Locked In with Ian Bick - Traffic Stop Leads to Arrest for Unlawful Possession of 15 Guns | Andrew Conneally

Episode Date: March 16, 2025

Andrew Conneally shares the how a routine traffic stop turned into an arrest for unlawful possession of 15 firearms. From the moment police pulled him over to the legal consequences that followed, this is a firsthand account of crime, law enforcement, and the justice system in action. #GunPossession #TrafficStop #TrueCrime #SecondAmendment #CriminalJustice #IllegalGuns #ArrestStory #lawenforcement Thank you to NORDVPN & DRAFT KINGS for sponsoring today's episode: NordVPN: To get the best discount off your NordVPN plan - go to https://nordvpn.com/ianbick which will also give you 4 extra months on the 2-year plan. There's no risk with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! 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. Connect with Andrew Conneally: https://www.instagram.com/eosone00?igsh=MWt1NHY2OGQ3M2Rtcw== 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 Growing Up in Brooklyn and Moving to Pennsylvania 00:04:09 The Thrill and Risks of Graffiti in New York City 00:08:04 How I Got in Trouble with Guns 00:12:40 Legal Search and Seizure Explained 00:17:30 Arrest and Charges for Illegal Weapon Possession 00:21:12 Arrest and Charges for Machine Gun Possession 00:25:42 Understanding the Graves Act in New Jersey 00:30:21 Life Flipped Upside Down: An Unexpected Arrest 00:34:22 Experiences in a Small Town Jail 00:38:44 Personal Reflection on Risky Decisions 00:43:13 Facing Judgment and Family Reactions 00:47:39 Navigating Legal Challenges: Personal Reflections 00:51:59 Intense Courtroom Drama and Negotiations 00:56:41 Phone Evidence and Legal Advice 01:01:00 The Arrest and Incarceration Year 01:05:09 Being Portrayed as Guilty 01:09:21 Farewell and Best Wishes 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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even if you've shopped with us before. Drew, welcome to Lockton, man. Thanks for coming out. You're from Pennsylvania? I'm from Brooklyn originally, but I live in PA, yeah, for a while too. Yeah, not bad of a ride, kind of scenic coming from PA to hear. I liked it. I liked it, yeah, a little different, you know, switching it up.

Wasn't bad. Well, thank you for reaching out via email and coming on the show. Anyone that wants to come on the show, you know, Drew could tell you how easy it is to get a hold of me. Yeah, I seen on Instagram, it said, yo, if you'd want to do it, and I know people that watch your show, and I see you pop up. and I said, why not? Fucking boom. And you reach right back out.

That was pretty cool. Yeah. That was pretty cool. Set it right up. Yeah. People could go on the website too, just Ian Bick.com and just submit their story. And, you know,

I'm very responsive. Me and my brother look at all the emails and we just message as many people as we can get them to come. That's what it's all about, these types of stories. Yeah. That's what I liked about it too

because it's just ordinary folk for the most part, you know? I feel like I'm pretty ordinary, you know what I'm saying? Some celebrity or some shit. But yeah, he gets some ordinary people. Who'd you grow up with in Brooklyn? Who?

Yeah. My family. My sisters, my parents, you know. They split up and shit, but it's pretty much shit. I lived in Brooklyn until I was like 21, 22. Then I moved out to PA. What did your parents do for work? Nothing now.

Nothing now. They retired. Back then. Oh, back then. My mom, she came up in marketing. and advertising for big business. And my father was a computer guy. He was a computer guy.

He was into programming computers when companies were... When computers came out, you know, started booming, installing fucking computer systems, programming shit like that. He came up doing that, yeah. Did you guys have money growing up in Brooklyn? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, I grew up nice, yeah, certainly. Were you close with your siblings? Yeah. Yeah, we're close. Certainly. What was the age discrepancy between you guys? I got a younger sister

and an older sister. Okay. Yeah. Family of girls. Yeah. Is it hard just being the boy? No. No.

It's just life, you know. It was cool. I love my sisters. What was going to school like in Brooklyn? School was cool. School was cool. Living in PA, I noticed how like different things could be. You know, New York City, so much more diverse.

School's different. People of all sorts and stuff. It could be different in that aspect. But it was regular to me, you know. grew up there. So it was all right. It was all right. I went to good schools, nice schools. Do you think you saw a different side of Brooklyn, New York City, because you guys had money rather than the kids that don't? Yeah. Hell yeah. Yeah, I grew up in Park Slope. I grew up in Park Slope. You ever been there? I don't think so. It's one of the nicest neighbors. You know what I'm saying?

I grew up nice. I grew up good. Yeah, certainly. Would you rather live in Brooklyn or Pennsylvania? Now, Pennsylvania. Yeah. I don't miss the city and that's how it goes. the way it is changing and stuff. I don't miss it, no. I like it on PA, quiet, slow, you know. I got used to it. I certainly got used to it, yeah. Definitely.

Why did they ultimately decide to move to Pennsylvania? That's a difference. My mom never moved to PA. She passed away also, but they split up. My dad, he retired, moved to Pennsylvania. And then when I moved out there, I stayed with him. Do you ever get in any trouble as a kid? Yeah.

Yeah. Not when I was little, little. I wasn't really a bad kid, but I got in some trouble. When I was like a teenager, I started getting into graffiti and hanging out in the street and shit. And I got a little trouble doing that, a little graffiti. But that's about as far as, like, trouble goes, you know, nothing really bad, nothing that rates, you know what I'm saying? Why'd you like graffiti? My best friend, he started, him and these other kids he hung out with, I started hanging out with them,

and they were all doing graffiti catching tags and then it's just something about it, the creativity to it, the artistiness to it, and then graffiti, it's all about getting up

going different spots, catching tags, different places. That was cool. It was like a mystery to it, you know? And then, yeah,

I got into that. I like graffiti a lot. Yeah, that's cool shit. That's cool shit graffiti. What were you guys putting on there? Like sayings or like a certain work? Oh,

everybody had their own little tag name, you know? I don't keep it a secret if I'm not going to blast it out Now, it's not like I do it no more anyway, but yeah, everyone got their own little name. You come up, but you try to be original. You try to be unique, you know, and then you just, you can get in trouble for that shit. You know, I got arrested for that.

When I was a kid, yeah, when I was 13, me my best friend, we got arrested doing graffiti. That shit kind of sucked, but it wasn't trouble, trouble, you know what I'm saying, compared to other shit. What kind of buildings were you guys putting it on? Oh, anything. Buildings, cars, trains, anything. New York City, fucking anything. Anything goes. Anything goes in New York City.

Anything goes. Were you hitting spots that were already graffided pretty bad? Yeah, hell yeah. Hell yeah. Whole New York City's like that. Yeah. Yeah. Hell yeah.

It's a mess, but it's lovely. And then sometimes you want to go to those spots. Oh, yo, everyone's going on that building. Oh, they got on the roof of that building. Oh, he hung out the window of that fucking train station. We got to go there too. We got to go there too. So, yeah, it was like that.

It's like a sport. How'd your parents react to you getting arrested? for that. Did they know you were doing that? Hmm. Um, they reacted bad. Yeah, that was pretty bad. Yeah, that was kind of crazy, you know. Um, for me, you know, well, get arrested, blah, blah, blah. But they kind of knew I was into it because I was, like, drawing and shit, sketching. They could tell, you know, but getting arrested for it, that's, yeah.

Different. They didn't like that too much. Were your sisters getting into trouble at all? No, no, not at all. So you were like the bad egg out of the group? Yeah, I stood out, yeah, between me, as far as trouble goes. Mm-hmm. Yeah, you could say that. You could say that. Yeah.

Now, they're good. They're good. They never got in any type of trouble. No. Or my parents. Or my parents, for that matter. They never got in any type of trouble. Did you end up wanting to go to college when you were a kid in high school?

No. I went to college. But that didn't last. I dropped out. But I didn't even want to, really. I didn't, yeah, I didn't like aspire for that. You know, greater education. I didn't really like school, high school.

It's kind of whack to me. My sisters, they did great educationally. They got their masters and stuff. My parents, too. So, yeah, I definitely kind of went a different little veered, you know, off. What were you going to college for when you first enrolled? The basic shit. The economics, business, you know, broad shit.

I really didn't know what I wanted, what kind of degree or whatever I wanted, you know. Was that in New York? Yeah, I went to St. Francis College for a little bit. Just a year. I got some credits, but just dropped out, started working and just trying to make money, you know. How'd your parents feel about you dropping out? At that point, they didn't really care too much. I mean, they probably only, like, that was one of the biggest things they wanted.

It was for all the kids to get educated, get degrees, you know? That was solid for them because that's what they did. But they were like, all right, if that's what you're going to do, then you've got to take care of yourself. You've got to do your own shit. You've got to earn your money, be responsible. know, so it was like, fine, but you got to deal with it now, you know? So what happens when you drop out? Where do you go and work?

I worked for my uncle. I worked for a few of my uncles, actually, but I worked for my uncle for a while doing sprinkler systems, fire sprinklers and shit. I don't see any in here, but I don't think there's any in this building. But I just did that for a while, cash, you know, but that didn't work out for too long. and then that's kind of how I ended up in PA. I went out to PA for the summer. I seen my dad and then I seen my other uncle and he offered me a job, got me into concrete.

Started doing that. And then I kind of stayed out there. So how do you end up getting into trouble? Had I ended up getting into trouble? So one thing I've always liked, I was always into, since I'm a little kid, I'm a gun nut. Fucking love guns. I fucking something about them.

When I got good at drawing, I would want to draw them and draw action and shit and like war and shit. And I love guns. And so I always wanted to get my hands on guns. But New York City, you can't. You know, the way it is, rules, laws. But when I got out to PA, you're a resident out there. Totally different ballpark. You know, I go to a gun store, buy a fucking gun and shit, you know.

But I got in real trouble messing around with guns. Messing around with guns. to put like a hypothetical to the backstory of it let's say your grandfather had a bunch of guns and then he passed away and then your grandmother gave you the gun just take him aunt just here you take them and then you end up hey

giving them to me to bring somewhere else that's what happened with me more or less you know and then yeah I got caught. I got caught driving guns, transporting guns, yeah, possession of guns. How many guns were there? 15 guns. So hypothetically your grandfather had 15 guns?

Yeah, not my grandfather, but... Someone that you knew had 15 and they came in there. Yeah, yeah. Someone I knew they had a whole collection, nice collection. And we wanted to go to PA. I wanted to go to PA with them, you know. but because it's kind of laxed and stuff, you know, it was like, it went about it the whole wrong way, but, and then, yeah,

I ended up getting in trouble for it. I got pulled over in New Jersey. These are like antique guns? No, no, they were nice guns. Yeah, modern day guns. Some fucking cool guns, nice guns, yeah. And you had the ammo for them and everything? Yeah.

Also, these are loaded guns you're transporting. Mm-hmm, yeah. So walk us through that day that you were transporting them and you got pulled over. It was a fucking weird day, man. I woke up that day and I knew I was like, you get in trouble for doing this. I knew that.

I said that to myself. And then I went and I got him. It was three bags, heavy-ass bags. And I put them in my car and I hit the road. The same drive I'd done since I moved to PA, going out to PMA my whole life. My mother's from Pennsylvania. It was like nothing.

But then, but it wasn't like nothing, you know. In the back of my mind, I was like, this is still. this is a little heavy, you know. And then in Jersey, where I really fucked up, I was driving too fast. I was driving how I normally drive. A little fast, not speed, not going crazy, but I drive pretty fast. And that's how I was driving. So, oof, I got pulled over.

And then that just opened everything. Boom, that was it. That was it. The real nail in the coffin was, um, like years before, three years before, two years before some, I had a speeding ticket in New Jersey. I never paid it. I never paid it.

I let it go right out of warrant, whatever. I just never dealt with it. And then when I get pulled over, boom, they start talking to me all this, license registration. What are you doing? I was trying to play shit off. Cool, you know. And then they were like, is your license clean? I said it should be.

I didn't think it was, though. I was pretty sure. had this warrant for unpaid speeding ticket. It's like 100 bucks and I never fucking paid it. And then I think they knew that though, because they were behind me for a little bit before they lit me up, pulled me over. And I think they already knew that,

but whatever, they like to see what you say. And then, yeah, arrested me there. So why did they get to search the cars? They arrested me there. They said, you got anything in the car? And I was like, I got a joint. I did. I had a little joint of weed

and I was like I don't know what I was trying to do As soon as I seen the cops behind me I started fucking thinking so fast and got so nervous, you know? And then yeah, they asked me that

you got anything we need to know about what I got a little joint it's not a big deal like no no but they went through everything they weren't just stopping there you know and then

fucking they started digging through the backseat they couldn't open my trunk because in the glove box you got that button, the valet button. And I didn't even know I hit it, but they were like, what's up with your trunk, bro? Why won't your trunk? I was like, I don't know.

I'll hit the key. Open it. So they went through the back seat, you know, the compartment in the back seat. And they kept, I was already in the back of the car and they kept coming back. And then the guy was like, what's up with all that shit in the back? What are those? What's up with those bags? It's just my stuff.

It's just my shit. Ripped them out. God, I started to open them. That was it. That was it. And that was legal to do that? To do the search? Yeah.

Probably, yeah. Yeah, it was legal. My attorney, after the fact, like, he told me, he's like, I watched the body cams or this. Everything was okay, you know, everything was kosher, you know, so. If you didn't say you had a joint, could they have not searched a car? I think I was done up anyway because of the warrant, and they were taking me in anyway. And then people I talked to, they were like, yeah, it was a rap. They were going to do that regardless, you know?

So at that point I kind of accepted it. How'd they react when they first saw those guns? Because, you know, you're a young kid with an armful of guns, you know? Pretty calm, the cops. They didn't like get aggressive or act crazy or anything like that. I was already detained at that point, you know. And then the guy was like, yo, what's the deal with all the, what's going on here? Is this shit yours?

I was like, yeah, you know? He was like, you know? They knew something was afoot. But, yeah, they weren't, like, crazy. They didn't act crazy about it. No. You thought they might have, you know, but... No.

And then, yeah, they took me to the precinct. That was a whole ordeal. I was there for a while. They fucking went through everything. Gave me my paperwork and shit. That was crazy. 15 guns. There's ammo for all of it.

Other shit. Other shit. magazines, you know, different states, got different things for magazines. And then all in all, it was 52 charges. 52 charges. One for each firearm.

For the fucking bullets, all different degrees of felonies, you know? But, yeah, it was some shit, bro. It was some shit, for sure. Who did they have interview you when you got there? Did they involve a federal... Yeah, did they involve the federal agencies at all? No.

In the precinct? Not right away, no. In the precinct, someone was like, hey, I deal with trafficking. We want to tell you this, that. And I was basically like, yeah, yeah, yeah, those were mine. Yeah, yeah. I've been collecting them, yeah, for a long time. And they'd be like, well, they want to know exactly everything.

And then I kind of shied away. I didn't know what to fucking say. You know, I'm here making shit up. So I kind of just, eh, stopped with that, you know. But they were trying to get stuff. But they knew it was a bunch of bullshit. they knew it was a bunch of bullshit anyway pretty sure

and then and then went to jail jail I was in there for a while the cop took me out and they had fuck I went to go get fingerprinter some and they had everything on the table like a news thing you know

and the cop fingerprinted me the one of the rest of me said a lady trooper it was two of them and I asked her I said oh where I'm like what's going on after this you know she was like

you're going to county jail and she looks so oh, sorry for me on her face. You could read it right on her face. She was like, yeah, you fucked up, you know. And they took me to county jail too, yeah. Start your great rewards hunt with Draft Kings Casino and unlock massive bonuses,

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Non-withdrawable casino spins value. for featured game only and expire in 168 hours. See terms at casino.draftkings.com slash promos ends 42725 at 11.59 p.m. Eastern Time. What did they officially charge you with, or did they not yet at that point? No, at that point they charged you and stuff. I went to county jail with paperwork,

and it was unlawful weapons possessions. And for the ammo and everything, yeah. That boom, charged 52 fucking things. Oh, that was crazy. And that was all because they weren't registered in your name and you didn't own them lawfully. Pretty much, yeah. Okay. Yeah.

The cop said that on the side of the road. He's like, if these are yours and you bought these, you know, that's a different story, you know. But I don't want to lie and be like, yeah, I bought them. Yeah, they're mine. I have to make up more of something, you know. Were they suspicious at all that you were, like, carrying out, like a shooting or anything like that? Definitely. They didn't say that to me, but you could imagine what that looked like.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, you're a young kid driving with all these guns. You know, you could fit the stereotypical, make the news. You know, this kid just shot up a school. This kid did something. But there was nothing. What I was doing was super legal, super reckless, super reckless, super irresponsible. But there was nothing super criminal behind it.

You know, I wasn't bringing the guns to sell to someone or do this or do that, you know. You just wanted to get them to a different place. That was it. But they didn't know that, yeah. They didn't know that, yeah. And then like, how the fuck are you going to? They didn't want to believe that, you know. They're cops.

They would want to believe the craziest thing or something, you know. So they definitely thought that, you know. But they didn't exactly say that to me, you know. Do they publish any news articles or anything? No. I try to look it up because a couple of people in the county jail, guards and shit, they said, oh, yeah, I've seen you in the fucking paper. Oh, I've fucking seen this.

Oh, you're that kid. But I never seen anything like that. I never found anything. Because you would have thought they would like put it all on display like you were saying they had it all laid out. Yeah. You know, cut state troopers pull over 15, you know, armed weapons. It could have been. It was a, it's a small town in Jersey.

Fucking Washington, New Jersey, Belvedy or something like that. I was almost in PA, bro. I was at the last fucking exit right before you cut through into PA and I would have been home in 20 minutes. Right there, boom, got pulled over. Yeah, you would have thought it could have been something big like that But now it was kind of quiet It was kind of quiet So why do they bring you to county jail

Were they not giving you bail off the bat Or is that to wait to see the judge? That was to wait to see the judge, yeah So I got arrested, went to the precinct I was there for almost 24 hours That shit really sucked Um, county jail

That shit really sucked every step was like you know every new corner was fucking crazy and then that was to see the judge so that was a Sunday

and then a Monday and I remember I took off Friday and Monday from work I made a long weekend you know and I went to New York and then I'm like what the fuck am I going to get bailed get out I didn't call anybody I didn't tell anybody

then that Monday I did a bail thing the first court appearance, but it was just a video thing. And they shot that down right away. They shot that down right away. The state, I go in there into the fucking video room, and I'm looking over the TV, and I'm here with this other dude who was in the intake with me. He, like, beat his girlfriend up or something.

And he got out, and I was like, oh, shit, he fucking, he hurts somebody. You know, maybe they'll give me a bell to. And I'm watching the camera of the courtroom, and I see my dad walk in. on the camera. And I didn't even call him. I didn't even call him.

But he found out someone called him when I was pulled over. I think I texted somebody like, oh, I'm pulled over. I'm like in trouble, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they told him, and I seen him. And I was like, fuck. And then I heard the state, they were like, no, no, no, we moved no bail,

this, that, the third, all these things. And then the judge was like, let me take a look at. And the judge, look at the paper. And the first charge is the juiciest one. It says, unlawful possession of a machine gun, an uzi, an automatic, a machine gun. And the judge was like, unlawful possession of a machine gun.

And he started laughing. He was like, huh, no, boom. No bail went right with them. And that reaction was a little crazy to me. I was like, whoa, you know, he's going to laugh at that. And then they detained me. No bail. And Jersey was weird at the time.

They just changed. They just got rid of. cash bail reform. I didn't know anything about this. I didn't know what bail reform was. And then talking to some people in jail, this and that. They're like, yeah, it's no money, bro. It's this and that.

And they said no bail for me. Then I got a real attorney, attorney, attorney, started going. And then the next court thing, and this is like a week had gone by. The next court thing was going to be another bail hearing in person. I don't know why there was two, but there was two. but that turned into is this going to go federal or federal people or federal whatever are they going to pick it up

and then between that times I picked out my attorney I met with a couple attorneys picked a guy and we went to that court date that didn't get picked up by the feds which my attorney said that was interesting that's weird but whatever you know okay and then I had another court date quickly after that for a bail thing.

And then that was again, boom, shot down. No bail. No bail. Which was weird with the bail reform thing, they give you, everyone was explaining it to me, and they give you a sheet of paper and they give you a score, two numbers. And the worst you get is a 6-6 or a 5-5, something like that. Your criminal history, you're this, you're that, and all these people are coming from bail or they're coming from intake or they're just talking like,

yeah, I got a 4-5, I got a 3-6. I had a zero-zero. I had the lowest possible. I had no criminal history, no nothing. I had a zero-zero. And they wouldn't give me bail. It wouldn't let me out on bail. So what was your first conversation with your dad?

Like my first conversation with my dad. It was on the phone and intake after the video court, the no bail thing. Because I called him. I was waiting to call him. See you maybe I'll get out. You know, fucking work some magic deal with this. I don't know. I really didn't know.

and then I called him the first conversation was pretty cool he wasn't crazy you know a couple I was in there for a while an intake trying to work shit out with an attorney blah blah blah

one of the phone calls he was really upset I could tell it fucked me up but other than that he was like all right we're dealing with this you know so he was pretty cool

about it for the most part especially the first phone call and what about your attorney what was he saying when you first met with him Oh, John, he's a good guy. So the first, the attorney I went, I picked, I picked John, but I met a different attorney first. Like I mentioned before, my parents, they were split up, right?

So my dad, his sister, my aunt, she found an attorney for me through people she knew. And that was a guy I went with, but then I met with this attorney that my mother found first. and that guy he was like this shit's crazy he was like flipping through the papers like this is

Jesus and he's telling me what I'm looking at what it could be like it was fucking scare me he's like did they read you your Miranda rights I was like yeah

he's like shit and I didn't feel too good the way he was being initial with me whatever making everything sound crazy I know it's crazy you know But then I met with the guy, John. And it was totally different, totally different.

He was calm. He was, he wasn't bugging me about what was on paper. I'd ask him, I was like, what could they, because the first guy, he was like, yeah, this could be. Oh, he started explaining to me a law, the Graves Act in Jersey. It was like, if you get caught with a gun, you're doing three and a half years, no matter what, the Graves Act. someone, something, something. They named the law after him. And so I'm like three and a half.

And this guy's like, yeah, and there's this many fucking charges. But then I met with the guy, John, nice guy, short Italian dude, dressed sharp, great first impression. And then I asked him, I was like, what could they do to me here? And he was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He's like, don't, we're not even there yet. It's like, we're not even close to that yet. And I'm in my head. I'm like, well, why do you mean, you know?

He's like, I got to think. about this, but he said, we got bail first, try to get you home, and we'll deal with it from there. If we don't get bail, then we go on to the next step. We keep dealing with this, you know. He's like, I'll tell the judge, you'll sleep on the roof of your house. Because they were concerned, I live in PA out of state, not going to court and shit, blah, blah, blah, but that wouldn't have been an issue. If I had gotten bail, that wouldn't have been an issue. But he's like, well, fucking do any conditions, any conditions they want, you know, but they didn't go with it. And that was weird.

I remember that day. Yeah, that was the first time I was in the courtroom courtroom. And the judge, he went into his chambers to think about, you know, for for mad long, like almost an hour. And my lawyer was getting impatient. He was like, this is crazy. And then he came out and he said, no, we're going to deny bail for reasons, whatever. Wrote this whole big thing, read this whole big thing. And then even the bailiff guy escorted me out

He was like, I'm surprised you didn't get bail He's never thought that long before I was like shit But then yeah, I sat. Yeah, so I sat in jail. Did your lawyer believe that you weren't doing any harm With those weapons? Yeah, yeah, he believed me.

Sure. Because I told him the truth. I had nothing to lie about That was like our next meeting. I don't know if it was the same day or whatever But they denied the bail then he visited me at the jail and then he was like

tell me what the fuck happened you tell me this whole every boom this story this why this this that what the fuck was going on here laid it out he said okay cool and then he told me he's like you don't keep nothing for me you know and I didn't I didn't

I told him everything he believed me he caught on real quick he was meeting with my family he was meeting people he could tell I wasn't some scumbag piece of shit kid doing something well it was crazy You know, but it wasn't nefarious.

That's the word he used. It's like, Your Honor, there's nothing nefarious here. Beautiful word. I learned a lot of words from that guy. So he believed me. He believed me. Do you think that was the biggest difference between him and your first initial lawyer? Believing me?

Yeah. I don't know. Because maybe the second lawyer, you know, believed you were actually innocent like you weren't setting out to do anything criminally. It could have been. The first guy, I didn't even get that far. with him, you know, as far as like trying to explain things. I didn't even get to that point. I think I met them like a day apart.

And then the second guy, like I said, I had a much better impression with him. So I said, I'm going to deal with you. I'm going to work with you. And that was the right choice. That was the right guy for the job too. That was the right guy. Okay, let's be real. Public Wi-Fi is a trap.

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Oh, and here's a fun trick. I've actually saved money on flights and subscriptions just by changing. my location. So if you're online, which obviously you are, do yourself a favor, get NordVPN. To get the best discount off your NordVPN plan, go to NordVPN.com slash Ian Bick, where you'll get four extra months free on a two-year plan. And don't worry, there's no risk with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee. The link is in the podcast episode description. Now let's get back into today's episode. So explain what it's like, you know, to be this normal kid just driving. home one day and you don't go home like your life just gets you know flipped yeah uh yeah that was

that was so surreal it still is you know that was so fucking weird dude uh even though it was all on me you know it wasn't some it was my choices you know that's what i was trying to get at um yeah that was weird man every it's it was like the twilight zone it's like the twilight zone it's like Like, I was just in my car chilling, thinking about tomorrow. Now I'm locked up. And that's a shitty feeling. You know that. Initially, back of the cop car, some handcuffs, you're just like, fuck.

And then, yeah, then when I was really in jail, jail, every, it was just, it just got more and more like, what the fuck? Like, no way. I think what makes it worse is that there's when you, when you don't have bail, there's no outdate. Like, when you get sentenced to prison, you know when you're coming home. Yeah. But when you get your bond revoked or there's no bail given, you're in limbo. Yeah, limbo. It could be tomorrow or it could be years from now.

You just don't know. And I think that's the scariest aspect of it. Yeah, you said that perfectly. You don't know. I didn't know when I was going home for a while, a few months. But then even when they started offering me a deal, I still didn't know. You still don't know how it could go, what could go. Yeah, you said it good.

You don't know. You really don't know. Yeah, that was fucked up. And then, like, the first lawyer was talking about, oh, three and a half years. One of the first guys I was talking to an intake, he was like, I think this is like eight years. I'm like eight fucking years, you know. And this guy just got out of prison, you know, was just doing some stopping in this jail and then getting out. Every inmate will give their professional opinion of how much time you're getting.

That's a part of fucking navigating jail, bro, is the advice, yeah, asked for, unasked for. Yeah. Good advice, bad advice. Every one of them. Yeah, for real. Tell us about those few months in jail that you spent there what that was like for you. And if you knew anything about jail going into it from TV shows or anything and what that was like. That's interesting. I don't really think about that. Like prior what jail was like wasn't something I wanted to find out, you know. But like, yeah, I watched shit about jail and you could tell like, damn, that's got to be, it's miserable. It looks miserable. It's got to be miserable. You're in there with people. shooting criminals you know bad things happen that's a crazy stigma of jailster you know and they do um so that was constantly in my mind but i knew something too i knew a big thing was how you act how you move how you

deal with people this and that and uh i think i just knew better enough being me kind of don't brush into people don't bounce around be don't be noisy loud and shit like that so initially boom pretty much the whole way I was just quiet chill get to lay the land scope shit out

you know um yeah every different place every different thing then you settle in after a while you know but initially it's fucking crazy

first few months I was in the county jail for eight months the first few months once they said no bail I was like all right I'm here you know we're jailing you know

someone told me that they were like you're jailing you know, you start talking to people, you know what I'm saying? You make friends and shit. You're with these people literally all day long. So, you just kind of, you don't get used to it. I don't think you really get used to it, especially from my standpoint.

But, no, you're with people that have a variety of charges. There's no, like, segregation of charges at all. In the first jail, I was in the little intake room for, like, 10 fucking days doing the medical going to court and shit and that room was crazy they didn't turn the lights off it was about this big but they kept the lights on all day for like 10 days it was crazy then

they're like yo you're going to a population and I'm like I just started getting used to that fucking room and then walking by the blocks where I was it was a small jail like I said it was a little small town jersey which worked out great everything kind of

went so smooth the way it just happened I'm grateful for that I wasn't in a crazy populated jail, crazy bad jail. But they had A block. That was for, like, violent people. B block in the middle. And then C block, low, whatever, security, low, put me on C block. And that was cool.

That was cool. All the other blocks, they were rowdy as shit. You know what I'm saying? Like, you're different degrees of stuff. C block, it was mostly like possession, drug possession, shit like that. people revoking shit or parole violence shit like that you know it wasn't really like murderers and shit that was like a block and b block i wasn't really around them did you have a good cellmate my first sellie uh he he he was in intake with me and then yeah it was cell 11 they put us in the

same cell i had the top bunk he was okay he was okay he didn't speak english Spanish dude uh Yeah, he was okay. He was okay. And then he got deported, then I had my own cell for a minute, too. That was way better. The best. Way better, yeah. Nothing's better than your own cell.

Straight up. Yeah, I learned that. Were you guys locked down during the whole day in the cell? No. No. No, they open the gates. Whatever, 6 o'clock. Right away, chow, boom, wake you up.

Oh, Stanford count. You got to do the count. But, no, for the most of the time, you were out. Yeah. What was the hardest adjustment for you in there? getting comfortable doing personal things, you know, shitting. You got a bunk here in the same room with someone. There's 30 people, 40 people in the whole place.

People are showering, pissing, going to the bathroom. That was crazy. The noise. The dude that got cool with an intake, he was like, just wait for your first night, bro. And they start kicking the gate and fucking, they'll be up all night. And you see that shit happen. Definitely the noise. I like quiet shit

I'm that was that was difficult that was difficult but you can't do nothing about it really you know unless you want to be a problem unless you want to have a problem

or something you know but I wasn't like that anyway yeah the noise the food can use to you know boom this is what you got to eat now you know that's fucking crazy

there's a lot of things there's a lot of things were you thinking it all throughout that time there like, wow, this could be my life for the next three years, maybe, if I'm lucky, eight years on the pad side? I was thinking the whole spectrum. I was like, this could, because it was serious shit.

I didn't know. This could be this long. This could be so long. I didn't think it would be eight years or more, but I knew anything's possible. It could be, but I figured, yeah, it'll probably be closer to three and a half, five years or something. But then thinking about that ain't good either. Thinking that over and over and over, that, that's no good. You try to just go the course of things.

But yeah, I was thinking about that. Who knows? What's going to happen? You don't know. You don't know. Shit. Do you think that you needed that full amount of time in there to learn the gravity of your situation?

Or did you know right after, like, that first night, I screwed up. I shouldn't have done this. yeah I knew right away I knew right away the gravity situation I knew right when I was pulled over I knew right when I was pulled over because I knew

if I had the warrant if I never paid that ticket then I'm pretty well fucked right here I was like this is bad this could be so bad but then yeah like every step of the way the station yeah real quick I realized like this is horrible

you fucked up you know what do you think went wrong in your mind where you knew you were aware you had a ticket, but you still went through with driving and risking that and doing that level of risk. That was my bad attitude. That was me, you know. I got the ticket and I was just like, fuck that.

Fuck, you know, I'd done that before. And it was just so ignorant, just bad because look how that caught up to me, you know. It could have been a whole other story if that wasn't in fucking a part of it or something. But that was just me, my bad way of going about things. Ah, fuck that. That's not a big deal.

It turned into the biggest deal of my life, you know? So, that was me. That was me. It was the wrong way of thinking, looking at things, not dealing with things, you know? Have you had a lot of friends that have a similar attitude to that, that have never been in your situation, but you see that now that you've been through it? Not really. Not really.

Not exactly, you know? No. And then I don't have too many friends Except for the people I met in jail, incarcerated that did bids or anything like that Growing up, no New some bad kids and shit You know, some of my friends do bad shit

But not people I never really knew anyone like that, you know I knew far worse people in me though As far as attitudes or, you know, doing shit, yeah But weren't exactly my friend friends, you know, but So why guns? What interested you about guns? Shit, man.

to me I just think some of the coolest things ever I just love them I love them I always wanted to shoot them when I was a little kid I never got to shoot guns

no one owned any guns in my family and then when I got that opportunity I could buy it myself and shit I just caught the craze I don't know why I think it boils down to like the movies and shit I watched as a kid

of big movies I love movies James Bond Indiana Jones, Star Wars, all that, World War II movies. I love that type of shit. And then, yeah, I got really interested in the guns themselves, you know. It's like someone with like cars or something, you know, but. It was a gun nut.

As my lawyer said to me, he's like, so you're like a fucking gun nut or something? I was like, yeah. Okay, all right, I got it. Were you like a conspiracy theorist at all or no? Conspiracy theorist? Yeah. Sure. Yeah, depending on which conspiracy were going down.

But yeah, yeah, you can say so. Sure. Some of them are too interesting to not, you know, not get into. Did you have people your age that were just as interested in guns as you? Um. No. Nah, not out of my close friends. Not one of my best friends.

Yeah, he likes guns and shit too, but he's a cop now, too, actually. So he's good to go, you know? All the guns he wants. He's good to go. But not as much as me, no. Not as much as me, no. What was your dad's view on guns? He, neutral.

Totally neutral, you know. He wasn't against guns. For whatever reason, he wasn't a super gun guy. You know, he wasn't out buying guns or having guns when we were kids. But he wasn't like against guns like some people are, you know. My mom totally different. She had super liberal against guns, this and that. So she totally didn't like that, you know.

Was she still alive when you got arrested? Yeah. Yeah. How did she? react? Um, she, she, she reacted pretty, I don't know exactly like first reaction and stuff, you know, but I, I knew it upset the hell out of her, you know, both my parents, you know, um, but she was also like, she was also there for me, whatever it takes, whatever I would have needed, you know? So to fucking get bailed, she came at the court, uh, both my parents, a lot of my family,

they would come every court day, uh, at the bail hearing, my mom told my lawyer, she was like, I'll fucking buy a house right here in Jersey and put him in it if he can get bail you know but they wouldn't go for it anyway so maybe if she fucking offered that up right away but so she was like that would they deem you as a danger to the community they let yeah they literally said that they said yeah so it's a andrew's a possession of a verbatim arsenal of weapons driving recklessly bumpy's a danger to the community and that stung dude you know i never harmed anybody in my life. And, you know, that wasn't anything about what I had going on there, you know. So that was like a little hard to hear, but they had to say that, you know, I guess.

Were you thinking about how your friends and family and your family's friends were, you know, perceiving you or feeling about you? Because you came from a pretty good family. No, no, not at all. Um, because like I said, like, yeah, it was crazy, but it wasn't anything bad, you know, outwardly bad. It was bad for me. It was bad for my family. But I didn't think, oh, what this person thinks. Oh, oh, you go to rest of what guns?

Like, it shouldn't even been a surprise. It wasn't even surprised to my dad. He told me so many times, I'll be, get a new gun, buy a gun, or something, shooting and stuff, showing it to him. And he's like, yo, you ever get in trouble? I'm not helping you. And I was like, okay. And something new.

I knew it in the back of my mind. Like, I wasn't getting in trouble with guns someday. Not that I wanted it. You know what I'm saying? But I would think about that sometimes, you know? But. Was there anything you saw in jail where you were like, I've got to make sure I never come back to a place like this again? Yeah, a lot of shit, bro.

Mostly people, the people in there, inmates, COs, you know. You just got shitty people in there. You got good people in there, too, misguided people. And then you got some ordinary people. But you got a lot of shitty people in there. I don't want to be around people like that. It's fucking gross. You know what I'm saying?

So there's a lot of examples like, yeah, I ain't going back to this. I don't ever want to go back to this, you know? Fuck that. You're not in control of anything. Excuse me. You're not in control of shit. They tell you to wake up, you know, lock in. That fucking gate closes.

You know what I'm saying? That feeling. Right when that fucking gate shuts? It's hopeless, dude. So here's a few things. How do you end up getting out of the jail? So that timeline, we had the court dates. I got arrested in September on a Sunday.

We had the first couple court dates, the bail, federal thing. And then like late October, early November, I think, the prosecutor offered me a deal. And it was sweet. In Jersey, they do the numbers weird. know why, but they offered me three years with a one-year minimum. They say three with a one in Jersey. They say it backwards. And I was like, that's fucking amazing.

You know what my lawyer told me that? The day before court, though, when he told me that I was on the phone with him. And I was like, whatever, we're thinking, this, this, this. And he's like, hey, listen, if it's a bad deal, we're not taking it. If it's a good deal, I'm going to make it better. And I was like, this guy, this guy got it. You know, this guy's the man, okay, John, I'll see you tomorrow. And then, yeah, going to court's sock to packed in the van, shackles and shit, you know.

And then, yeah, I found out in court the next day I met up with him. I'd meet him first. You probably know this fucking how it goes, you know. You meet with your attorney, then you go up to court. Or he could be up there by himself, whatever, you're downstairs. And he was like, yeah, it's looking like one year, a three-year thing, three-year sentence. you got to do 12 months. And I was like, wow.

But he was even talking, hey, he was still push for probation or something, you know. And I was even thinking, yo, I could get fucking probation. I never been in trouble, never been in trouble. First time, first time. And then even some people I would talk to in jail. In the county jail, the whole place knew my charges and shit, you know. And it was like, oh, what the fuck?

That guy, that kid, like what? You know? And then some people are like, you should get probation? Yeah, first time. you know, and then other people are like, you're lucky you got the three with a one. They waived the Graves Act, the three and a half year minimum thing.

They waived it. The prosecutor. And I was like, okay, cool. Wow, awesome. But then after that, like you're saying, until you know something, until you get your date or whatever, you really don't know.

And I really didn't know until I got out out, you know. But that was a while later. Because it got Rocky before then. All the different court dates and shit. But it was a while, yeah, it was exactly 12 months before I got out. Out, out. Hey, honey, are you awake? I am now.

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Yeah, yeah. I told my little pretty much right away like, yeah, let's do that. I don't know how much better it could get, you know. And that's a felony on your record you're taking? Yeah, yeah. They broke it down to six felonies, the six hottest ones. the six juiciest ones. Unlawful possession of a machine gun.

And I told my lawyer too, I said, I don't think it's actually a machine gun. I didn't have, like, I didn't grab it and play with it, but I was like, I don't think it's actually a machine gun. I think they just put Uzi and machine gun together, and he was like, it doesn't matter.

He was like, if we fix that, they'll put six other guns on it. You know what I'm saying? Fifteen fucking guns. I was like, okay, okay, okay. He was like, you would have been better off. You got caught with Coke, like bricks of Coke, 20, 30,

And I was like, I bet. In Jersey with the bail reform thing, anybody with drugs got out. Anybody with drugs got out. Kids in there, they were like, you'll tell them you're a drug addict, you know, and they'll fucking put you on drug court or something. But then I probably wouldn't want to do that anyway. Well, the guns automatically make you look violent. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it's an automatic, a gun charge is a violent crime, you know. That's kind of crazy to me. I didn't commit an act of violence, you know. I didn't shoot anybody. I didn't do anything like that. But I took the three with a one. But so that's like late October, November. But then they got into, my lawyer was like, hey, but they want to know what the story is here.

You know? I was like, jeez, John. I don't want to go there if we don't have to, you know. He's like, well, if we're talking about fucking probation or this or that, you know, like, they want to know if you're going to come forward and say, oh, this is what, this is why, this is who and what. I said, I really don't want to. And my family knew the deal.

They knew what was going on. They knew, they knew the story. And they believed me too. They knew. And they were like, you better fucking fucking do the right thing, you know. And I'm like, stuck between, I'm listening to my lawyer. He's giving me his advice, but he's listening to me too. You know? He told me one of the first time I met him.

He's like, you're a grown adult. I can listen to your parents. I can listen to your aunt. I listen to your mother all day. But I got to do what you want to do, you know? And then, so the way I put it with him is like, I don't want to drag anyone else into this. I don't. I don't.

You're like, shit, okay. And then I had some court dates. The one got delayed, postponed something. And then when he's asking me these questions, I'm thinking, geez, like they're looking. into shit. They're investigating something. They're looking at a big picture. They want to fucking find someone. And then go to court one day. I don't know if he told me a day before or something, but I always talked to him on the phone the day before. Go to court

one day. And he's like, all right, they're here with investigators and they want to know if you want to tell them anything about more. I was like, I said, no. I said, I don't want to do that to somebody else. I fucked up. I got in trouble here. My parents, they had the idea. Like someone took advantage of me and tricked me or something or something slick about it.

But it was all me. It was my idea. I was like, fuck him to me. I'll fucking do it, you know? Just thinking, not really thinking, just being reckless. I told my lawyer, I said, I don't want to put someone else through this, bro, this kind of trouble. I said, I'm not doing anything like that. Put someone else's family through the trouble.

My family's going through. I said, yo, I'll talk with them about me. Talk to them all about Drew, you know, and acknowledge what I was doing. There was nothing crazy behind it. But, like, I'm not identifying someone. I'm not confirming to deny anything like that. I'm not dragging someone into this.

He was like, shit, that might not even fly. But we went out of it anyway. And then boom, they wanted it. It was all the hot and juicy. And then before you asked all, this didn't go federal, there was two feds there. It was the two state troopers

that arrested me, the prosecutor, and then two ATF agents. And that fucking, bro, I was nervous. Anytime you got court, you know, the week of thinking up to court

would be nervous. So I'm in there fucking. That was crazy. That was probably like the highest stress level, bro. The whole way, just kept going up. But,

um, And so I had the same, not the same, but I talked to them about me. Yeah, boom, boom. Nope, what I was doing. I just bringing it somewhere, this and that. But then, like I told my lawyer, I said, I'm not going to answer certain things. I'm not going to say certain things. And then when they got more and more into, like, pinpointing some shit down.

And I just kept, I don't want to say, I don't know, I don't know. But then they were like, okay, okay, well, listen. these questions and shit we already know most of them and I was like fuck I don't know shit um then they pulled out like some juicy shit

and I just was looking at my lawyer like fuck and it was all from my phone they had on my whole phone but um I just looked at it and looked at my lawyer and I was like shit

I didn't say a word and then he was like okay okay boom we're done here and that was it um And then they talked for a while after, blah, blah, blah. And they brought me back in. And the guy was like, yeah, we know you're leaving out that little 10%, you know.

But what you told us, we believe you, you know. But if we keep looking at something and I find out you lied to me or something, he was like, you're done. Like, I was like, cool, you know. And then, like, that was driving me crazy. Talking to my lawyer after that, you know. Then I forget when that was. November. Then December, Christmas, New Year's went by, boom, boom. I go back to court, January or something. And I want to get it on with the deal. The three with the one. I just want to jump on it. But I go to court that day. And I walk out the room. They take me out the fucking bullpen. Go to my attorney. And my attorney looks sick. He's like fucking distress. And I'm always happy to see him. like John, what's wrong?

He's like, sit down, sit down, sit down. He pats me on the knee, the fucking lawyer thing. And he was like, uh, the prosecution put in a motion to revoke my deal, my three with the one. At that, my next court date. And I was fucking going crazy. I was like, why? Why? We sat down, you know?

He was like, se, you know? That wasn't what they wanted. He's like, fuck. He's like, now I got a fucking, uh, He said, now I got to fight this. And I was down there waiting. I don't know how long, but sometimes you could be in court all day. You could be up in the courtroom for 30 minutes and be downstairs all day long.

I was downstairs for a long time. Stressing, the stress meter, bro, through the roof. And then boom, they called me out and talked to my lawyer again. And the judge sided with us. He said, no, that was on record. You guys offered it. because that prosecutor, she brought the deal to the head prosecutor. It's fucking levels to, you know, prosecutor, head prosecutor, judge, head judge, whatever.

And he didn't want to sign off on it. He was like, what the fuck? You should have never offered him this to begin with, they were saying. And then he came to court that day and wanted to kabash it. And that was crazy to me. But they sided with me. You know, my lawyer, he worked it out, whatever he did. I didn't even go up that day.

I didn't talk and do anything. And then I was like, I want to sign it now. He's like, they don't even have it ready yet. You know, it's like, this is the steps. Like, you don't even know. He's like, they do whatever they want. I was like, shit, I'm learning that, you know, I'm fucking realizing that.

So then that just created more like unsureness in me thinking, yo, they fucking, they wanted to know this, the missing piece, blah, blah blah. My lawyer told me from the jump, too. One of the first times I seen him when we were talking about what was going on. He was like, if this was me, I would just get your phone. Check your whole phone out.

Boom. And he was telling me something there without scaring me. He was like foreshadowing. Like, they're probably already doing that, you know? That's exactly what they did. But, yeah. And then later he was like, you see, the fucking phones? He gave it all the way in the phone, you know, but.

So then they said they wanted to revoke it. They didn't. And then it was a while before I got sentenced. I didn't have any more. Because I was in the county jail from September to fucking like April. And that's when I got transferred to state. Yeah. So sometime spring 2019, I got sentenced finally to three years with a one year minimum for six.

charges, six felony charges. And then a little while after that, went to state prison, got transferred to state prison, yeah. Only for a few months, though, right? Two months in state prison. And then two months in a halfway house. The selection center for halfway houses. So it wasn't an actual halfway house, but it was like the stepping stone to a halfway house. So there was a lot of different places

Through my journey And they're all really different Would you have rather You just stayed at the county jail You only had a couple months 100% I would have stayed there I would have stayed there After three months

I put in for the kitchen I was in the kitchen They had their own block Sweet talking about your own cell I didn't even have a bunk I didn't even have a bunk for a bunk E That was sweet There was a fucking microwave there

And then every other day We were in the kitchen You know, that was fucking sweet. You work in the kitchen or anything like that? Yeah, I was in the bakery for a little bit. You already know. You already know. Now, looking back on it, do you wish, I mean, are you glad that you didn't get bail?

Yeah. Because that counted all towards your, like, I sometimes look back and think, well, if I got no bail, I would have been out a lot sooner. It would have been wrapped up. It wouldn't have dragged out as long. How long did it drag out for you? So I got indicted. The investigation started 2014. That was a year.

and died in 2015. I didn't go to prison until end of 2016. How crazy is that to think about for a year they were investigating you? It's nuts. Did you have any clue, any idea? Yeah, you know that they're investigating. The feds don't, it's not a secret when there's a federal investigation. They give you target letters.

They always talk to their prime suspect. Like, it's not. Jesus. You know, I think really in any investigation you kind of know, because whether you know you committed the crime or not or, you got to be pretty oblivious living on a different planet to know that there's no heat on you, you know? Yeah, some people are. I mean, it depends, you know, but, uh, shit.

How did it make you feel that you lost your gun rights? That was terrible, dude. So, you know, that sounds a little silly, but, like, that was one of my favorite things in the world. I love shooting guns. I love carrying, buying guns having them. Um, so that really stung, dude. That really stung.

Um, yeah, I didn't like that at all. I remember telling somebody. I was like, fuck, dude. I want to have my guns. I want to have guns again. They were like, well, you know, you fucking should have thought of that before you, you know, fucked around, bro. Yeah, that sucked.

That sucked. Was it hard to adjust to get back into a new routine once you got out? Not really. Nah, I wouldn't say so. I went right back to work. So before I got in trouble, I was out on PA chilling for the summer My dad seeded my uncle

I had this shitty car And he was like, whose car is that? He was like, it's Andrew's car He's like, what's he doing? He's like, I'm not there right now And he's like, tell him to come down I'll give him a job, concrete company So boom, that's September

I started working for him Making concrete And I worked there for one year September to September Then I got arrested And then I was fucking incarcerated for one year September to September. And that was kind of crazy.

Like, I felt really bad about doing that to him, you know, leaving him hanging like that. They carried on. Don't get me wrong. They absolutely carried on. But that was a crazy shocker. What the fuck you mean, Andrew got arrested? He arrested arrest. For what?

This? What? That was like people, people, no one's seen it coming. No one seen it coming. I didn't even see it coming. But then I got out. Parole, you need a job. I went right back to work.

My uncle, he never left me hanging, never left me out to dry. He wrote letters to the judge for me in the beginning, towards the end, parole and shit. Because that was another thing I was worried about, is getting parole or not. At the one year mark? Yeah, yeah. Oh, so it was still up to a parole board. Yeah. So it wasn't a guaranteed you go home at one?

No, like you were saying, you know, it's not, nothing's guaranteed. Um, yeah, a lot of people, they were like, you'll be all right, you'll get it. But I, yeah, you don't fucking know. Then other people, they're like, fuck parole, you know, max out. That sounds crazy to me. I get the logic behind it, but it all depends on what your little situation is, whatever time you got going on, but you want to max out, max out, max out. But I was trying to go home, dude, I was trying to get the fuck out of there.

So fuck that. But, no, I adjusted pretty, uh, pretty, pretty, pretty quick. It was weird being home again. Oh, I'm laying in my own bed again, you know, the night before I'm laying in a fucking fucked up mattresses, you know. I didn't sleep too good for a little bit, but I went right back to work, got back in the routine

of regular life, you know, and it was okay. It was okay. Aside from losing your gun rates, has having a felony on your record proved to be an issue for anything else in your life? Yeah, there was a time I left the concrete company for a little bit. I'm trying to get other jobs.

And no one tells you, oh, no, no, no. They tell you some bullshit, you know, but it certainly affects things, I think, you know. At the end of the day, if, you know, if you wouldn't want to hire a felon, fuck that. I wouldn't want to work there anyway. But, yeah, I'd apply for jobs. And then, oh, we're going to do a background check

and a drug test? You okay with that? Like, yeah, sure. But, like, I'm a felon. Does that disqualify me? Oh, no, they'll just look at it. next thing you know oh we pick someone else fucking

so it's tricky it definitely makes things trickier and they never say it's because of the felony Of course not No No Of course not But who knows

What do you think it's the biggest learning lesson You want people to take away from your story Um It could happen anybody You know I think you could agree Like it could happen anybody And then

No matter like Like what I I was doing, there was nothing bigger and badder behind it, but still, like, you're doing, you could, anything could lead to trouble, you know, in the blink of an eye, anything can happen. So just think about what you're doing, you know, and think about what you might be doing because of what the fuck you're doing. Anything, anything can happen to anybody. You know, I think it's important with a story like yours is a case like yours could get easily

blasted in the paper as a very salacious headline. Yeah. And if I look at that as, say, a civilian, as an employer, just looking at that information. Alone, right? Alone without hearing this past conversation, you know, you're out bringing your interest to all of this. I'm going to think you're a dangerous, bad person. On paper. On paper.

And that's what these news articles do. You look like, you look terrible, you know? And I guarantee you the prosecutors or whatnot, never took. the time to interview you and say, hey, where'd you grow up? What was your childhood? Like, what interested you in this? Right away, you're made to be that guilty party, you know? Yeah. The prosecutor, they definitely wanted to paint something like that, certainly. They tried to make a thing out of my phones. I had a work phone, my regular phone, and then I had a broken phone. It was broken. It was an iPhone. It was broken. I wanted to, like, get the SIM card out of

some shit. It was just in my car. And they were like, you know, he had three cell phones. phones on him, you know, it's, like it's, it has to line up with criminality. It has to line up with something crazier. Um, they're always, they're always trying to do something like that, you know, but, uh, it worked out well for me regardless, you know, certainly did, uh, the whole way. So everything was smooth. But yeah, I get what you're saying. Anything could look, um, fucked up, you know. And then it's even probably hard to believe, uh, yeah, I'm sitting here talking you, you get an idea of, boom, how I am or something. And it could still even be a little hard to believe, oh, shit, no, maybe or something's kidding.

You know, for anybody, you know? Yeah. I mean, people always say that. I don't judge. Like, I get comments all the time. Oh, this person's full of shit, this and that. And I'm like, like the people you're, do you talk to? No, the people, yeah, well, the people that watch the episodes are like, there's no way.

This guy isn't telling the whole story. And I'm like, listen, I give, I provide a safe, comfortable place for these individuals to share their story. I don't judge. And if they want to come here and lie, that's on them. I'm not going to sit here and confront you and say, you're a liar. I haven't lived your life. You know, we all have stories that are kind of unbelievable in ways, you know? Yeah.

Like, if you looked at my story saying I booked like crazy acts when I was 18 and did all these things and lived to tell the tale, I wouldn't believe that, you know, but it happened. I ran into some of yours, you got, they got you for money stuff, money laundering, money. It wasn't real money laundering. They said that the act of running. an alleged Ponzi scheme was the money laundering. So it's not like I was selling drugs and not what you would expect money laundering to be.

Okay, I got you. I got you. So, but anyone can form an opinion on anything, you know? Yeah. And none of us have lived it. But I just leave it up for the audience to kind of decide and decipher and get that conversation going, you know.

But I think it's so important for anyone that wants to share their story to be able to come on and share it and have that out there forever. And I think that's cool. I think that's cool. is a lot of people, hey, they just want to talk without like someone else's opinion. Like you're saying judgment or something like that, you know?

I could be talking to my friends or something or just as an example. And then boom, someone's telling you, oh, no, it's not cool. It's not a good idea. Blah, blah, blah. Shit. And yeah, anyone could have some type of opinion. Pull it out of anywhere, you know? They'll come up with an opinion off of things you didn't say.

Didn't do Oh, you fucking didn't do this, didn't do that. Shit. But then like you said about lying. I got nothing to lie about, you know. That was my whole thing. I only told a couple people I'm coming up here. But they were like, yo, just, you know, do your thing, whatever, whatever.

And then, but be careful. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I say, listen, if it's something I wouldn't want to talk about or would feel compelled to lie about, I wouldn't talk about it, you know, but. So coming up here, I wouldn't want to come up here and lie anyway, you know. You get people like that, though. You meet a lot of them in jail, too. I think some people want the attention.

They want to be able to get that line light. You can always tell when someone's watched a similar episode about their story, and they'll twist it to make it kind of seem like that exact scenario. You've noticed that between guests? Yeah, I'll notice that between guests. It's very interesting, you know. That's interesting. Not saying that it didn't happen, but there are a lot of similarities, and they add a little bit more dramatization.

Interesting. On to it, you know, like it's rehearsed almost. But you just don't know. You really don't know. You don't know. No, you don't know. True, false, whatever, you know, good, bad. You really don't know.

But, Drew, I appreciate you spend your Sunday with me today, man. It was cool. It's a pleasure to hear your story and talk to you. And happy holidays and safe travels back to PA. It will be. I do travel safe now. Yeah, thank you too. Yeah, thank you, brother.