prison to me was grace and mercy. You know, grace is God giving you something you don't

deserve. Mercy is him not giving us what we rightfully deserve. COVID-19 hits in. COVID-19 hits all these guidelines coming out. They're scrambling. The country's in an uproar. They don't know what to do. People are dying in prison. I think a prison in Ohio, so many people died and got sick. So when everyone got their first $1,200 stimulus checks, they put a provision in for federal prisoners to come home to home confinement. If you serve 50% of your sentence and you couldn't have a sex crime and you couldn't have any violence. And you also, with that pattern score, you had to have a minimum return risk. They got it down to a science. They know if you're a minimum risk to return, a low, a medium or a high. So I met the criteria. And they're saying,

hey, you give us an address, you can go home. And I'm like, I got 12 years left. I got 2032. No, give us an address. You can go home. So I go to the phone. I call my uncle. He said, I can come to his house. They put me in. I'm still not believing it in. I mean, I just don't know. I'm so locked in on doing my time now. I don't fault my case.

The whole 17 years, I don't file this. They didn't deny, Obama denied my clemency. Trump is in office. This is 16. No, this is 20. So Trump is in office. Trump did the first step back, but I know I got to deal with this judge.

I don't know if I can get the 18. I'm under the 100 to 1 crack ratio. Trump signed where it's 18 and 1. I don't know if I can get that. So they put me in. I got a date. They take the date. I got another date.

My date is September 30th. So I'm in quarantine. They want you to test negative for two weeks. So I'm in quarantine in. I'm quarantined. They testing every day putting the thing up your nose. You know, they're doing the, you know, that was bad back then. They were doing that brain scratcher.

Like, dang, they're testing and putting it. I was like, ugh. So, man, if one person test positive, they would. We got to start over. So, man, September 30, it comes, man. It's the time to go. I'm at the front. You know, you're at the front of you.

You're waiting. You can't sleep. I get to R&D. I'm dressed out, you know. You know, I got on Air Max. I got on short, I got on regular street clothes. I ain't had no street clothes in 17 years. So I finally walk out of prison here in September 30th, 2020, man.

So I did 17 years, four months, and 15 days. Yeah. In custody. Now I'm on a leg monitor, so I have to go to Dallas, Texas. I get to Dallas, Texas, and they put in a leg monitor them and send me home. But I still got a 2013 to release act. So I'm hanging out. I'm doing TikToks.

I got my life in the feds. I got my clothing line. So I ended up relocating to Austin, Texas. Start driving for Coke. Coca-Cola. I got my CDL in. I ain't drove no trucks, no vehicles in 17 years. Now I'm in an 18-wheeler, rolling.

Like, damn, this is like, and I have to be careful that I don't get too arrogant. I have to be careful that I don't get too pride for them because I used to be like, look, not necessarily look down on people, but I was like, man, if I'm driving a truck after 17 years in prison, what's your excuse? Y'all have been out here. You know why I've been there for the last almost two decades? You know it's people that would love to be out here with your opportunity. get out with life, with all this time.

So I'm driving my truck. I'm making $5,000 a month. You know, I'm doing lives. I'm going to TikTok, you know. Then me and my sister fall out in. Me and my sister have her issue, man. She called a halfway house. I can't stay there anymore.

I get locked back up. They lock me back up in. How long do they lock you back up for? 18 days. They sent you to federal prison or to the halfway house? I went to county. I went to county. No, that's the thing.

My sister called the halfway house and said I couldn't live there anymore. By me having more than a year on my sentence, you can't stay at the half-house over a year. So they had put me in the county jail. I'm in the county jail in Waco, Texas. Bus goes from Waco to San Antonio Airport. Fly you from San Antonio to Houston, Houston to Beaumont. That's the route. It's like twice a week or something like that.

I'm that close back to Beaumont. That's how close I am. So once you violate that home confinement, they would just send people back. They were not letting people out. But me, by me being, I was like the poster child for, because they wanted to buy, they wanted to send us back.

Once COVID ended, we were going to be returning back to prison. So they had me as the poster child for, hey, he's gotten out, he's working. This is, he's done 17 years. He's people that kill people, don't do this much time. He's working. He's bettering himself.

This is a reason to keep him and to set thousands of others out. he's proof that people can get back going. So I'm back in jail, and it was a misunderstanding. You know, my sister, she tried to call him and tell him. The news interviewed her. They talked to me through the jail. And all these groups that I had been doing documentaries with, doing media with, they came to my defense.

So it was the Alep group. Some people out of California, they called the BOP. And the BOP was like, okay, we got you, we're going to move you to Dallas. It'll be 60 days. So, I'm excited. you know, this is 22. I got a decade left. They're saying 60 days in the county.

I'm like, okay, I just did 17 behind the fence. So I say, yeah, man, they say, wait, even, what? 60 days. I said, no, that's not what they told us. You have a job. You're not just getting out of it. Man, those people went from 60 days. I got out the next day.

Wow. I was on my way. Had to be in Dallas. I went to Fort Worth Halfway House. I started driving for Coke down there. And they hire felons? Yeah, Coke hires felons. That's great.

I'm interviewing for Coke. And a friend of mine that was in Seagerville, Texas, he's the, he's a supervisor. He tells him, hey, can't, man, get your license. You get your license. I can get your job tomorrow, $24 an hour. That's great. So I'm like, for real?

Like, yeah, so I start, so I'm interviewing, and they got the big boss there. For some reason, the boss is sitting at my interview. So I'm like, man. So I say, hey, listen, I'm not going to waste y'all time. Here's my story. Two thousand three, I was indicted. President Trump.

sent us home. And they were just like stunned when they heard my present taste. They was just like, what? They were just like, I guess they couldn't believe I was telling us.

I'm not going to waste your time. I got an ankle monitor on right now. So, you know, y'all gonna find out. And they hired me. They didn't mind, you know, I'm working. You know,

so Coke hires felons and Dr. Pepper hires felons. I think Pepsi hires felons. Yeah, Pepsi too. And Frito Le. Pepsi paid more, but they didn't give you the hours, you know, so.

But again, me, my mindset. in. I was just working to get out the halfway house. I mean, to get out of the house because under home confinement, you couldn't work unless you couldn't leave the house to you unless you had a job. What was your first meal after all those years? Man, my first meal, I had some grilled chicken. I went to Buckees. Buckees is a big spot. Yeah. Yeah, shout out the Buckees, man. I need to give me a spot. I need to give me an ad. Give me a promo or something. I went to Buckees, man, because my family used to always come see me

when I was in Bastrop, Texas. Before visitation, I'd be like, y'all, we ate at Buckees. Oh, you got to see Buckees. Buckees is this. That's a spot. Man, Bucky's a spot, man. So, yeah, I went to Buckees. I think I got a turkey sandwich or I got something, you know.

And one thing about federal prison, too, it taught me good eating habits. You know, you're brushing your teeth after every meal in. You're flossing every day. Because you got nothing to do. You're doing stuff that you're supposed to do in federal prison. So I'm eating, uh, I'm not. I'm not eating the burgers. No, every Wednesday.

Remember the burger every Wednesday? I love the cheeseburger. I didn't eat that. It was trash. Well, I was it, I don't know. I started getting the veggie burger. I start eating the hummus. I start eating a mixed vegetable.

I'm doing the, you know, I'm in my 50s. Now, you know, well, see, 2020, I'm with 47, so I'm almost 50. So, I'm sorry. I'm eating, you know, I'm eating vestment. I'm trying to, I have a, uh, 2032 release date, yeah. I got to live this sentence out. I got to be in shape. I got to be in shape.

I got to be in. until 32, you know, I got to at least look decent. So transitioning for me was, was like easy, like eating. I tried the chicken sandwich test. I tried the filet chicken sandwich. I tried the Burger King. Remember they were standing in line? And I did a TikTok.

You know, I did a TikTok about that. But I tried it, you know. And I'm one of those people. I was just tried just to get it out of my system. And I'm good with it. So my diet was cool. I ate bad. I'm not going to lie.

Because, you know, you're home. You know you want to try it. After a while, I had it. Yeah, it's good. But, yeah. What about relationships and dating? Was that hard to get back into? Man, dating was, listen, I'm on TikTok, right?

So you're on TikTok and, like, like, you know, people are like, hey, can you get some visits? Hey, I'm like, listen, it's COVID. And nobody can't come to people's house. And, like, women were, like, bolder when I came home. Women were like, like, it was different. And there was a lot of more women entrepreneurs. Like, women were, are businessmen now.

Women are hustlers, like how we were in the 90s and the 2000. That's how women are today. And it's like, I love it because, you know, you see a woman like doing her thing. It's like, man, that's something. But, yeah, so dating, it was cool. You know, it was good. But I said, I'm still, you know, I'm trying to be a relationship with my kids. I'm still trying.

And it's like coming me. I still got this release date. So it's kind of hard to date somebody and you can be going back to prison. So when does a release date get taken away? Did that happen already? Man, so I'm on home confinement. 2014, I signed up for Obama's clemency project.

He had a clemency project for people that have been down 10 years, first-time offenders. They give me a lawyer who's a former federal prosecutor. He doesn't do federal law anymore. he does private practice, civil. He represents me. File my motion. I go through all the steps.

I meet the criteria. He just knows I'm coming home. Right before Obama leaves in January 16, he denies like 3,000 petitions, right? We leave in office. Crush is my lawyer. You know, I've been getting denied forever. You know, I've been getting...

No, that's in 2000. When he leave? He left in 2016, yeah. Crush is my attorney. My attorney is just sick. He's like, man, I thought you're going to make it. I just knew. knew we had a good chance. I'm so sorry.

And I've been getting denied my whole bid, man. I'm used to it. So when I came home in 2020, I let him know I was home. He was excited. He got back with his firm. The firm said going to represent me again for free. Trump signed the First Depth Act of 2018. Reduces the penalty, the drug ratio, the crack ratio from 100 to 1 to 18 to 1. They filed my motion. The government come back, doesn't oppose my motion. December 23, December 26, 23, two days after my birthday, the judge reduced my sentence from 400 months to 300 months. Now my release date is instead of January 32, it's December 23.

So I finished my sentence last December. That's awesome, man. And I bet you if that didn't happen, you would have been commuted this past December from Biden because you would have fell on the criteria of people that have been out since COVID. Yeah, Biden. That's why happened to Big Meach and all those guys too. Yeah, Biden would have got, man. But I'm kind of glad Biden didn't do it.

I've been a Biden critic. Just for the simple fact, I was sentenced on his 1996 crime bill. I was in two prisons he built. I think when he was a congressman, they funded the money for a Beaumont federal prison, and they funded the money for a city. So I just thought he could do more. I'm glad he did it.

I got a few friends with life sentences. I got friends that's been down 20 and 25 years that's coming home. So I'm glad he got a chance. to kind of write some of the wrongs he did. I wish he would have did it sooner. But, yeah, I've been a critic. So it's kind of hard to criticize. It's not really hard to criticize people.

But, you know, people are like, why are you criticized? He did this for you? No, you have to, you have to hold people. If you do something wrong, you got to tell them. I did something wrong, so you had to tell me. So, yeah. So what's life like for you now? What do you do?

Man, life is great. Man, life is wonderful, man. I'm a contractor. I'm getting into some religious. estate. I'm on my second rental property. My goal for 2025 is 10 doors. I'm on my set. I got a one under contract for my third door. I'm looking for some lots in Texas right now. I want to build a duplex. I want to live in one side and run out the other. But

lots are so expensive. So that's it, man. I'm grinding. I got, what's this? This is fair. Almost February. I got 10 months to get eight houses. So I'm trying to, you know, that's my goal for 2025, man, 10 doors. So life is good, man. Like, just just thinking back reflecting where I could have been today and to where I'm now, man, and it's just a tremendous, it's just a tremendous blessing. You know, I'm taking advantage of every opportunity

and every chance I get. I want to tell family, I want to tell kids, all who would listen, do not make the mistakes I made. Do not do what I did. But if you do find yourself incarcerated federally, it's not the end. Just learn from your situation. Accept responsibility.

come out better than you went in. That's what I'll tell people. Absolutely. Well, Kendrick, thanks so much for send down with me today, man. Appreciate it, Ian, man. Thanks for having me, man. I can't wait to get you in Texas. Yeah, definitely.

As soon as you get the pod started letting you know. I got you. I got to give my stuff, man. I'll be there in April, too. I'll be in Austin in April. I got you. I'm going to find us a spot. So if you're ready by then, we can do it.

Definitely. All right, cool, man. I appreciate you. I'm looking forward to it. Yes, sir.