Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - 11-Year-Old ARRESTED 3 TIMES | Donald Pinel

Episode Date: October 18, 2024

Donald Pinel shares his life story starting with being arrested 3 times in the 6th grade. Go to dietsmoke.com and use promo code COX for 20% off your entire order. Get 50% sitewide for a limited time. Just visit https://GhostBed.com/cox and use code COX at checkout. Connect with Donald Pinel: Tiktok: @don.p6 YT: ​⁠​⁠‪@Donaldpinel‬ IG: Donald Pinel Do you want to be a guest? Fill out the form https://forms.gle/5H7FnhvMHKtUnq7k7 Send me an email here: [e-mail] Do you extra clips and behind the scenes content? Subscribe to my Patreon: https://patreon.com/InsideTrueCrime 📧Sign up to my newsletter to learn about Real Estate, Credit, and Growing a Youtube Channel: https://mattcoxcourses.com/news   🏦Raising & Building Credit Course: https://mattcoxcourses.com/credit 📸Growing a YouTube Channel Course: https://mattcoxcourses.com/yt 🏠Make money with Real Estate Course: https://mattcoxcourses.com/re Follow me on all socials! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetruecrime/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@matthewcoxtruecrime Do you want a custom painting done by me? Check out my Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/coxpopart Listen to my True Crime Podcasts anywhere: https://anchor.fm/mattcox Check out my true crime books! Shark in the Housing Pool: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851KBYCF Bent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV4GC7TM It's Insanity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFYXKK8 Devil Exposed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TH1WT5G Devil Exposed (The Abridgment): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070682438 The Program: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858W4G3K Bailout: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bailout-matthew-cox/1142275402 Dude, Where's My Hand-Grenade?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNFHBDF/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678623676&sr=1-1 Checkout my disturbingly twisted satiric novel! Stranger Danger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSWQP3WX If you would like to support me directly, I accept donations here: Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/MattCox69 Cashapp: $coxcon69

For a limited time at McDonald's, enjoy the tasty breakfast trio. Your choice of chicken or sausage McMuffin or McGrittles with a hash brown and a small iced coffee for five bucks plus tax. Available until 11 a.m. at participating McDonald's restaurants. Price excludes flavored iced coffee and delivery. My family, my mother, my father, my brothers, they were all, they all smoked. And it wasn't like, you know, a terrible thing. They weren't out robbing people that are doing everything, but everybody smoked. not have realized it at that age. Maybe I thought it was acceptable a little more than somebody

else was. So when Dare came in, I remember when Dare came in. And it came in and I remember looking at that like, I don't even know if that's real. You know what I mean? So I was already more aware of that aspect than other kids were. And I remember standing outside of a mall as a kid smoking a cigarette and like people walking by like what are you doing and i'm like mind your business like i'm fine smoking a cigarette like what's wrong with you and now as 38 year old man if i've seen a kid like that it would be like bro please like just put it out you know what i mean like don't give yourself a chance but at that age i had no no idea i didn't have a clue to give you an example For like sixth grade year was I got arrested like three times.

My first arrest was Merrill in school. He gave me this bag on the bus on the way to school. Somebody's seen it, obviously. You know, it's a bus full of kids. So they end up calling. The principal comes in ninth period and asked for me to come into the hallway. So she asked, you know, did I have anything? I'm like, no.

She's asked because she searched my life. locker. I'm like, yeah, you can search my locker. No problem. Searches my locker doesn't find anything, and it's ninth period that last period of the day. So she says, all right, I'm going to take you to the office. I'm like, okay. She stops in the

classroom and tells this. So before that, she asked me, did you bring a backpack to school? I said, no, I just had my binder that was in my locker. So before she takes me to the office, she stops at the classroom and she tells the teacher, he won't be coming back to class and taking them to the office. She's like,

okay do you want his backpack so she looks at man she's like yeah i want it she grabs the backpack right there in the hallway goes through it and as a kid who's in sixth grade i think this is the greatest hiding spot ever until i realize it's not so you know how like a jewelry case that you would put like earrings or a ring in and you would lift that little part up and there's like a little empty area yeah a little compartment yeah that's where the was so right so obviously she found it within like a minute. I got arrested. That was my first arrest.

I was in sixth grade, so I was probably 11 years old. I got suspended for 10 days for that. It was a little slap on the wrist. You know what I mean? It was my first thing ever, so they didn't do much. In the, maybe a couple months after that,

I got caught with. With other people, it wasn't just mom, but they ended up finding a 2-liter bottle with alcohol mixed with cranberry juice in the bathroom that they knew was some some kids told on me that I had brought it. So I got suspended five days for that one. Also that same year I had got arrested again, well, I got arrested for both of these two. Also that year I got arrested for breaking and entering robbing a house and underage consumption of alcohol because

when we robbed that house, we broke in through the back window. were in the house somebody seen us it was in the development while we were in that house someone called cops so while we were still in the house i happened to look out the front window and see them coming in so we ran out the back door that we came that we were surrounded or locked up arrested and this was all my sixth grade year so i'm like 11 or 12 years old what are your parents thinking are you getting talked or are you getting the shape up what what are you doing i'm getting talks, yes, on both sides. And my parents both went to work. They were good people. My dad was more

discipline. My mom was more an enabler, but would have the talk to. So I don't, I can't even explain what I was thinking at that time. The things that I did at that age of just like even in my mom's development me and a couple kids named ourselves the mischiefs

you know what I mean and like you know on on what is it mischief night you would go around and you'd vandalize stuff and the things that I did as a kid that I think about now like whether you go and pop

somebody's tires or something right do you know like I feel so bad for the things that I've done like to think of if someone came and popped my tire, do you know what I have to go through to AAA? Luckily, I have AAA, but what if you don't?

And you have to call a tow truck and you don't get paid until Friday. And as a kid, you just don't factor into what you're doing. So it's like looking back at the things that I've done at such a young age. Oh, sixth grade year. I thought it was a good idea

to take my dad's truck out. my stepmother was on vacation and I've driven you know another truck or two before while they was at work and you know so I have a little driving skills at 11 you know I waited till my dad went to sleep we had a plan I was going to pick up my boy this was before cell phones or anything like I said this was a sixth grade year so I was born at 86 I was 11 or 12 so this was about 97 98 no cell phones cordless phones though so my boy left his cordless phone outside of his house

I came and I picked him up we were gonna he left the phone outside of his house so he could call these two girls who we were going

to pick up as well six grade girls you know what I mean they were all we were all sneaking out gonna go hang out why I don't know

I'm probably hoping to get a little something yeah yeah Well, at a young age, a little feel, whatever, you know, we'll grab the butt, something. So when we get back to his house to grab the phone, we notice that his dad's light is on. So now we're nervous to pick up the phone because he's like, I don't know if he's on the phone with his girlfriend. And, you know, back in the day, if you pick up the phone, you could hear it. So then he might go in his room and check.

So we're sitting there waiting. As we're waiting outside of this house, I remember saying a prayer to myself, that I hope no matter what I make it home safe. That's all I said. I said, just let me make it home safe. I probably should have specified a little more of how I wanted to make it home safe because we go back to my dad's truck that I took

and we're smoking, sitting on a road with no other cars. I see a car turn on to the, to the street and I had the car started so I went to like turn it off but I ended up basically flashing the headlights in sixth grade so I'm 11 or 12 years old trying to drive this truck that I barely know how to drive I see the car pulling up and they're slowing down next to me and I'm like why are they slowing down next to me and I like I'm leaning back and I see the the cop lights on the top so now I'm leaning back because I don't want them to see me I'm a kid and they say something like what's up and i'm like hey

and they're like everything okay and i'm like yeah i'm good he's like come to the window put my face to the window and as soon as he sees me he steps out of the car and he's like yeah he snatches the car open rips me out of the car rips my boy out of the car it smells like so he's like what the hell are you guys doing so there was two state troopers it

wasn't even town cops because the town that we lived in were so small at this time. It was part of Hillsboro, New Jersey, but it's like a millstone, which is like a little town that's not patrol. Ever. So for state troopers to come, either somebody called or I just said that prayer and they was going to make sure I made it home safe. I'm so nervous that the cop is asking me questions and I'm like, yo, I don't know. yo he's so he's asking me you know where's the wheat i smell the where did you get the what are you doing driving is this your first time taking your father's car so i keep saying yo because i'm i'm nervous i'm stuttering he's like call me yo one more time and i'm like yo and he smacks the shit out of me

i'm in sixth grade he smacks me and i'm just like taking back like you know you You know, I'm a kid, so I don't know what to do. Now I'm nervous. He's going through my pockets. He's finding this stuff. He ends up searching everything. He's like, where do you live? I tell him where I live.

And it's a couple, not a mile or two, but it's a couple turns, a road here, a road there. So he's wondering how I drove as far as, you know, a sixth grade. My boy lives, you know, 100 yards away, literally like a block and a half. So they put us in the car, and I remember telling him, if you just take the keys and just leave me here, please, like, don't take me home. The last thing I want to do is face my father. I don't want that. He goes to my boy's house. He knocks on the door.

They leave me in the back of the car. So my boy's dad ends up coming, you know, and I can't hear what they're saying, but the cop is telling him, like, obviously, I just found them over there in this truck smoking. And I'm bringing him home. So my boy goes inside They start driving Now it's the two state troopers of me And they're driving and they're like You really drove all this way

And I'm like, yeah I'm like, okay And this is your first time And I'm like, yeah And it was my first time going that far But it wasn't my first time taking the truck out So they get back to my house And they're knocking on the door

Knocking on the door And my dad's not answering Diet Smoke wants to know if you've ever been too high. Well, they have, whether you want to replace alcohol, sleeping pills, or find a reliable, relaxing experience. Diet Smoke has got you covered. They make premium infused edibles, and they deliver them right to your door in as little as 48 hours.

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They offer nationwide two-day delivery to ensure you get your products quickly, no matter where you are. Go to DietSmoke.com and use promo code Cox for 20% off your entire order. That's DietSmoke.com promo code Cox. So they're like, are you sure he's here? I'm like, yeah, he's here. They're like, you sure you didn't do anything to him? I'm like, listen, I'm positive. I didn't do anything to my father.

He finally comes to the door, and it's the two state troopers standing in front of me. So he doesn't see me at first, and he's like, officer, how can I help you? You know what I mean? He's just waking up out of his sleep. And he's like, yeah, and then he sees me, and he's like, what the fuck are you doing? And I'm like, and he ends up, like, grabbing me inside, like, you know, bringing me behind him and, like, get upstairs. And I hear him talking to the officers He ends up stepping outside, closing the door

But long story short My dad has to basically get on a bike And ride the bike to go pick up his truck In the middle of the freaking night Because I decided to take his car out for a little joy That was like Yeah, that was that was a rough one My like I said

My dad could be stern and strict so that was that was just to give you an example i was a i was a bad kid what i had a good heart like i always well but i just made stupid decisions so what did you get grounded did he slap you around oh yeah so so my ground yeah to say the least oh yeah i but i always brought it upon myself anything that i got i you know i is who's taking their dad's car out in sixth grade and getting arrested with me and alcohol and breaking in the house

as I was a bad kid. So I got what I dessert. The consequences was I was grounded. I'd be grounded for a month at a time. I would almost prepared for jail. The TV taken out of my room, you know, you're going to school and you're coming home. That's it.

Nobody's coming over. So it was like, you know, punished. About three weeks in, let me go. I mean, did you end up graduating high school? I mean, what happened? No, actually. So progressively get worse? Yeah, that was middle school.

That was sixth grade. Seventh grade, eighth grade, I probably got locked up once or twice for, there was, I think, seventh grade year, I had a four-wheeler. I had a buddy over. I had two buddies over, actually. We had two quads. We were riding around. I was selling at the time.

I started selling drugs at a young age. I was exposed to it. Started with but also ecstasy, sometimes acid, depending on what was going on. But always. So my choir was acting up. I had a bag that was in the garage,

but the garage was open, and it had 20-20s of Michigan. And this was early 2000s, I want to say probably 2000, 2001, so it was still very frowned upon. On July 18th, get excited. This is big! For the summer's biggest adventure.

I think I just smurf my pants. That's a little too excited. Sorry. Smurfs. Only did it is July 18th. Somebody must have called the cops that we were riding the quads on the streets. So my quad was acting up. I'm going around the, it's like a cul-de-sac with a horse shoe.

So I'm going around the horseshoe As I'm going around the horseshoe My boy is behind me We see a cop coming in from the one way When we see him I tell my boy like the you know The cops is coming go So we go

We managed to lose them And get into the woods And that was that I end up Leaving the quads in the woods And walking up behind I see them at my house So this was really before cell phones

we were still kids. This was when I think I first bought like a Nokia where you got to buy the $50 minute card. You know what I mean? And this is how I'm selling me. But my boy ended up going into the house once he's seen the cops coming up to drive. He left the bong and the bag of there. So once they end up leaving it and I come home, I see the bong is gone, the is gone. My boy was gone by that time too because I came back so like hours later. My parents end up coming home later that night, my father and my stepmother. And I'm waiting to see if they say something to me. At this time, I'm working at their grocery store, A&P. So I went to work.

They picked me up. I come home. They don't say anything to me. So I'm like, okay, maybe they don't know. That was Saturday. Sunday goes by, no problem. Monday, I go to school. First period, they call me down to the office.

When I get to the office, the school officer is there, along with another officer. He has an envelope with eight tickets in it. The eight tickets are for me fleeing on the... One was no registration, no insurance, reckless driving, careless driving, private property, public roads, no helmet. And I think there was one more that they ended up charging me with. And then they also told me that they wanted me and my, you know, a parent to meet them at the police station. So I remember going to the police station and my dad talking to me, you know, telling me basically the police tactics that they might try to ask you something to get you to say this or do this. So say very little.

I ended up concocting this unbelievable story that somebody was walking through the neighborhood that I'd befriended and they were there when I took off on the quad and when you guys came they must have left and left their weed behind. Was it possible? That happens all the time. You know, was it plausible? I don't know, but I didn't get charged with that. I just got the tickets for the quad.

So that was like seventh grade year. To go, like, into high school, I probably got suspended a couple more times for fighting. Same thing in high school. I ended up getting expelled from high school for which they said was gay bashing. It wasn't gay back. I didn't gay bash anybody. Just let that clear. I don't have a problem if you're gay.

But the situation was this. There was a kid who a friend of mine had a problem with. they were beefing back and forth all day. The kid that my friend was beefing with was allegedly gay, right? Whether, this was early 2000, 2001. So it wasn't like a community behind him. It was more quiet kept. If he was, he was, I don't know.

That's as far as I'm concerned. But they were beefing going back and forth, calling each other derogatory things. I don't deal with racism. I don't see a black person as old. I feel like you have good white people and bad white people. You have good Spanish people bad Spanish. You have good and bad in every race. That's how I see things. My nephews are half black and half white. So growing up, I never looked at that. My fiancee is black. So obviously at the time, that wasn't the case. But I remember walking into the, I was about to say mess hall, not the mess hall, the cafeteria. I walked into the cafeteria. I walked into the cafeteria. And, And the kid, the kid, the gay kid, threw a thing of putting at my boy and called him the N-word. And my boy who was like twice the size of him and could demolish him.

It's just like stuck looking at him, like almost surprised that he did it. And I just walked up to the kid and smacked him. And when I smacked him, he tried to like run across the lunch table and I pulled his feet out from under him. and I punched and my other the kid's brother came and ended up punching them

and a teacher came and ended up getting hit and the kid's friend ended up coming and getting hit as well so they ended up like a big melee

right during it I started it off and slid to my lunch table and tried to eat lunch like I had nothing to do with it maybe 10 minutes later an officer comes gets me

and brings me to the office and arrest me. I end up getting a charge for assault. The kid who got the kid, the kid who got the pudding thrown on him, my boy ended up getting charged with assault as well as like a biased crime because of the things that he was saying toward the kid. And there was four of us who ended up getting charged as well as the kid who threw the pudding got repercussions as well for some like I hate crime almost for calling him you know the M word and doing it

right he had repercussions as well but not like we had they blew it up out of proportion the four of us ended up getting expelled from school I ended up going to an alternative school after that and I ended up getting locked up and not graduating high school

but while I was locked up I did get my G okay and then you went on to college and you became a CPA and so that's where we are today but no actually you're nice having you on the show so no that was the just just to start just to what happened after high school so after i ended up going into a group home where i did six months and i got my gd once i came home from there, I ended up moving with my and going to night classes for electrical. That's what I did Votech for. While I was doing that, I was working for a home improvement company.

While I was doing that, I was also selling drugs, getting high, taking eat pills, drinking, partying on the weekends. I was in my 19, early 20s, so it was the time that I was partying. I was also on probation when I came home. So I'm giving dirty urins. Catching little charges in the car, open container. And what were you on probation for? I think from high school?

Yes. Originally that and a CDS charge, yes. That's what I was on probation for. So I never got off probation since I was in sixth grade. That whole time from sixth grade until, early 20s, yeah, I was on probation. Always been on probation. Yes.

They ended up giving me when I was 20, they ended up giving me 60 days in the county as this is your 60 day sentence and you're negatively discharged from juvenile probation because you're now 20 years old, still on it. Because you have a... What is a CD? What did you say the charge?

Possession of CDS with intent to distribute. What's CD? CDS is a controlled danger substance. Oh, okay. Yeah. So. All right. Along with those charges, I was still on probation.

So I had a violation of probation. And I ended up getting like a group home. So I did six months in there. That's when I came home. I was working doing home improvements. I was doing the home improvements for a while. But when I came home, I was still on probation from that. While I was doing that, I'm violating probation because I had in the car.

I had an open container in the car. So they sent me to another, like, the youth house for a couple months to another group home type thing, which is New Jersey residential justice commission. They have, like, these programs, a few of them throughout the state that they send you to,

and that's what I was in. So this one I was in for eight months. I did two months in the youth house, eight months in the program, and then I came home. some of us later. So once I came home, came back to the same thing. I was now 20 years old, started selling drugs again. I just wasn't getting high. You know, that's going to work out very well. So that worked for a little bit until I was, the one thing I was always against my whole life was opiates.

That was like the one thing that I never touched. It was like, that's. Is there a specific reason? Just at a young age, seeing a couple people go through some things that it was. It was like I just didn't want anything to do with it. And I guess like the needle aspect of it, that no other drugs kind of had that. So I don't know. There was something in my young brain. I remember as like a kid where I was smoking or doing pills, that was one thing that I just didn't want anything to do with. And I remember it was like 21.

I had my wisdom teeth pull and they gave me percocets. And I remember taking the percocets and like liking the way they feel. And when I came home from the second program, I was selling drugs, but I was hanging out with some people who were in that life. So I got exposed to that and started, you know, taking the pills like everybody's story, injury. They start taking them. Then heroin's cheaper, you know. I always said the prescription wears out, wears all. Yeah, exactly.

You know, this. I'm sorry. Prescription expires. Then you start buying them. than it's it's cheaper on the street and this was like 2007 so it was before the fentanyl thing so i would always sell drugs i'd also do whatever i could to get money i'd work steal i'd sell drugs anything and i remember i got locked up for a distribution well conspiracy to distribute i was selling drugs and I was home for

actually 11 days. This time, like I was selling drugs the whole time, but this time I literally I came home off the violation. I was home for 11 days and someone who was already home was selling drugs and they told me what they were getting their stuff for. So I told them, stay right here. I get you at a cheaper price. When I come and give it to him

he's being watched and they raid me and him like his distributor right but really i'm just trying to make 50 bucks that's all it was like it wasn't but now i have conspiracy to distribute distribution possession one in 10 so they were trying to give me the brimms law in jersey i don't know if that is in other places but it goes by a point system so basically instead of you know you waited out do you want to go to trial did they give you an offer they gave me three offers and one which was it was

three with it was like a 30 six month step if I didn't take that it was a 38 if I didn't take that

it went to 42 so it was like a condition where it was two weeks in between each plea that I had to take it I didn't take any of them

I ended up being on out on bail for about two years um i'll two years yeah going to why back over the war because i wasn't taking it for me my thing was i really wasn't selling drugs i got this guy something i was trying to play the role of let me go to a program and not do any prison time i'm an addict that was the role i was trying to play so i was fighting it the whole time and i went to a program ended up getting kicked out of the program so it was like you know a process i ended up getting a while i was in the program i got

kicked out or i ended up running while i was on the run they issued a warrant for you know not going to court and stuff i ended up getting locked up for a robbery a first degree armed robbery and that was like i had little problems before and this was the first big one so now when i got locked up i have the violation i have everything piled up what was the robbery what happened with the robbery um over drugs so yeah i understand that but i'm trying it was basically set somebody up to come with a pound a week how like i called them i told them to come this was somebody who had got over on me before it was all drug related but i saw them something before and they ended up shortened me. So I played it off like I didn't know and then waiting a while and then calling

up. Yeah, you got this. So they did. I told them to meet me in a parking lot that was around where my mother was living at the time. Took her car. And usually if I went to do something like to rob something, I would change the plate or take a little tape, electrical tape and try to change a one into a seven, you know. Right. So this time, I remember walking out the door and looking at the electrical tape and I was like, no, they're probably already there. Let me go meet them real quick and I didn't do it.

I ended up meeting them. Get out the car. I pull the gun out, lay them down, take the stuff. Pull off. When I pull off, there was a car coming in my contact, like I had to pull in front of them. And as I pull out, I remember looking in the rear view. And when I looked in the rear view,

I've seen somebody run across the street. And I'm like that from the other direction, no, not the parking lot that I just ran on from the other side. And I'm like, fuck, what the, what was that? Like, who was that? So I'm trying to, like, black it out. I just floor it back to my house. I go in and I put the bag that the was in and the gun outside of the building in the bushes. And I go outside.

And my mother's day and I played off like, you know, I didn't just rob somebody. We're about to go to the beach. these guys know where you live though right who no no nobody know no these people don't know no i literally just got out from jail and my mom just moved out here and i was staying out there and just had to meet me somewhere so it's all like i think is the area where i grew up in but no they don't know where i live yeah i thought they knew you from prior sorry yeah they do know me from prior but i wasn't living in the same area if that means okay so yeah yeah my mother moved from it's actually a whole different county now so all right so i get back to the house i'm trying

to get my stuff together because we're about to leave my mom ends up coming in and she's like there's police outside like bro so i'm like tell them i'm not here and she's like i kind of are i think they know i think they know and my mom's nervous she's scared she's not in like she smokes a little but she's not like this is past what she's used to you know yeah

so she's ended up like she's out there with them and they're trying to get me to come out of the house and I'm not trying to come out because it's like I don't want to go to fucking jail you know what I mean so I'm trying to smoke a cigarette

I'm trying to like I'm looking for the I don't know where I put my weed I want to smoke a fucking blunt real quick so that's kind of to how I felt. And I'm going back and forth. They're trying to come into the house. They still think I have the firearm with me, which I don't.

It's outside in the bushes. They end up coming in. I end up, you know, my mother's out there. Please come out, come out. So I end up coming out. They lock me up. Now it's like I've got to face everything that I've been getting over with. So what these guys do?

They got your tag number. You'll call the cops. Cops King. What do they tell the cops? That I robbed him. So his girl was in the car, too, and his girl just played it. Like, I robbed. I robbed, and that was, I just ran down on them.

She was there trying to pick up some paperwork or something, and that tried to play like the innocent victim role. That was it. Because they didn't call the cops. They didn't call the cops. The witness across the street who was doing yard work saw what happened and came running across the street as soon as, I pulled off. Okay. Oh my gosh. What happened? So yeah. All right. That's how that happened. So I get locked up. When I get locked up, there's the next day three different township detectives come to question me about different things. I don't know anything. I don't know shit. They end up, there was another robbery that they alleged that I did that they're questioning me about. That they lock somebody else up for.

who ended, they ended up having a release because they realized he didn't do it. So I'm telling them, I don't know anything. I don't know shit. Let me go lay down. You know what I mean? All I've been doing is out there selling drugs getting higher running. Let me go back to myself. So they're talking shit like, oh, you got to tell us what's going on.

I'm like, man, I don't got to tell you shit. I end up getting up and walking out. So I end up first, you know, they're coming 20 years. 15 years. Finally, I get it down to an eight with an 85, but I also have a three flat for the violation of probation and other charges that they give me because I was on drug court and probation and everything. So I end up getting that.

I ate with an 85. It worked out where I went down first on the violation before I got sentenced to the robbery. So they gave me gap time, but in New York. Jersey you have 85% so if you have gap which I had 300 and something days to the 8 with it 85 but it doesn't make a difference basically it's like I did dead time only on one charge instead of both that makes sense if you were from New Jersey and knew their their laws that you would understand it a little more yeah they didn't credit you for what you've been locked up exactly exactly I did basically do it over so I went down state and you know the it's like you really just got another

another fucking year added on your sentence. Yes, exactly. Okay. Because I was trying to fight the robbery. So I end up, I'm downstate now. I go down, Borden Town, which is like New Jersey's gladiator school. You know every state has a gladiator school. Right.

Have you heard that before? Yeah, typically it's like for youthful offenders. Yeah, yeah. Where everybody fights. It's like the worst one. So I ended. Yeah, how old are you at this point, though? 24.

okay yeah yeah 24 about so all right i think of gladiator schools i always think of those for like youth like young kids that are like 19 or 17 or 15 i don't think of there's nobody really under 18 so it's usually 18 to 27 25 okay seven around there for jersey anyway so i go down there i'm down there for about six months and the same thing i was doing in the county i was doing downstairs get wheat in. So I was getting it in through this. I had somebody coming up for it. And I'm getting a couple dollars.

Someone ends up dropping a slip on me. Now, this is... They end up bringing the dogs. They search like 10 bunks over here and then they search mine on this side. They end up giving me a urine. I fail. They send me the addicts.

I do 90 days at a sake. Then they send me to Bayside. Bayside, if you're from New Jersey, It's like the worst prison to go to in New Jersey as far as the SEALs go. Before, this was 2009, 2010. Well, 2010, yeah. And this was before they put the cameras in. And Baysa was known for, like, they will kill you.

The SEALs will kill you down there. It was bad. You were at a lawn. They will keep you in line. There's actually a line around the whole prison where you walk. You do not step over this line. you step over this line, you're getting stomped out. Like, you're talking in the med line.

You're getting pulled out a line stomped out, and they might never see you again. And I've seen that happen. Don't do that. Yeah, don't even talk in the medline. Don't talk in the medline. Don't go over that line. I mean, I already know I'm going to be okay. Like, I can stop.

They, when the first time that I was there, they pulled us in the yard and lined us up. There was a CO white dude. cocky with a cut-off t-shirt, not no uniform, he had the pants on with a cut-off t-shirt, pulled this in the yard, and basically was using the N-word and how he likes to knock him out or anybody who's going to think they're tough. Like, that was the speech we got when we got there. So I did not want to be there at all, to say the least. So I'm trying to, and I was on my paperwork coming from ASSA, it had either Northern or,

were based now northern was like a cop prison with you know cops from the hood it was laid back like you had to worry about the inmates i'd rather worry about the inmates than the cos you know what i mean right so here you had to worry about the the cops so i'm there for like a week and i get legal mail because i'm still fighting my case and when they give it to me they give it to me and it's not even open and they're like all right have a good day And I'm like, they didn't even open the legal mail. Right. Well, it's legal mail. You're not, they're not supposed to. Well, they're supposed to open it in front of you.

In front of you, right. Yeah. Look through it with there. Right. Oh, you know, I've done enough podcast now where you know about K2 and where you can't even get mail anymore and all that. So this was 2010, 11. In my head, I'm like, I'm going to try to get some bud. You know what I mean? That was my thing. That was the week. So I end up having some. one put something together that comes in because I wanted to like just do something to get out of that prison I didn't want to be there I asked I know I still had time and I didn't want to do

it there um so I end up having somebody put something together for six months like twice a week I'm getting it through the mail every week they call me down there I get it and I come back and I smoke but this time I'm not telling anybody I'm not selling nobody anything I'm just smoking I got time to do, I'm trying to do my time. I remember my neighbor asking me, he's like, every night after count, I always smell it. So I'm like, I'm trying to buy something. I'm like, yeah, me too. If you find something, let me know. Because I learn my lesson. I'm not telling anybody what I'm doing this time. So this goes by for like a couple months. Finally, one day, the guy comes into myself and he's like, bro, look, I mean, you could still smoke in prison at this time. This was 2011, right before

they stopped it in New Jersey. He puts a couple of packs of cigarettes, a couple of books of stamps down. And he's like, please, let me buy something. Because he knew it was made. You know what I mean? Every day he's smelling it at this time after count. So I ended up selling him something. And a week later, I'm waiting for something.

It was right around my birthday, March 4th, 2011. Probably, yeah, 2011. And I'm waiting for legal mail and they call me for it late at like one o'clock when it's usually after dinner at 5.30. So I go down there and as soon as I go around the corner, there's an officer and a sergeant and they're like, what's your name? I'm like, Penel. They're like, get on the ground. So I'm like, fuck. I get on the ground and they're like, oh, yeah, you got weed coming in through the mail.

They're walking me across the compound, and they're telling the other officers, they're like, yeah, this guy's getting straight from Amazon.com. Well, it's just a false address, but they don't know that at the time. And the kid didn't tell on me. The stuff that I got that time just stunk. It stunked so bad that it was in center and they ended up smelling it and realizing that it was coming from my package. So I go to as seg, I get a three-stop.

365, 30 days lockup, 365 as seg for that. I have enough. What does that mean? 30 days in lockup. Okay. And then 365 days, like, administrative segregation. Okay, I would think, I thought that was the same thing. I mean, in the feds, it's called the shoe, the, you know, cigarette.

In Jersey, they changed it now, but at this time they had, it was different between lockup. you had nothing no property no nothing administrative segregation you at least had your property but you had to do your lockup time pre-detention hearing time first so i got 30 days of that 365 days ad say so you're you're basically in the hole for a year yes over a year and a month lock yeah that's a long time well it's a long time until i talk a little bit longer okay so right after that i have another one in in the mail already so when i get to ad seg one comes and it comes through they don't get it right the next one comes and they get it so now i get another 30 days lockup another 365 days ad seg so now we're at two years and two months

Pardon me. The first one was 270 ad seg. 30 days lockup, 270 ad seg. The second one was 365 ad seg, 30 days lockup. I'm in lockup ad seg for six months. They say I have too much time in Bordantown, Ed Seg. They shipped me to Northern Adseg, Northern State. I'm in northern as state.

A bunkey that I had ends up being cool with the cop. The cops, bringing them tobacco and phones. So now I end up, my bunkey gets a phone, I get a phone. We have it, we're cool, we're in there smoking, we're in there calling my bunkey, but he's selling tobacco. And he's also like yelling out the door, doing extra stuff, being loud. And the only reason I'm staying in the room with him is because it was August, September, his ad seag time was up in November. my ad sag time was up in February so I'm thinking if I stay in the room with him

he's going to leave the cop put me in the room with him just to give him the phones because the cop knew I was all right I was laid back I didn't make no noise didn't cause no problems so on my head when he leaves I'll have the plug you know what I mean the cop knows I'm good he'll mess with me

but I also know this dude is loud and maybe a couple months go by It's Friday to 13th. I wake up. One of the robberies that I caught was Friday the 13th. And I tell my bonky, I'm like, man, it's Friday to 13th, blah, blah, blah. He's like, man, that shit don't mean nothing.

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I remember waking up to police at the door with the camera. Sargent's officers. They're like, they're here, they're here. In northern Sague, we have like a little curtain that you could close over the window. So like when you use the bathroom and stuff, my bunky jumps down, closes the curtain. He throws his phone in the toilet. Now, Madja, we've talked about.

about this. The toilets are strong. No flush a phone. I break my phone in half and he throws into the toilet and flushes it. So he flushed his phone and my phone. I turn around. We had cigarettes lighters. I go to grab the cigarettes and the lighters. Now, we had the door jam shut. So when they call Pop 218 and Central Control goes to hit 218, 218 is not going to open because we have a brush like the hair brush and a pair of nail clipper shoved in between like the door and the door jam so it it doesn't pop unless you're like shaking it

but they don't know that they just think it's gonna pop so at least that gives us a little bit of time so we flushed the phone we've talked about this we're not opening the door until everything is gone I turn around and grab the lighter and the cigarettes he undoes the door and lays down So they come in and they blitz me

They end up taking us Their maintenance comes with the snake They end up getting the bottom half of my phone That's it But the bottom half of my phone They hook up everything Like you could get everything off of that There was no SIM card

But it was a Verizon flip phone Okay So they locked me up They asked me what's up with the phone I tell them I don't know shit I don't know about any phone because in my head I don't think they found a phone

I didn't see him come out with any phone I don't know that they found any phone I think they were flush so they're like you don't know nothing you don't know nothing we're gonna give you a street charge

I'm like fine they send me to a different ad seg for that I'm there for six months I go to another ad sec I'm there for a year I go to Trent Nassay

I'm there for a year I don't hear nothing else about it. Nothing. They told me they was going to give me a street charge. They never did. I end up doing, oh, and for that, I got another 365

as a say. So I did three and a half, well, no, three years total. With the lock up time, I did three years total. I get out. I'm in population. I'm in population. I'm good.

I'm running a little store. I'm getting a couple of hours. And while I'm there, it's like, it's not that it's good, but I'm back in Bayside, where I was originally sent, which I didn't want to go back to. But when I got back there, it was like, it was good, you know, could be outside all day. You had the front yard, the backyard, compared to other jails where you didn't have as much record or as much freedom. You still had the phones in the yard. and even in the outside yard they had the phones until the kid got stabbed in the backyard

while I was there over the phone and then they took the phones out of the yard based while I was there the second time they were starting to put up cameras because of the stuff that was going on there but they also started taking a lot of stuff away like where before you could go outside

and halfway through rec time you had the option to come back in like they ended that um they ended up once the kid got stabbed in the backyard and they took the phones out of the yard another kid got stabbed in another yard they ended up taking the backyard completely so it's like every year they're taking something from each prison for something that people are doing and it just continuously like gets worse and worse as i'm there and i see it so i'm there i become like a a runner running a store getting a couple dollars still

you know not learning my lesson basically 31 months go by since I got caught with the phone and it's a Sunday and the officer ends up calling me he's like hey Penel come up I'm like I suck he's like

you got a pack an overnight bag I'm like for what he's like you have court in the morning I'm like court I said, I have about six years in at this point. I said, I have no court, you know? Like, he's like, it said, I said, call him back and find out just to make sure. So he does. And they're like, no, it's you.

So I end up going up front after packing my stuff. I end up, I was running the store at the time. I ended up leaving it to my bunky, like, because I don't know what to take. I don't know if property is going to rob me. I don't know where I'm going. I don't even know if it's me for a court trip. I don't know if I'm going to be back tomorrow. So I tell my bulky, it's my boy.

I tell him keep my stuff. They end up sending me to Raleway. The next day, I go to court. Do you have any idea what it's for? No. I'm thinking it's Essex County, which is Newark, New Jersey. I had, got caught with five bags of mail that I had a ticket for, that I never went to court for. So in my head, I'm like, could it be this?

But the cop also didn't say Essex. he's like it's somewhere up north maybe Essex maybe Sussex so I'm not really sure I know I never had nothing in Sussex but I'm not where is the prison huh where prison was in Essex North New Jersey but no I'm saying the one where you the prison yeah you correct he said okay with the phone was Essex but I'm not thinking 31 months later that they're charging me with this fucking phone right so I end up going to the hallway he state prison. I'm there. The next morning I go to court in Newark, New Jersey. The public defender comes to the bullpen and he's like, do you know what you're here for? I said, no, that's what I'm

waiting to find out. He's like, you were in Northern and got caught with the phone. I said, yeah, about three years ago. He's like, yeah, for that. So I end up getting a three flat for that. They said since I didn't tell him where the phone came from, that whole time was an ongoing investigation because they were trying to figure out who brought the phone in. So I ended up getting an extra three years. And what they did was instead of charging me right then where it wouldn't have affected my time, they waited until I was under two years short to charge me. So now instead of me getting out when I was supposed to, my date got pushed back.

So the date that I've been looking at for the last six, seven years, now I got pushed back. But at least that wasn't a violent crime, so I was able to work it down. So I ended up doing like an extra six, seven months. I come home, and I didn't learn shit. I was doing the same thing the whole time I was down. I literally came home doing that that I was locked up to. I rebuilt my relationship with my father because I didn't talk to him for a while, obviously, because I was just in my own zone.

I didn't kid. And he was always there. He was stern, you know what I mean? So our relationship was strained. but he like was always there with you know kid if i need him so with that being said i come home he gives me a chance i'm living there i'll fuck up within two months by like for all i'm back in jail how dirty urine and dirty urine and it was like i wasn't at the address that i was supposed to be at so that that's all it took

they give me a 10 month tech i do the 10 month tech they turn around give me an 8 18 month hit. After the 18 month hit, they turned around. What's the 18 months for? Likelihood to reoffend. Huh? You said you got 10 months for the dirty urine. And 18 months for likelihood to reaffent. What does that, what does that mean? It means that due to my past, I'm likely to violate parole if they give it to me again. Because I have a violent crime, I have mandated. five years parole after my cron.

That's how Jersey works. Do that it's a first degree crime. It's mandatory five years. Well, you're never getting off probation. So you're never, I mean, this is, so, so there's light at the end of the tunnel. Okay. So I do another three years before they let me out.

After that, they, I go to the last parole hearing. Now, mind you, I only have five years. been locked up for three of it. So they didn't have too much more time. They sent me to a six month map program, which is a mutual agreement program, which is like a behavior modification type thing. Oh yeah. So I go there. Most people could get out within like 90 days, four months, 120 days. I had to do a mandatory 180 days. And I was like one of the only people on parole. most of the people were like probation drug court different things or off the street volunteers i was like one of the only people came from prison there was maybe like one or two other people so i was there for six

months now mind you when i came back after violating that two months and having to go through the process again that was when i like started to take a look at myself you would think damn that's what it took you finally right and i know i know you so i that's when i was like fine like looking at the old heads in prison and i was like don't want to be one of them all heads just life on an installment plan like i know i got good caretistics i know there's things that i could do i know i got a good work ethic so i'm starting to like have these thoughts and it was just like her and my dad and my mom again who always you know been there through all of this

so that's when I was like just starting to take a look because I don't know I just grew up with like an anger and a resentment that I still trying to fix it today but going I mean a shitty day out here is better than the best fucking day in prison you know what I'm saying

like you have to stay in someone's spare fucking room and work 60 hours a week, it's still way better out here. So yes, exactly, a thousand percent. So through that three years, it was like when I started to work on myself. Now, my as you, I was to just give you an example, you know how mental health is now more aware today than it is back then. I always used to have this feeling. Sometimes when I was a kid, sometimes when I was locked up in a cell, by myself sometimes before a fight that I always

thought like I don't something was wrong with me I just but it went away so it was nothing to worry about until I was reading the book and realized that that feeling was anxiety I didn't realize I had anxiety until I was 30 something years old I didn't know what it was

so that's how like self-aware I was maybe I feel like today with social media that things being more prevalent there's people are more self-aware there's more educational things more access to different education or people who've been through certain things that you've been through where it doesn't take you to hit 30 to realize that you have anxiety um and that was like an eye-opener for me because i have an older brother who suffers from he's paranoid schizophrenic But if you would have asked me, my whole life was anxious.

Was I anything? I'm cool. I'm calm. No problems. You know, but the whole time, when I have these feelings that I'm keeping inside, it's no, I'm just modeling it up and can hide it okay. Well, aren't you also self-medicating with, I mean, you're, or, you know, and everything else, yes.

Right. A thousand percent. Yep. So, exactly it. So when I come home, I did another three years. years and I still had another tour on parole. I come home this time I don't go to Jersey. I go through that program and when I come home, I get paroled to my mothers in PA and

Poconos, like Mount Pocono, PA, which is more rural, the perfect thing for me. Now, while I was in that program, I might not have left all my ways behind because I did get a phone in. While I had that phone, I used it for positive and was on indeed going through all sorts of job applications and everything. So I had interviews sit up as soon as I got home. The next day after I got home, I had an interview. That was a Friday. The Monday after that, I had an interview.

The Tuesday after that, I had an interview. In the midst of that, I reached out to another job. That's 10 minutes from where I'm at right now. At a lumberyard, they hired me. I was helping my mom out within 90 days of being at that job I got a promotion, I got a raise I show up early every day

I stay late pretty much every day except today because I had this podcast to get to but I've just been grinding man I came home March of 2020 I had relapse for a month month period, maybe 90 days after I got home. I haven't touched the opiate since September 26th,

2022. A little while after I got home actually on my birthday of 23, I found out my mom got diagnosed with cancer. So that's the part that's going to be hard for me to talk about. So she beat the lung cancer. It came back. Spread. She ended up passing. me and my brother were there for her till the end like she we took care of her here as long as we could she went to the hospice house for the last three four days I spent the night there every day didn't leave on till she took her last breath So that for me, I sat here and gave her the same pills I used to abuse.

I'm talking about fentanyl patches, oxies, all that stuff that we had to go through while she was dealing with the cancer. And I didn't have her urge to do nothing. She was like, she was my best friend. She was an enabler too, you know, but. At the same time, like, she's the one, like, will still give me the spirit and everything I can to do this today. I'm in the process of trying to, like, sell this place, buy a home and do things that, for me a couple years ago, I didn't think was possible. Right. you have to know

it's the best possible situation for you and your brother to be there for her you couldn't invest for anything it would have been 10 times worse if you'd been locked up like I mean that's the best in a horrible out of a horrible situation that's the best possible result is for you to be there with her

at the very end. That's why, like, that was... So losing my mom was the biggest fear of my life since I was a kid. She was the closest person I've ever had. It was my excuse. That was gonna be my excuse to just say, fuck it, and do whatever.

Like, I wanted, whether it was get high, whether it was have a shootout with the police, whether it was go rob, 10 banks, whether it was, that was gonna be my excuse. I didn't care anymore. thankfully like i was able like you said i was able to come home and learn how to be a man a little bit before she got sick i was going for 12 years she was there with me so that didn't happen while i was gone even my my brother he was gone for a little bit while i was here i knew she was

waiting for him to came back as soon as he came back we was both here to take care of her. Even my fiance, like, we used to take shifts. You know when it got bad. But we was all here for, so as a man, like, I could at least stand on that and be proud. So for me, that's like the biggest part. And I used that, like, she's smiling. I didn't go use it as an excuse to use. I didn't use it as an excuse to go do anything. I didn't use it as an excuse to go do any thing I'm working. I'm still working over. It's hum.

I'm taking this as an opportunity to get, be able to get a home that has a good basement. So I'll finish basement from my brother, a place from, like, you know what I mean? Like, our men grasped, being able to make all this happen. And I'm like, thankful and grateful and humble to be able to do it. Because, like, I didn't know what it was to be a man. Like, I didn't know what it was to pay a fucking bill. I didn't know what it was to file taxes. I didn't know what it was to a credit check.

Like, I came home. I got a secure credit card. I did that for the first year. You know what I mean? So I built my credit up through that. I got a good credit score. I just got a pre-approval. You know what I mean?

So, like, I'm looking for a house. I'll be able to sell this and have it down. Like, things are good today, man. Like, they're not great. Don't get me wrong. working 60 hours a week just so I could make everything happen but like for me it's just I'm blessed and I just want to say like how important it is to get to like so I was exposed to things at a young age but like if you it's all about how you bring up I don't have any kids but

it's all I feel like it's so important with how you raise the kids and get to them and the message you tell them at a young age to avoid this like they could learn to wash shit they don't got to go to it but i also like as a kid so i was exposed to stuff but i also like through my brother or my mom or my dad or my steps like i don't blame them either because you don't know what they were as exposed to how was they what i was they so i feel like as it's just a collective a fool that everybody has to do better you know so like well so i mean that's so that's your goal is to get a house and keep that's that's right now so i'm at right now so like i don't i'm not big on social media anything i do i have social media oh like i was recently on

i i and bix powercast it hasn't aired yet but i was just sure i just want to spread the message made of how important it is to not waste our lives over a substance or something. Like, there's so much more to life out there. So my thing is right now, once I get the house and find out where I want to be, I'd like to get into something like as a big brother to work with kids because I feel like it's important where they, like, don't get me wrong, my father was there and he told me what was right from wrong, what I should do, that it's important to get an education and you're going to need a job that pays,

well. So I heard all that when I was a child. You know what I mean? That was there. But I feel like if I had a positive role model that I could relate to that I, oh, you know, not that I didn't look up to my father. He's a great man. You know what I mean? But just, you know, someone that you could find more relatable. I've looked at my dad as like discipline, strict. So I feel like if you have that positive role model out of young age that could teach you the right thing, like there's this thing on a TikTok or social media, something where the guy has like all the kids from the neighborhood and he teaches them how to change a tire. He teaches them how to do an oil change. He teaches them how to change a light socket. He teaches them how to do all these different things that are so

important as a kid to learn. Right. You know what I mean? And I feel like that that's important. The trades, the trades are always going to be there, whether it's plumbing, welding, different things. And I feel like kids should learn that as a young age, man. Everybody's going with tech stuff, and that's cool too. But, you know, some people growing up who don't have those same opportunities or whatever. And there's electricians that are making the same money doctors and lawyers are making right now because nobody's going into those trades. That's what I went to vote tech for. It was electrical.

That's what I started doing college classes for. It was electrical. That's what I'd like to get into. That's, you know, me right now, I'm working on a lumber yard. I've been there two and a half years. For me, it's been convenient. This is what I, so when I told you, I came to PA at my mom's house. For me, that's what I needed to get away from everything else.

I didn't want to be back in Jersey around people, places, and things. I needed to be, you know, a little distance. And for me, it was good. I was able to work. Come home. The only person I really chill with is my girl. You know what I mean? That's it.

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