Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - How I Made $100K in 3 Minutes! | Bank Teller Plans the Perfect Heist

Starting point is 00:00:00 She literally drew me out the floor plan of the bank. She told me exactly where the alarm was. Told me where the first camera was. I got these plans. They're bulletproof. Like, it can't be stopped. If you get called or if we get investigated, blame me. I'm going to be gone.

Starting point is 00:00:18 Born in Daytona, Florida, Volusia County, Florida. Okay. Which is funny because when I was arrested from the U.S. Marshals, you know, 21 years later, 23 years later, that's where they caught me was Volusia County. but we moved away younger, you know, five, ten years old, you know, to South Carolina. Pretty much a normal childhood bring up. Except my mom, she's been an addict for most her life. Right.

Starting point is 00:00:43 My mom and my dad dated until I was about eight, and then I got a stepfather. And so she dated this guy named Paul. So Paul ended up being my dad for still to this day, most of my life. Me, I was a good kid, really was, going to school, do, you know, race in motorcross hanging out with dad on the weekends, staying around the house. I think a lot of what led up to what I did was also trying to follow in my brother's footsteps of going to the parties and me and my girlfriend from high school, had a child. So how old were you?

Starting point is 00:01:21 I was 21 years old when I had my son. So I had a really good job at the time doing AutoCAD, Solid Works 3D. And then I started doing blues and Roxy's. And I don't think I realized how bad my addiction was. You know, you think you're okay. I'm a functioning addict. Right.

Starting point is 00:01:41 I'm doing them and I'm going to work every day. You know, at least I'm working. I'm paying my bills. And then I think it always gets to a point where you're like, oh, shit. You know, hard gets to a point. So me and baby mama split up. and there was probably about a year and a half gap in between that before I, you know, robbed the bank. So I think it was my mom.

Starting point is 00:02:12 I was in San Antonio, Texas, and my mom had shot herself in the head and lived through it. Wait a minute. So she was, it's, she's on drugs. She's on drugs. She's, she's, she's, she wants to, she's thinking about taking, or she takes her own life. She tries to. Okay.

Starting point is 00:02:32 Yeah, it was an attempt. So I think they said she got some bad, hard, and had shot herself. And it went through her mouth and out her eye. So I'm in San Antonio, Texas. And I get the call like, hey, your mom just shot herself. You know, you need to get home. So they waited until I flew back home. I flew back the next morning.

Starting point is 00:02:52 So that was the earliest flight I could get. And went straight upstairs in the hospital. And they said, hey, go in. your mom, this might be the last time you get to see your mom. Oh, wow. So I got to see my mom for a minute, my sister's there, my brother's there, and then they flew her to Charleston, South Carolina, which is MUSC, which is where they do all the major surgeries and reconstructive surgeries and stuff.

Starting point is 00:03:17 So she did. She lived through, you know, the attempt to take her life, but she said she was hearing voices and that was what was, you know, she thought she had to do. So that was tragic in my life, but it was almost healing. We were all now there for my mom, you know, which was in and out of our life most of the time. So I was driving to Charleston every other weekend, which is about three hours away from where I live and seeing mom. And everything was getting better.

Starting point is 00:03:47 So they say, okay, six months, six months she was in the hospital getting facial reconstructive surgery. Whoa. And they said, okay, we're going to really really. her now. Well, I could tell my mom going and seeing her. By the end of the six months, she's like, I want to go outside and I want to smoke a cigarette, but I don't want people to see me. Like, you know, she was still, like, I didn't think it was going to end well after that anyway. So they release her. What was a reconstructive surgery? Was it, I mean, did she look okay? That's why I said. So as a woman,

Starting point is 00:04:21 I wouldn't think a woman could live with looking the way she did look. Okay. So she, she, didn't look, it was bad. You know, you could tell there was a wound here. Her eye was gone. So I really felt bad for her that, okay, now my mom's going to have to live like this with her eye, you know, missing eye and whatever. But they did, they released her and they let her come home. So she moves into my brother's apartment, and that's where the disaster with them, you know,

Starting point is 00:04:48 I didn't think was going to go good. So they're prescribing her 12030s a day. Or, I mean, a month, so what, for a day? It's not good. Not good. I mean, it's obviously she probably is in pain. Right. You know, that's the problem with addicts.

Starting point is 00:05:08 Exactly. You don't feed the fire. Yeah, you need it, but you really don't need it. No, you don't need it. So she's getting the roxies every month and she's getting the benzos for anxiety. So she's getting Xanax, Benzos, everything. Living at with my brother. He's loving that, you know, because now he's, you know, getting pills from mom.

Starting point is 00:05:26 So she couldn't even afford her script, really. I would drive an hour away to come, take her and get her script, pay the $300, get her script filled, send her back home to my brother, which I knew he's stealing her pills. You know, he's hurting, you know. So a Christmas time is coming around. So my family comes from Florida. Most of my family is from Florida to visit us in South Carolina. And we have a Christmas Eve party. every Christmas Eve at my Anna Lisa's house.

Starting point is 00:05:58 So my mom's probably been home at this point for six months. Well, my cousins come down from Florida and they see my mom and she says, hey, can you take me down the street? I need to get something. So they take her to the alphabet streets and it's the first time since her shooting herself that she does hard again. Okay. And so she buys hard.

Starting point is 00:06:23 And my cousins don't know this. on vacation riding around in a rental car, you know. So they go back to my brother's house. They're all hanging out. She says, again, can you take me back to the alphabet streets? I need to see somebody. So they take her back again. They don't realize what she's happening. They don't realize. And they don't realize what she's doing. And so the third time, she didn't ask them. So it was probably in the middle of the night at this point. But she goes back to the alphabet streets, does what she does. my cousins and my brother wake up Christmas Eve morning, car's

Starting point is 00:06:55 gone, the rental car's gone, mom's gone. They're like, what is going on? And they said, there's a tracker on the rental car. We can find it. So my sister comes over to my brother's house. They all load up in the car to go find mom. It's at the alphabet streets.

Starting point is 00:07:13 So they drive over there. As soon as they seen mom walking out of the car and getting in the car, she took off. So when she takes off And she sees them Yeah, she's seen them Yeah, she's seen them She takes off

Starting point is 00:07:27 So they're chasing her down They're chasing her down Clemson Boulevard of course Just trying to catch up with her And just stop her Hey mom just stop It's okay You know what you're done

Starting point is 00:07:37 We just stop driving the rental car But she took off And she drove up to what's called Wahala And it's the mountains And Clemson And that was it The rental car It's just blinking

Starting point is 00:07:49 at this mountain. And they go down there, they find the rental car. They don't see it. They look for it for like hours. So they send the sheriff down there and say, hey, we have a person missing. She's in this car. Can you all go find this car?

Starting point is 00:08:04 And they don't find her for three days. And my grandpa, her dad, said, I'm going to go look. So they send him the location that the GPS said the rental car was up. He drove straight to it. And he said he could look. When he pulled up, seen it right where she drove off the side of the mountain. All she's seen was the tree split and the car was down there. So my mom was down there, passed away. How far of a drop is this? It's pretty

Starting point is 00:08:30 far. He said he looked down over the guardrail or right next to the guardrail, look down and he could see the car down at the bottom of the mountain. Okay. So that was too tragic for me. So when they called me and said, hey, they found mom. She's passed away. You know, they were like, don't come here. Right. So it was far. So I think I don't, it was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. was raining that day, they don't know if she meant to drive off the side of the mountain or after being up all night on hard all night. You know, I would almost think mom's at peace now. Yeah. She finished off what she started, you know, a year ago. So that's kind of probably the downhill of my life, you know. At that point, I kind of let go of everything I was striving to do

Starting point is 00:09:13 and be and move forward in life. So I'm dealing with being separated from my son. and seeing them three days a week. I'm getting them every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, picking them up, dropping them off, and just trying to live a normal life. So mom had passed away. Brothers kind of going crazy over there, you know, after all that. Of course, he used it as his crutch. That was his crutch for a long time.

Starting point is 00:09:41 Just miss mom, you know, trying to numb himself. So I did. I was doing Roxy's every day. So I'm going to work every day. One in the morning. get out of bed, one at lunch, when I get home to at night, you know, every day. And the build up of that was just, I didn't realize how bad it was going to get, you know, of that addiction that you can't go one day without them. Right. After you've been on them for two years straight.

Starting point is 00:10:07 So in my life, go one day to pick up my brother, pull out of a gas station, and get in a wreck. So a motorcycle hit the side of our car. Boom. He passes away. It was led as not my fault. So ruled as not my fault at the accident. That was tragic. So now I'm dealing with that.

Starting point is 00:10:32 Like that all happened at one time. So I think the turning point was I move out of my house that I was paying for. You know, baby mom had left a year before, but I stayed there. I was paying my bills working. All this has happened in the last year. I move out and I move in with a friend. And she works at Northeast Georgia Bank. So honestly, can I ask you a question?

Starting point is 00:11:03 You still have your job? I still have my job. And where are you getting the pills from? So I had one old lady. We live on the line of Georgia, South Carolina line. So she's going to Georgia and she's getting in 90-20s from Georgia doctor, and she's going to South Carolina and getting 90-30s from a doctor in South Carolina.

Starting point is 00:11:26 She's doctor shopping, but between states. Yep. So she is only selling the two people, me and her nephew. That's it. So she's almost would hand me half the bottle and say, I say, hey, I'll be back in two weeks. So I'm getting paid every two weeks. I'm coming and dropping off $1,500. You know, it's just never-ending cycle.

Starting point is 00:11:46 That was the only lady I bought from. And I'm her main customer. That's it. So I'm functioning good. I got a really reliable connection. But it's almost like she's feeding me too many of them. And she's doing it just to, you know, of course, I'm going to come back and I'm going to pay her and keep me in her pocket. So once I move in with the roommate, I'm realizing, like, what do you?

Starting point is 00:12:16 do I want to do with my life? What does my next five years look like? And at that point, I think I almost said, I don't care. So I think mentally for me, it was getting hard for me to work, to do the pills every day, to strive to make sure I got the money, make sure I got any pills in my pocket, and still be a functioning father, picking up my son three days a week, dropping them off, taking them in daycare. So it was just, it was just a a random party we went to. We're at her sister and uncle's house, which is on the lake. So we're down at the dog fishing. And I think we've probably drank a little bit and we're drinking and sitting on the dock fishing. And I said, hypothetically, how hard would it be to rob the bank

Starting point is 00:13:09 that you work at? Like, I just want to know your policies. And I don't even know why I'm asking these questions. I think I'm like, I'm going to do this. I do. Yeah. The addiction is so bad. I think I'm going to do this and I'm just going to go. I'm just going to go, go, go as far away and not care what happens to me while I'm on the run. I won't care, you know. So I'm like, that night we talked about every case scenario of robbing this bank. So I used to go to this bank and sit there and have lunch with her inside the office, you know. So I've been, I'm very familiar with this bank. So I asked her, what are your policies? So when I say that night, I learned everything about that bank. I learned where all four cameras were. So it's a very small bank. It's a bank inside of a grocery store.

Starting point is 00:14:06 So of course, even when the bank's closed, the grocery store is still open. So that's kind of what I wanted to get to was how could I go in and get this money and not do it while it's open, not rob the bank. I don't want to walk in and rob somebody. You know, that wasn't part of it. So she pretty much broke down every policy they had that if somebody was robbing the bank, you know, of course, silent alarms. Yeah, there's a button.

Starting point is 00:14:37 But also she can pop the drawer, pull out this stack of hundreds, all the way to the right and lift it up and hand it to them. And it releases the silent alarm and it's all marked bills. So that, you know, that's one way. And they can just hand it to them. And when they pull that stack of $100 bills up and hand it to them, it alerts the whatever security company. So they'll call.

Starting point is 00:15:05 And if the phone's ringing and they answer it, they'll say, hey, how many hundreds did you say you need? And if there's two robbers, they'll say, oh, just two, or if there's one robber, just one. So anyway, I'm just intrigued by learning everything about this bank at the time. So I'm like, what would be the best way for me to go in and get this money if I did rob this bank? And she's like, you just go in after hours. Just say, you know, you stole all the information from me. And I'm like, well, how would I do that?

Starting point is 00:15:38 she's like, well, you drive my car all the time. You know what key goes to the bank? I'm like, well, how long is it going to take for the alarm to go off and the police to show up to it? Probably five, ten minutes. But I can tell you the alarm code. I'm like, what's the alarm code? The last four digits of my social.

Starting point is 00:16:01 So she's telling me everything. And I'm not realizing why is she telling me all this information? You know, I don't know. Still to this day, I can't tell you why she gave me all the information. I don't know. Did you have an agreement? Like, I'll give you half. So I told her I'd leave her $20,000 buried in a bush in the backyard.

Starting point is 00:16:21 Well, I know. I know why she gave you the information. No, I didn't. Like, so her life, she wasn't an addiction. She wasn't in a full-blown addiction. She had a normal life and a normal family. I still didn't, like, put it together of why would you let me walk in this place and rob it and think nothing of it, you know.

Starting point is 00:16:40 You're working there. So when you work at a bank, you sign NDAs and disclosure agreements that you won't give out this information to the public or to any, you know, Joe Blow. So she did. I said, okay, well, I want to write this all out as a plan. So that night, we drive back home. We talked about it all night. We're talking about it on the way home, and we're talking about it when we get there.

Starting point is 00:17:08 That night, she literally drew me out, the floor plan of the bank. The door right here, she told me exactly where the alarm was on the wall to the right. She told me where the first camera was above the door when you walk in. She told me where the safe was. So instead of a whole vault room and this one small room, that's pretty much the vault, they have a huge safe, which is a six-digit code and a turndial. So it's not like a time. It's not on a timer.

Starting point is 00:17:43 You just need that. Six-d-d-digit code. Oh, that's crazy. Yeah. Okay. So it's a six-digit code, turndial. Now, when they're working, it is on time. They can only go into it every 15 minutes or every 30 minutes.

Starting point is 00:17:55 It can only be open every so often. But yeah, so walk in, alarm code on the right of the wall. camera above my head. Walk in, open the door, push the camera straight up. Walk in, alarm code on the right. She literally drew it out, separate sheet of paper, alarm. Hit the four-digit code here, turn alarm off. There were three buttons over here.

Starting point is 00:18:20 Disable alarm. And then walk to the money box. So now when you get to the vault or the safe, six-digit code, turn the dial, open it up. The money still locked away. then it's another safe inside of the big safe. It's called the money box. So another six-digit code turned out just a smaller version of it,

Starting point is 00:18:44 literally inside the huge version. And when I say small, like it was as tall as, you know, the wall. And then the smaller one inside of it was almost the same shape, just double-locked in there. So she told me another six-digit code turned out all the money's in there. So it's like I said, this bank is tiny. It's probably half the size of this room in there. And then the safe room and the money and everything locked in it.

Starting point is 00:19:13 So as she's explaining where everything is and drawing everything out on this map, she's giving me the real codes to the alarm, the real code to the money box and the real code to the money. So at that point, I'm like, I'm really going to do this, you know. I'm going to, she's like, no, no, just don't do it, don't, you know. And I'm like, why are you telling me now not to do it, you know? I'm like, no, I got the plan. What is wrong with the plan?

Starting point is 00:19:47 Well, the alarm code is the last four digits of her social. So it'll be tied to her. So the only thing I said to her to try to stop that was, could you get someone another alarm code? Right. You know, that's the only thing I tried to save and not have another person involved in it, but she couldn't. So, honestly, I probably let a month go by, and I got these plans, and I'm in full-blown addiction, and I know in the back of my head, I could go and I could rob this bank anytime I want to now.

Starting point is 00:20:22 And so leading up to it. Did you think about how are you getting to get into the grocery store? The grocery store was open. Well, I had to go into the grocery store while it was open. Right. Okay, but it's open, but like nobody's going to see you walk into the. So that was, so my point of that was, I worked at that grocery store when I was in high school. So the two managers sit at a desk right to the right.

Starting point is 00:20:48 You ever been there at Ingalls and they have the tall desk and they have the manager sitting there. You can walk up there and cash a check or whatever at the very front of a grocery store. Right. So they sit right there, the two managers. And then, of course, you got the cashiers lined up, baggers, and then people stalking throughout aisles. So the only thing I thought about, okay, would it look inconspicuous if I walked into this bank after hours inside the grocery store,

Starting point is 00:21:16 what would I do? So I just dressed like an IT guy. I dressed very nice, button-down shirt, khaki pants on, glasses, you know, and just walked in there like I was supposed to be in there. There's always that one thing in your closet that you grab without even thinking about it. The same jeans or the same sweater that works no matter what. Quince has basically built their whole brand around making more of those. They're not messing around with materials either.

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Starting point is 00:22:43 Now available in Canada and the UK. That's Quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E.com slash true. That was my plan. Right. But you said these guys know you. They don't all know me. I mean, I worked there like five years before that as in high school. Okay.

Starting point is 00:23:00 But what I finally did was that was my main thought was when I walk into this grocery store, you know, is it going to look crazy if I walk into this bank? So the only thing I could think of was dress really, really nice, like you're supposed to be in there and not think nothing of it. So leading up to that, I'll tell you like I had the plans for a month, right? And then I get a call like a week before I did it and said, hey, your brother's in the hospital. I'm like, why? They're like, well, he pulled up to your dad's shop yesterday.

Starting point is 00:23:40 He slid his wrist and then he just passed out in the front seat of the car. And I'm like, what is going on with these people? Is this the real father or your stepfather? So they said he pulled up to the shop, slid his wrist. and he fell forward and his head was laying on the horn and my dad heard the horn blowing outside the shop. So he goes out there,

Starting point is 00:24:06 John's out there bleeding, call the ambulance, get him to the hospital. He was fine, of course. I mean, it wasn't terrible, but so they put him in a place called Patrick B. Harris, which is like a mental hospital in our little town. But he stays in there for like five days.

Starting point is 00:24:23 Well, Matt, after all this has happened in my life for the last year, I finally said, all right, I'm going to rob the bank. I'm just going to go to rob the bank. I'm going to do it. I got these plans. They're bulletproof. Like, it can't be stopped, you know. So how much money is she expecting, is she telling you, is in the vault typically? Because I know, I'm sure it changes. It varies. So at any given time, it could be anywhere from 50,000 up to 250,000. So, because it's a small branch. Did she ever tell you what the best days are, the most money? She told me the best day would be on a Saturday.

Starting point is 00:25:02 So that's at the end of the week. And on Tuesday, they come and take the deposit to the main branch. And that's why I did this on a Saturday. And they didn't even know anything was wrong or missing until Tuesday. That's when they were like, oh, shit, the deposit's not right. What's going on here? And started investigating. So I had a four-day lead before, you know, any warrants or anything was being investigated on me.

Starting point is 00:25:31 I don't know. I think it took another day. I think it took till Wednesday or Thursday before I had warrants out on me. Not possible. The plan's bulletproof. The plan's bulletproof, but I'm tied to the plan. Right. So I did the same thing I think you've probably said before is blame me.

Starting point is 00:25:48 If you get called or if you get investigated, blame me. I'm going to be gone. Right. You know, so that was kind of that part of the plan. So you were saying if they get to her and they'd say we know you're involved to her, then if she feels the crunch, like they're definitely, she can blame you. Tell on me. Right.

Starting point is 00:26:07 But you're still hoping that nothing comes out of it. It's like, wow, this is like we don't know what happened. Right. Okay. But in the back of my mind, I knew something was going to be tied to it. Because I didn't know, but everybody's code is the last four digits of their social security number. Yeah. They know that her social security number was typed in at 8 o'clock at night on Saturday to the bank.

Starting point is 00:26:40 Right. So the only problem with that was we planned for that. I said, write it all down, put it in your purse like this is your notes. It says alarm code and write to the last four degrees. your social, write money box, write the six-digit number code, write safe, right, the six-digit code. Like, you just keep it in there as a reminder so you never forget. Right. So that would be, that was our plan if she did get caught was have it in your purse, have it wrote down, like I figured it out just by looking at that one sheet of paper. And of course, I figured out what key to use

Starting point is 00:27:19 because you only got five keys on your key ring. And I know... You just try them until one works. I know one of them was to the front door of that bank. So that week leading up to it, my brother is in Patrick B. Harris. I've decided mentally I'm going to rob this bank. I'm going to do it now. And I'm going to go.

Starting point is 00:27:41 I knew Rose was going to get her script on this day. So I literally planned, I'm going to do this. I'm going to get my whole script that day, and I'm going to go and be gone. Not sure what the whole game plan after that was going to be, but I did have my passport. I had everything with me. And the main plan was drive to Key West, get on a boat, and go to Cuba. Jeez.

Starting point is 00:28:08 So I was just going to figure it out there. At the time, the currency was 18 to 1. So 100 grand would have been, you know, 1.8 over there. and just live in Cuba for as long as I could or whatever. However life was going to end up, I didn't know how far that was going to go. Right. But when I finally decided that week to do it, I only told one person. I only trusted one friend, a Russian kid from Philadelphia.

Starting point is 00:28:39 He'd been my friend for five, six years, young kid. I told him, I said, I need you. to drive. So I had gotten that car wreck, remember? And I'm either driving her car or my dad's SUV because he had two cars. So I'm borrowing a car for this last month and a half after the car rate. And I'm waiting on insurance to come do the claim and give me a check for my car. But I've already mentally said, I'm going to do this now. So I've already spaced out. So I tell one person, And I said, I need you to drive me to Florida to Key West, drop me off and leave. I'll give you 20 grand, which was the same thing I told her I was going to leave, right?

Starting point is 00:29:30 So the Russian, the crazy Russian, he said, this is how I knew at this point, this was bad. So I go to the lake, we walked down onto the dogs. I tell them, leave your phone in the car. Let's walk down here. I got to talk to you. I got to tell you something. and I tell them everything. I pull out the sheet of paper.

Starting point is 00:29:49 I show them the whole blueprint. I tell him it's going to work. You don't have to be involved in this. You don't have to be a part of this at all. But let me go in, do this. Get in the truck and let's leave. And he probably sat there. He's driving you.

Starting point is 00:30:08 He's involved. He's conspiracy to commit bank robbery. Yeah, even just talk. Yeah. So that's why I said. realize how bad it was then when he said, man, I need a couple days to think about this. I said, what do you mean, man? We can do this tomorrow.

Starting point is 00:30:24 It's gold. And he said, ah, just give me a couple days to think about it. I'll call you in a couple days. So I leave now and I'm really heartbroken because I need somebody to drive me to Florida. That's a big ask, by the way. It shows you how good of friends we were. I mean, yeah. No, we were.

Starting point is 00:30:45 And still to this day, he would have said, I think I should have done it with you. I should have went. So he knows my brother, you know, and he knows my brother, ended up being the one who drove me and went. Your brother, I thought your brother was in the- So that's what I'll tell you. So three days go by and Max calls me and he says, I can't do it, man. He said, my dad's wanting to sell my truck right now and buy me a new truck. So I told him he could sell the truck.

Starting point is 00:31:14 He's selling the truck tomorrow. man. So I know Max is out. So I know I can't take her car and do it. I can't take dad's SUV and do it. So three days went by. Max told me that another two days go by. I get a phone call. It's my brother. He said, hey, I'm out, man. I'm back at Trevor's house, which of course, like nothing happened, went into Patrick B for two weeks, came out, you know, back in the free world. So he calls me and said, I'm back out. I'm back at Trevor's house. I said, I'm coming to see you right now, dude.

Starting point is 00:31:49 I'm coming to check on you. So I drive an hour over there. I pull up and everything's fine. He's chilling. He's smoking. He's back to his normal life. And he's like, what's going on, man? I'm like, I got to tell you something, dude.

Starting point is 00:32:06 So here we go. I don't mode it. You know, I didn't try this once. I'm trying it again. I said, I got this plan to rob this bank and get all the pills we want and leave. And I don't think I was halfway through the plan. And he says, can we go right now?

Starting point is 00:32:26 Can we go do it right now? Like, are you serious? And he said, yeah, let's do it, bro. So now I tell him I need a day or two to think about it. So to get my family. So, of course. So don't you have to wait for a Saturday? I had to, I wanted to wait for a Saturday.

Starting point is 00:32:44 I wanted to wait until I knew the most amount of money was going to be in the safe. So it was three days. It was maybe only two days after that, but I think it was three. So I think that day he told me he was down to go do it. The next day I had my son. So I had my son all day and preparing myself. Now I have a list of everything I need before I go do it. So of course, like I said, I went and bought the khaki pants.

Starting point is 00:33:15 I went and bought a brand new shirt. I went and bought brand new shoes. I didn't want to have any of the clothes I owned when I walked in here. Right. So I went and I started getting everything off the checklist. I got the clothes. I even put an all black hat on just like a normal looking hat but with nothing on it. I got glasses.

Starting point is 00:33:34 Even though I wear contacts, I had just big white glasses on where it looked like I was wearing prescription glasses. Or I could walk in this bank and look like an IT guy. That was my only thought in my head is, look like you belong in this bank and you're here after hours for a reason. So I get everything I need and the next day I dropped my son off. And I pretty much knew that day, like when I dropped my son off that day, I said, I'm done, I'm gone.

Starting point is 00:34:00 So that, you know, that was like a sad day. Like, I know what I'm about to do and what I'm about to put myself in. But my addiction was so bad at that point, it's five, six 30s a day minimum. them. So I know I'm chasing something that I'm never going to be able to succeed or end and be successful doing, but I couldn't stop. I think everything tragic in my life that was going on, I just felt like I didn't want to go through the withdrawals. I'd been doing this for two years in a two-year span. I probably only had three days where I didn't have them. And I know how bad those three days were. So I was like, I felt mentally I couldn't stop doing them. So,

Starting point is 00:34:42 Everything goes good. I dropped my son off. And at that day, I'm driving her car. So I drive it back home to the house. When I drop it off, I replaced her bank key with just a house key off my key ring. Because that's all it looked like was just a normal house key. So she don't know that I've done this. Right. I told her, I'm going to do this.

Starting point is 00:35:11 I'm going to do it in three weeks. weeks. Well, I figured if I pulled the trigger early, nothing can get changed. Nothing can, you know, she can't pull the plug on the plan or blow the horn on it. So I didn't know if she would try to stop it if she really knew I was going to do it or if she wouldn't. But remember, I also didn't know why did she give me all this information? Why do I have a plan to walk in this bank and turn off the alarm and open up the money box and take whatever I want? So, I tell my brother, I say, come pick me up tomorrow, which was Saturday, and we'll go do it. So he comes and picks me up, and I was like, we're doing our normal day routine.

Starting point is 00:35:55 We're going to get some ours. We're riding around. I'm making sure I got everything. So this day, we know what I'm doing, but the bank doesn't close until 2 o'clock. So I know the bank closes at 2 o'clock, and I know they're closed on Sunday. So I'm thinking I'll have a three-day head start if I do it today. And I know this is the most amount of money that's in it right now. So we're riding around.

Starting point is 00:36:21 I got everything ready. And we probably drove by three times circling around. And I said, I can't do it, bro. Just keep driving. Circle around again. Like it is almost comical, dude, like the mindset that we had. Just two brothers, like, what the fuck are we about to do? But it was. My nerves were through the roof.

Starting point is 00:36:43 Like, all right. Circle around again. Pull into the car wash. Let me, let me, you know, do it all right. Let me get my mind right. So he pulls in, break one down, look up, starts pouring down rain. I said, go. Just go.

Starting point is 00:37:00 So he's like, this is perfect. I said, it's perfect time. Go. So he drives back up, parks. I walk in. So now it's pouring down rain. and I'm walking into this grocery store, which like you said,

Starting point is 00:37:14 I know there's people in here. I can't, you know, help that. So I know there's people in here. I don't want nobody to see me. So I'm kind of walking like I'm covering my head, like the rain's hitting me too hard. So I got the hat pulled down as far as I could have it. I got the glasses on.

Starting point is 00:37:31 I got the nice, you know, the I t-shirt on, the pants, the khaki pants. But I knew I could not carry a bag into this place. walk out with a bag. So what I'm wearing is like tight running pants that you wear under your shorts when it's cold. You know, like the Nike Pro fits. And I'm wearing high socks over those.

Starting point is 00:37:55 And then I'm wearing my khaki pants over those so that I could literally stuff the money down into those pants and it won't fall down past my socks and walk out with nothing in my hands. because I really did not want to walk in there with the bag or with something to put all the money in. Right. So I did. I walked in.

Starting point is 00:38:17 It's pouring down rain. Everybody's, you know, umbrella or jacket over their head, and I walked in. And I don't know if it was just convenience, but when I walked in there and I turned left, it was like there was just a clear path. I walk in, turn left, walk in, go straight to the door, unlock it, key worked, open the door, turn around, shut it, reached up, moved the first camera straight up.

Starting point is 00:38:43 So that camera was above the door facing the money box. So the money box is straight ahead of me. So I moved the camera up. Now it's not looking at me. I walk over to the alarm. Now I know I have like two minutes to cut that alarm off or it's going to go off. Hit the four-digit code in, turn the alarm off. It worked.

Starting point is 00:39:04 So do-do, I heard it. Disabled the alarm. Walk over to the money box. I thought there were four cameras. There's, this room is blocked off. Okay. So the tellers are sitting here and there's a door to this room here and there is a door to their money room on the egg and bread and milk aisle. And I don't know why there's a door right there.

Starting point is 00:39:30 But in that room, there's only one camera above that door. And then, of course, out here where the tellers are, there's a camera pointing at each teller. But you didn't go in that way. I didn't go in that way. Right, okay. And then, but after that, there's the break room, which is another door to the break room. So there's three rooms here. Break room, tellers, which they'll pull the curtains down when they're closed.

Starting point is 00:39:53 Right. And then the safe, the vault, the money room. So all I had to do was push that camera up. Now there's no cameras on me. And out of my heart is racing at this point. Type in the four-digit code, disable alarm, it worked. and go do-do. So I'm like, okay, that worked. Walk over to the money box, hit the six-digit code, hit okay, it said, douche, and I heard it, release it, and I just grabbed the turndial and opened it.

Starting point is 00:40:22 And I'll pull that one. Now I'm looking at the second one, six-digit code, hit okay, dosh, hear a little lock click, opened it up, and now I'm looking at all the money. Now, I know she's already drew out for me exactly how the money is stacked in this safe. It's all the hundreds on top, all the 50s, all the 20s, then 10s, 5s, 1s, all the change at the bottom. And then there's some boxes and stuff at the bottom. So it's stacked up like that. All the bait money that I tell you is sitting in each teller's drawer. on top of that silent alarm

Starting point is 00:41:04 is sitting sideways on each shelf on the very front right before. If you were to reach in there and grab a stack of money, you would almost grab that first one first. There's no diapags, but that was their policy.

Starting point is 00:41:18 Marked money and their silent alarm in the drawer. So all the bait money is sitting sideways on each shelf in front of the real money that is stacked up horizontally behind it. So I know this mentally. Like I said, I had everything. We literally broke it down all the way to the deep, like every dollar that was in there.

Starting point is 00:41:40 So, of course, I said, I'll take the bait money just so it don't look like someone came in here and had the knowledge. Right. Of why would they leave the bait money? Okay, so I take those two bait monies, and I stick them in my pocket of the hundreds, and I start grabbing the market, you know, the good money. So I separated the marked money. But that was the only thing I put in my pocket. Everything else I'm stuffing down in my pants. But I think I only grabbed $100,000.

Starting point is 00:42:12 It was a little over $100,000. So I grabbed like five stacks of hundreds, five stacks or 10 stacks of 20s, and a couple tens. That's it. Just so I had money to spend where it wasn't all hundreds while I'm spending the money. and shut the door, turned it, locked it. But you took all the money? I did not take all the money. Why?

Starting point is 00:42:40 Because I didn't want to walk in there with a bag. So mentally in my head... What about a computer case? I thought that would be a smart idea. And I didn't have one. I thought a briefcase... I'll buy one. Yeah, yeah.

Starting point is 00:42:53 I'll go to Office Depot. No, I did think... Okay, if I'm an IT guy and I'm walking in here, A briefcase won't look abnormal. No. I did think about taking a briefcase. Yeah, especially. Yeah, like a computer case.

Starting point is 00:43:05 And they look like computer cases. It's perfect for stacking money. Yeah. That would have been good. But this was going to tell you, when I opened that last six digit box and open the money safe and now I'm looking at all the money, I forgot to bring a light. It is pitch black in here.

Starting point is 00:43:24 Right. So I'm literally doing this based off memory. okay I know the hundreds are on the top self I know the 50s are here I know the 20s are here so I'm just reaching over grabbing grabbing stuff and reaching over grabbing stuff but I'm just sending them down my pants leg and literally it was perfect nothing like the way

Starting point is 00:43:43 the khakis were over top of them and I'm stuffing the money into the pants it was but you couldn't tell nothing so I said I think I grabbed a little over 100,000 it was a little over $100,000 each band of the stack has two initials. So when they count money and they put it in there,

Starting point is 00:44:03 it's got to be initial by me and initial by you that we both seen the money counter. So I know this. So I'm putting all the money in my pants. I'm literally locking up on my way out. I'm shutting the safe, turning the dial back. I know it's locked. Shut the big vault door, turn the dial back.

Starting point is 00:44:22 I know it's locked. Walk over to the alarm code. hit her four-digit code, set alarm. So now I set the alarm back, I walked back to the door, put my back against the wall, and I just gently pulled that camera down the hair, you know. And I turned around,

Starting point is 00:44:39 and I walked, and I locked the door on my way out, and I walked out the grocery store, like nothing ever happened. So it did. It worked. But, I mean, I felt like the police were outside while I'm in there.

Starting point is 00:44:51 Or like somebody's already called the cops. And your brother's waiting in the car outside. So my brother's out in the parking lot, in the car. My name is Siyah, and I live in the most beautiful place on earth. Seven months ago, I blew up my life, and a lot has shifted since then. Everyone is moving forward. I'm still working on that. And that's me.

Starting point is 00:45:15 Welcome to Ice Cove. Where are the penguins? That's Antarctica. We're the other one. North of North. Stream all episodes available on CBC Jam. Pouring down rain. What is this the total time it's taken five minutes?

Starting point is 00:45:33 They said that I was in and out in three minutes as far as walking through that front, or three and a half minutes is what the newspaper article said. When I walked into the door of the bank, did everything I did, locked it backed up and walked out. It's not a bad lick. It didn't take long. It took probably five minutes in and out total. I got the money. I got a, I'm pulling it out of my pants and it was so dark in there.

Starting point is 00:46:00 I cannot believe I walked in there with no light. But I'm pulling it all out of my pants and just, I don't even know how much I got. And I'm like, drive. He's like, where are we going? Like, just drive. So he turns right out there. I go to roses. I get, get my pills. And then we head straight to Florida. Wait. What about the $20,000 for a rose? Yeah. So that's what I said. Not for Rose. No, no, no, not for Rose.

Starting point is 00:46:26 No, Rose is the old lady giving him pills. The cousin. The roommate was the $20,000. So when I say I felt like the cops were coming or walking in on me while I was in there, I said the whole time in the car, I said, we can't go back. I can't go back and bury $20 grand right now. We got to go. I don't know if someone's called the cops on me after walking in and out or if they

Starting point is 00:46:52 realized someone. So my brother got the $20,000. You know, so he's in the plan now. So of course, that's the plan now. I get my brother $20,000. I said, drive me to Florida and drop me off. So anyways, I'm pulling all the money out. I'm trying to figure out how much money I got. And I pulled the two stacks out on, you know, in my pockets. I'm like, these are trash, bro. Don't, I'm throwing these away. Right. It's like, why are you throwing out? I'm like, it's marked money. So I put that in a bag. I take all the bands off of all the stacks that I have and take all the bands off.

Starting point is 00:47:30 And then I throw all the money into a bag. That way I know I don't have the bands with the initials from the women at the bank. I don't have the marked money. We stopped at the very next gas station, dumped it all. And then we headed straight to Florida. Going into this now, that was all stepfather in my life before. before all that. Well, our real dad still lives in Florida. Okay.

Starting point is 00:47:56 So when this happened, I said get in the car and drive, drive straight to Florida. So we know we got an eight hour drive to Florida. So the only place we stopped was the first gas station to get rid of the marked money, get rid of the bands, throw everything away, fill up with gas, head towards Florida. We stop at a Walmart, I buy a new iPhone, and we bought a couple cards that you can prepay, and we put money on those, and we said, we'll use these pre-paid cards, wherever we need to use a card, like hotels and stuff like that. So we're in the car, and we're headed to Florida. So we're headed. I'm like, where are we going to go?

Starting point is 00:48:41 He said, we're going to go see Dad. We're going to go see Grandma. So Dad's living with Grandma. So we head straight to Florida and don't, you know, we stop and get gasped and that's it on the way there. And we pull up and my brother, everybody's so happy to see my brother, they don't know what, nobody knows what happened. So he goes in, he's seeing our dad. I don't have a relationship with my dad. He's been gone out of my life, mainly since I was eight years old.

Starting point is 00:49:18 Right. But my brother was always a year and a half older than me, a year older than me. So he's always had a little bit better of a relationship with him. And he visited him more before he moved back to Florida. So he's always still, that's my dad. I love my dad versus our stepfather being his dad. Right. So he was ecstatic to go to Florida and see dad.

Starting point is 00:49:40 So I'm kind of like, you know, my nerves are through the roof. I'm not really wanting to be there anyway, but we get there, we see them. Hey, how you doing? Blah, blah. Oh, it's great to see y'all. We're just on vacation. We just decided to drive down to Florida and stay for a little while. Nobody knows at this point what's happened.

Starting point is 00:50:00 So we go and we get a hotel and ask your Florida like 10 minutes away from them. I don't leave this hotel for three days, you know, because I know I got a three-day head start. So the only problems we had to address were the car. Didn't want to keep driving the same car. I told my brother, I said, go take Grandma Monday and go to a used car dealership and buy a car. Put it in her name. Put the insurance in her name. And that's the car we're going to leave in.

Starting point is 00:50:38 So he's like, okay. Yeah, that's fine. We just got to wait until Monday. because remember I did this on Saturday. We got to wait until Monday until everything's open and be able to get everything situated. So I'm at the hotel Monday morning. I give him 10 grand.

Starting point is 00:50:53 He leaves to go get a used car. He leaves. He comes back in this two-door red Honda Civic, like, cute. But bright red, the brightest red I've ever. I'm like, why did you buy a red car? So he comes back and he buys. bought this car. We leave Astor and we go to Daytona, Florida. At this point, I'm like, John, you can drive me to Key West and drop me off and leave. You don't have any warrants. Like,

Starting point is 00:51:26 you won't have any warrants tied to you. You weren't connected to this. I know he drove, but nobody knows that he drove. Right. You know, I mean, even her wouldn't have known that my brother was involved. Right. You know, it was very last minute. As soon as he called and said he was out the hospital, I went and told him, told him the plan, he said he was ready to go. So we drive the Daytona and I guess we're doing what any 21 year old would do with $100,000 in their, you know, we're blowing money. We're going to the mall. We're buying shoes. We're buying clothes. We're down at the pier, just living it up at the restaurants, tipping waitresses, $100, you know, living it up.

Starting point is 00:52:11 But when we got there, and we're in Daytona, so I stayed in Astor for three days, I go to Daytona. We're at Wing Stop. No, no, no, not Wing Stop. It's a... Is it called Wing House? It's in Daytona right next to the pier. Like, it's like a Twin Peaks or a Hooters.

Starting point is 00:52:30 Right. But anyways, it's like the wing place. Yeah. So we're pretty much eating there, you know, three nights in a row. Like there's just girls there and everything. We're just going to the beach and we're living up. But we've seen these two kids and they were younger.

Starting point is 00:52:47 They were like our age. And one of them looked like me. So on the fifth day, I think I told you on Tuesday or Wednesday, my brother comes back to the hotel and he said, you got warrants out on you. So I know that somehow they've tied me to it,

Starting point is 00:53:07 which is fun. That's what I told her to do. I told her to tell on me if you get caught. So they told me there's an article out and it's got your face on it. You got warrants out on you now. But now my grandma and dad, they figured out what Dustin's doing in Florida. So five days, almost a week has gone by, five days. So I tell my brother, bro, take me to Key West, drop me off and leave.

Starting point is 00:53:34 You're still not tied to this at all. and I can't tell you what happened for that investigation. I can't tell you if she was the one who said, yeah, he did, you know, or blah, blah, blah. Or I know I told you they also showed the footage to baby mom. And she said, yep, that's Dustin. I can tell by the way he walks, and I bought him them shoes last Christmas. And I'm like, you didn't. I bought the whole outfit two days before I left and went to the bank, you know.

Starting point is 00:54:04 So, anyways, we're in Daytona. I bought this guy ID that night when he told me I had warrants out on me. We go to Winghouse. We're eating dinner. And I see these two kids at the bar. And they're like, just like me and him. And I walked up to him and I said, how hard would it be for you to go to the DMV until you lost your ID?

Starting point is 00:54:28 He's like, man, no problem at all. And get a new driver's license. I said, can I buy your license for $100? It's like, yeah, man, of course. Like, yeah, dude, what do you mean? Here you go. And he sold me his license right there. These two kids, and they were like, hey, man, let's go to the beach.

Starting point is 00:54:44 Like, we hung out with these two kids for the next week straight. Like, we're going to the mall. We're going to the strip club. We're living it up. But now we've got two more people with us. Now, they're not staying. They live in Daytona, Florida. Right.

Starting point is 00:54:57 So we're staying in a different hotel every two to three days. That's all we were booking them for. two days, check out, leave, go to another one. But we're staying on the strip. We got so comfortable. We stayed in the strip on Daytona for three weeks straight. But, you know, I was so nervous after that first, you know, week that, okay, now the U.S. Marshals are looking for me.

Starting point is 00:55:23 I'm like, bro, just go. Just leave me. He said, if you get arrested, I'm getting arrested to. Like, he would not leave me. He's like, I'm going to ride or die with him. Like, literally, that's what he's saying. And like, if it all ends today, it's in, I'm going to be right by your side when it ends. He didn't want to drop me off and let me leave and go be by myself for good or bad reasons,

Starting point is 00:55:44 you know, whether I was gone and never talked to nobody again, I guess, or, you know, the feds ran in on me and arrested me and I was arrested by myself. I guess that was his mindset. I don't know, but he wouldn't leave. So it's Fourth of July week when we go to book our hotel. the last time, they said you have to book it for five days. So, or they were sold out. They were like, you can stay for five days or we're sold out.

Starting point is 00:56:13 So we're like, we'll get it. You know, we're right on the two hotels down from the pier, you know, facing the water. So we booked the room for five days. That third night, I went out that night and got tattoos. And I come back to the hotel, probably two in the morning, knock out. next morning while I was on the run this one right here

Starting point is 00:56:39 so it was my son's my miss and peace and will guide me in the right direction so I got that while I was on the run and said all right this is it you know my son's going to be my missing piece but he's going to guide me in the right direction mentally you know I was just going through it but the U.S. Marshals

Starting point is 00:56:58 had two ladies knock on our door And they were standing. How did the U.S. Marshals find you? So, oh, okay. So they had been looking for three weeks for me every day. They said a whole task force looking for me for three weeks every day. So the only thing they told him in South Carolina was, I know he's missing and I know his brother's missing. You know, I don't know where they went.

Starting point is 00:57:24 But we know they're from Florida. So maybe they went home to Florida. They got family in Florida. Maybe they went back home to Florida. So, and they were right, we did. And I don't know why people go home when they do something, but we went, and that wasn't home to me, but my brother, that was his safe spot. So they knew we had family in Daytona, Florida. So they drove by there, and they said my grandma and my aunt were sitting on the porch, and they said, hey, have you seen John and Dustin?

Starting point is 00:57:56 And they said, yeah, isn't that their car right there? the marshal said they knew what car my brother was driving so my dad told them his brother's missing too his brother's got to be with him my stepdad i'm sorry my stepdad said uh his brother's missing too so they seen the car sitting in their house right there well they never raided my grandma's house but they did stop by there and they called us right after and they said the u.s marshals just left here they're looking for dustin you know so at that that point we were already in that hotel where we had to get out by the fifth day, but we had to book it for five days too. So I'm like, let's go. Let's go to Key West, dude, tonight. Like,

Starting point is 00:58:40 he's like, no, we already got the room, you know, for five days. It's fourth of July. Let's go down to the pier. Let's go watch the fireworks, and let's enjoy our fourth of July. So we go down to the pier in Daytona. We go to up on the roof. It's called the roof or up on the roof, and we watch the fireworks go off, and they're passing out jello shots, and I'm like, how much are they? She's like a dollar. I'm like, how many do you have made?

Starting point is 00:59:07 She's like, 600. I'm like, here, I bought all of them. I'm like, pass them out to everybody. So we're living it up. Everybody up on the roof. She's like, this guy bought everybody's jealous shots. So we're just living it up. We leave there.

Starting point is 00:59:20 We go to strip clubs. We're chilling. Go back home. Then the next step, go back to the hotel. Like, every day we were doing something. We were going out. renting golf carts, riding up and down the beach, chilling with girls. We were going to the strip clubs.

Starting point is 00:59:35 We were up on the roof on the 4th of July watching the fireworks. So that was the fourth. On the fifth was the night I was getting the tattoos. We were supposed to check out on the 6th. And I was leaving. I was going to Key West that day, no matter what. But the marshals told me, because we were switching rooms every two to three days, that they did.

Starting point is 00:59:59 They raided two rooms in Daytona before they raided us the third time and we were actually in it. So the third time, because I'm using this guy named Michael's ID. I don't even, you know, they don't know that, but they figured it out.

Starting point is 01:00:16 So they were following the car. They said they were seeing the red car all in Daytona, and they knew they were looking for the two-door Honda Civic. I didn't know they could connect a car to me and my brother because I told him to put it in our grandma's name. But after the, you know, I found out he bought the car, put it in his name and put the insurance in his name. So once they told him in South Carolina that both of them's missing, him and his brother's missing.

Starting point is 01:00:46 Right. They are looking for both of us, but they only have warrants out on me. They, you know, they couldn't connect him to any crime because I walked into the bank. You know, nobody else walked in with me. I walked out and it was raining so bad. The cameras on the outside of the grocery store. They couldn't see who was sitting in the car. The car was parked far away.

Starting point is 01:01:06 They didn't know if I was alone or not alone. Right. So at the time, I'm the only one with warrants out on me. So they did. They had two girls knock on our door in bikinis, which wasn't abnormal at 10 in the morning. When I'm holding a case of beer, when I'm with a towel thrown over shoulder, said, hey how you doing do you guys want to go down to the pool i'm like i'm just waking up i'm like what do you mean go down to the pool you're like well we booked the room next door to you guys but our friends

Starting point is 01:01:36 left and we don't have a key so we're locked out i said go downstairs and get another key i'm not thinking i'm just waking i'm not thinking why are they you know asking these questions well well who are you with you know i was like oh it's just me and my brother she's like well where are you guys from? Like, oh, we're from Georgia. Well, what's your name? I'm not even putting it together this conversation now until after it happened. I'm like, I'm Dustin. She's like, oh, well, you guys want to come sit down by the pool with us and have a drink? I'm like, no, I'm good. She's like, oh, okay. And I shut the door. My brother says, who was that? Like, he's still laying in bed. Who was that? I said, too busy. Like, did they look good? I'm like, no, what don't look good? But

Starting point is 01:02:24 One of them was ugly, bro. So, no, I wasn't going to chill with him. He's like, oh, okay. And I shut the door. You know, he's like, let's go out on the balcony and see if they're out by the pool. So we're standing on the, but now we're awake. We're just waking up. We're out on the balcony, standing on the balcony, smoking a cigarette.

Starting point is 01:02:41 And we're looking out by the pool for these two girls that just knocked on. I'm like, I don't see them out there. But we've been chilling with girls for three weeks straight. Like, you know, a few of them. I'm like, I don't see them out there, bro. He's like, well, maybe we'll get dressed and we'll go down there and they'll be out there. When we turn around and we walk back through the sliding glass door, the marshals are coming in. ARs, M16s, get on the ground.

Starting point is 01:03:08 Kicked in the door. My brother said, what's going on? What happened? Kicked him right and said, boom, slammed him on the ground. He acted like nothing was going on. Slam me on the ground. I already knew, you know, what time it was. I'm on the ground.

Starting point is 01:03:23 I look up and I see these two females, officers, fully dressed, U.S. Marshal's clothes. I said, my brother's head when we're laying on the hotel floor is conveniently right next to me. The way they threw him on the ground, they threw me on the ground. Their knees are on our backs. We're getting cuffed. His head is right next to me. He said, love you, bro. I said, love you, bro.

Starting point is 01:03:45 I look at you. I said, remember them to girls? I said, yeah, I said, there they are right there. She looked at me and said, and which one of us do you call us? ugly. I said, you know which one. So that was the ugly one who said that. I said, you know which one. So she said, well, you could have came down by the pool and had a drink with us before all this happened. I'm like, yeah, okay. So they had the room next to us for the last day. They had it the night before they investigated, like they had the wires, microphones under the door and were

Starting point is 01:04:17 listening for a whole day, which I was gone most of the day. I came back after getting the tattoos. was pretty late that night, like three in the morning. And they didn't knock on the door until the next morning. She's like, yeah. So they walked my brother out, and they walk him into the hotel room they had booked. And they set me on the bed. You're like, you know why we're here? And it's like a lead U.S. Marshal.

Starting point is 01:04:40 Like, I know he's the guy in charge. He's not holding a gun. Everybody else is holding guns. And they didn't know if we were armed or whatever. I don't know why. But I guess if you rob a bank, they think you're armed and dangerous. So he sits down on the bed right next to me. He said, you know why we're here?

Starting point is 01:04:56 I said, yes, sir. He said, where is it at? I said, in my suitcase. He said, you got anything on you? I said, I just got some pills in my pocket. He said, okay, so he reached in my pocket and grabbed him. He said, you know what you're charged with? I said, no, sir.

Starting point is 01:05:14 He said, second degree burglary. I said, really? He said, I said, not bank robbery. So when I was doing all my research, research, I thought I was going to be charged with bank robbery and I would get 20 years by the time. And if I ever got caught for this, he said, you're in charge with second degree burglar. He said, now we have been looking for you every day for three weeks because you,

Starting point is 01:05:37 you burglarized the bank, man. He said, I can't believe how you went in and out this banking threat. Like he was almost shocked, but he's like, now I'm talking to you, dude. It's crazy. He's like, where's it out? I'm like, send the suitcase the money. He's talking about the money. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:05:53 And it had a little lock on it. So it had a little four-digit dial lock on the suitcase. So he asked what to lock up, zero, zero, zero, zero. So he unlocks the suitcase. He lays out on the bay. I said, can I smoke a cigarette? He's like, yeah. So I'm standing on the balcony with two other marshals handcuffed and there let me smoke a cigarette.

Starting point is 01:06:15 Which is like, you know, I was thankful for that. But whatever, when I turn around and walk back through the door, they got all the money just scattered out on the bed, and they're just counting all the money, whatever, got the pills. They arrested me for the possession, for the pills in my pocket, and second-degree burglary, and theft by taking over 20 grand. That's a charge in Georgia. So they let us ride in the cop car together.

Starting point is 01:06:44 Me and my brother are getting the same cop car. And I now know why they let people do that. They think you're going to sit back there and talk. can say something. Yeah, and they're watching you and listening to what you're saying. But he didn't say anything. My brother's just like, just get there.

Starting point is 01:07:00 Just be honest. You know, he's more worried about me being locked up than me being interrogated by the U.S. Marshals. So he's like, bro, once you get to the county, you're going to be all right, you know, just call home. I'm going to make sure you're okay. I'm going to get in touch with people and call home. They're going to put money on you.

Starting point is 01:07:19 I'm like, all right, bro, chill. You know, I'm almost. like freaking right. Does he realize that he's being charged too? He's going to be charged. So when they arrested him, he said, what am I being arrested for? And they said, harbored in a fugitive. So that was his only charge when they arrested him. Okay. I'll take that. Yeah. That's why they have them locked in the room next door. Right. So they take us to Dade City or whatever, Volusia County. But they took us to actually Dade City. Is there a jail in Dade City? They took us to Dade City first. It's a little tiny town. Yeah, a little tiny town.

Starting point is 01:07:51 tiny and they put us in not far from here oh no not date city yeah date city's like it's day Daytona but it might be deltona deltona yeah yeah yeah so they took us once again another little town yeah a little tiny town they took us the deltona and when we pulled up there they put us in a holding cell together and they let us sit there for like an hour just me and him and a holding cell we're in the holding cell for like an hour and the u.s. marshals come in And they said, John Clinton, and they grab my brother and they take him to interrogate him first. So I don't know what's going on at this point. This was the first time I'd ever been put in handcuffs.

Starting point is 01:08:34 So he's gone for like, probably like an hour and a half. And he walks back and busted the door. He said, bro, don't worry. I told him everything. And I'm like, what? You don't even know everything. Like, there was a lot that I didn't even share with him, you know. He said, I told him everything.

Starting point is 01:08:54 I told him, I drove and I picked you up and you had the plan and she gave you all the information. So just get in there and be honest. And the officer standing at this door like, I'm looking at John. Why didn't you not say nothing, you know? So I'm like, holy shit, what am I walking into now? So I walk into the room. There's two U.S. Marshals sitting there. the main guy who was sitting on the bed with me and the woman who I called ugly.

Starting point is 01:09:21 So I'm like, this ain't going to go good. So she's like, your brother pretty much shared everything with us, you know. So I'm like, all right, well, what do you know? She's like, no. Well, my brother just got out of mental hospital. Yeah, that's why I said. I literally said, I picked him up from Patrick Sprite Harris, you know, five days, you know, three weeks and five days ago. So I said, what do you know?

Starting point is 01:09:46 She said, no, we're asking the questions here. I said, okay, well, I asked questions. Well, did you rob the bank? I got called with the money, you know. She's like, well, how did you get the information? And I'm like, well, I just had someone. She's like, we already know. I'm like, well, I just had someone who, you know, worked there,

Starting point is 01:10:05 and I just figured everything out. So I'm trying to stick to the original plan of I figured it all out. I stole the keys. She's like, well, what about the keys and the codes and stuff? If you were in and out this place, I said, I stole the key. You know, I drove my roommate's car all the time. I knew what's key it was to get into the bank. And then they're like, all they wanted to know was how to tie her to it at this point.

Starting point is 01:10:31 You know, so they already got me and my brother caught with the money. He was only originally a harbidna fugitive. But at this point, when he walked out of that cell, he got himself a conspiracy charge. He got two more charges, yeah, which. is second-degree theft-by-taken after the fact and theft-by-t, you know, taken 20 plus after the fact. So, which when we got to the county, he said, bro, I'm about to bond out. So they told me it's no big deal. They knew he wasn't.

Starting point is 01:11:02 But he said, I'm about to bond out and I'm going to make sure you're straight. And he said, all I got was harbored and fugitive. I'm like, okay. So we went to court the next day, chained to different people, but we were in the same holding cell. So Volusia County sends 150 people to court at the same time. So he's chained to another guy in a holding seal, like, you know, right over there beside me. And until he walked up and went and met his public defender, he didn't even know he had two more charges. You know, so.

Starting point is 01:11:32 So, but anyways, when I was sitting in there with the two U.S. Marshals, they did. They knew everything at that point, which I showed my brother the plans. I broke it all down for them. So I'm like, well, you guys already know. They're like, well, you got to tell us. I'm like, well, I stole the information. It was all rode down in her purse. Like, well, how'd you figure it out?

Starting point is 01:11:52 How'd you know what information you were stealing? I said, it literally said, alarm code, four digits, safe code, six digits. You know, once I got in there is when I figured it all out. They were like, it was pitch black. You were in there for three minutes. So I'm telling them this, and they're not going for it, pretty much. And my brother's already spent an hour and a half in there. So, but it was fine because at the same time, the U.S. Marshal was like,

Starting point is 01:12:21 your charge in Georgia only holds one to five years. Second degree burglary, one to five years. So whatever. So I tell them pretty much everything they wanted to hear, you know, like, okay, yeah, they wanted to know how I did it, how I walked in, how I knew to cut the alarm off, how I knew to open the safe. They were like, and you took the mark's month. And I'm like, yeah, but you don't have the marked money.

Starting point is 01:12:47 Yeah, of course I got rid of it. They finally figured it. Like, they knew that I knew everything. Right. So at this point, they probably had enough for his arrest, my arrest, and her arrest. So I'm not knowing anything going on with her. I'm not knowing if she told and said, I stole it from her or that's going to be fun. That was perfect.

Starting point is 01:13:11 It was a perfect timing for the thunder. Yeah, I don't know if they already inserted or not, but. Yeah, there was a thunder as soon as they said. They arrested all three of us or had enough. But I'm not knowing if she said I stole it or if she said, yeah, I was a part of it. I don't know if she's been arrested or not. You know, I had no contact with anybody that I talked to before robbing the bank at this point. So go to Volusia County, see the judge for the possession charge.

Starting point is 01:13:43 Volusia County because I had the pills on me. So I walk in to meet my public defender and he says, hey, listen, the judge wants to give you time served. We've waited now 36 days before we've seen the judge. He said the judge wants to give you time served for the possession charge if you will sign your extradition papers. And I'm like, to go back to Georgia, he said, yes. Okay, great.

Starting point is 01:14:11 You know, he's like, okay, so great. we're going to go in there and do that. So I go and stand in front of the judge. Time served. He gave me fines, whatever. Had until forever to pay them back when I get released. Go back to my dorm, call my uncle, and he says, do you sign your exedition papers? I said, yeah, I think so.

Starting point is 01:14:30 He said, I think they're already here to pick you guys up. I said, no, they said it'll take a couple weeks and then we'll be extradited back to Georgia. He said, I don't know, but I think they're already here because he was in the courtroom in Belusia County. I get woke up at 4 a.m. in Volusia County to get extradited back to Georgia. So I'm like, oh, here we go. So me and my brother riding the back of this cop car together all the way back to Georgia. So we get back to Hart County. Now we're getting booked on the burglary charge and the theft by taking charge.

Starting point is 01:15:07 When you walk into Hart County, it's a small town. they go ahead and give you a bond. You see a judge. You sit in a room with a judge. He goes over your charges and you get a bond right there, the minute your book, unless it's later after hours. But he was there when we got there. He was waiting in the little cell.

Starting point is 01:15:26 He gave us a bond, $15,000. Nothing. So I was like, okay, great. Yeah. And we go back to the sale. Me and my brother both go back to sell. And we call our dad. Like, hey, we both have $15,000 bond.

Starting point is 01:15:40 dude, come bond us out tomorrow. He's like, just wait, talk to your public defender in Georgia now and see what he says about your charges. He's like, I think you're going to get more charges and it's going to be more serious than you guys think. I'm like, all right, all right, I'm just telling you, we got to bond. So the public defender comes and sees me like three days later and I never forget. He said, oh, man, second degree burglary death by taking. He said, you've never been in trouble before, right? I said, no, this is the first time I've ever ever been put in hand goes, he said, oh, I'll get you probation. Just bond out. So I call my dad, I'm like, dude, let's just bond out. And I'm like, this guy's not, I mean, he knows what I did,

Starting point is 01:16:20 right? He's not thinking nothing of it, right? So whatever, my dad comes and bonds us out the next day. We bond out, me and my brother. So we're out on bond. My first court date is like three months later. when I walk into this courtroom and I go to see that same guy who told me, oh, I'll get you probation. Because you've never been in trouble before. Your charges aren't bad. When I walk into that courtroom that day, he looks at me and said, you didn't tell me you robbed a bank. I said, sir, I didn't rob a bank. I burglarized the bank.

Starting point is 01:16:54 He said, yeah, but the DA is trying to give you 15 to 20 years. I'm like, I thought the burglary charge only held up to five years. He said, but the third. left by taking over $100,000 holds up to 20 years. He said, but I can get you probation. Let's just see what the DA says. So anyways, he goes and he talks to the DA and he comes back and he says, 15 years sound good.

Starting point is 01:17:19 I said, no, sir. Yeah, I said, dude, I thought you told me, I knew I wasn't going to get probation, but I didn't know about it. It's the system then. He said, no, sir. He said, well, today we're just going to, you know, say continue, say not guilty, and we're going to keep pushing it off. So I pushed this off for a year and a half.

Starting point is 01:17:37 I was out on bond for almost 18 months, actually. And we went to court in Hart County every three to four months. Like they're, you know, they're pretty busy. Yeah. So. Thank God. Yeah. Because I wrote it out too.

Starting point is 01:17:51 Every time we went. So my brother goes to court. Can I ask you a question? Yeah. What about the pill addiction? Are you during this time, are you being tested? Are you off the pills? No, so I'm out on bond, and the next day I went straight to Rose.

Starting point is 01:18:10 So, and because I had only at this time been sober for 42 days. So 36 days in Volusia got extradited, bonded out four days later after Hart County. So I go straight to Rose, which when I bought those two scripts for her that day, I left and went to Florida, I made sure that was the only person who I looked out for. Right. So she blessed me when I came home. I blessed her that day. You know what I mean?

Starting point is 01:18:40 So she blessed me that day. I'm out on bond. I'm still doing the same bullshit, you know. Are they not? Do they not do piss tests? They're not piss test to me. I'm out on bond. I'm in South Carolina and I'm out on bond in Georgia because I said the lines right there.

Starting point is 01:18:54 So they know a lot of people live over in South Carolina. So they're not doing nothing. Unsupervised, I've never even seen my bondsman. And so I'm living like before where I had all the freedom in the world. And I'm not thinking, the only thing I'm thinking is I know now I'm going to prison for some amount of time when I went to court the first time. So I went every three to six months and it got lower each time, 15 years, 13 years, 12 years. at the year mark, my brother does a blind plea. So he stands in front of the judge.

Starting point is 01:19:35 That's not. Yeah. And they could have gave him anywhere from one to 20 years. And he did a blind plea. And his lawyer was from Athens. She really talked about the tragic about our mom and about everything we went through in life and our childhood and growing up. And it was an addiction was the only reason he was with me. And, you know, he didn't do it.

Starting point is 01:19:59 He was just the driver. So the judge gave him three years. So you know you're getting at least three years. At least three years. So he got a 20-do-three. So I let another court date go by three months later. I think they offered me 10. That was the 10.

Starting point is 01:20:18 That was a decent number. And then I let one more court date go by, which was six months later. I came to Florida. I visited my uncle in Orlando. I went to Universal. I went to watch the dolphins. I went and did everything. I'm living it up this weekend before my court date that Monday. And of course I got the pills. I'm full-blown just same person, but, you know, waiting to go to prison. So I know I got court on Monday, so I planned this vacation before I went to court that Monday. So I flew down here to Orlando.

Starting point is 01:20:54 We drove back to Georgia Monday. And I go to court for probably the fifth or six time. And he said, 15 do five right now is what the DA is offering or you got to take it to trial. Because it had already been 18 months, you know. And I'm like, well, I'm not taking a trial. They caught me with the money. I already admitted to my part of doing it. And I said, so 15 do five.

Starting point is 01:21:19 He said, yep. I said, can I go smoke a cigarette? So I walked down, you know. So that day I signed 15 to 5. And I was really happy with it. It really wasn't bad. But they were like, you'll only do the same guy who told me he was going to give me probation. You'll only do 65% of it.

Starting point is 01:21:38 You know, it's considered nonviolent. You know, you're on first offender. So I am on first offender still to where when my restitution is paid off, completely all of it's wiped away not a felon or anything anymore so 15 to 5 was the outcome of my plea for what I did I thought I was only going to end up doing 65%

Starting point is 01:22:05 but that's what's crazy about my prison bid was three years went by and I'm at Clayton County camp which is like a county camp and I'm working and they call me. I'm working at the landfill. And they called me and said, hey, you need to go inside. They need to take your blood and get your clothes size.

Starting point is 01:22:29 You're going home in a week. And I'm like, all right. Going home. Yeah. So literally we, I'm not allowed to go to detail for the next three days. I call my family, said, hey, you can come pick me up. You're going. It's a little bit.

Starting point is 01:22:43 Yeah. Yeah. But I did that. I mean, they don't never do this. Take your blood, get your clothes eyes, and tell you you're going home unless you're going home. See, it's funny. I actually have seen many, many times you're like, you're going to the halfway house and then guys are a week away and they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, they changed the date.

Starting point is 01:23:02 You won't be leaving for two months. It happened to me. Yeah. I go in and was like, hey, went into the secretary to ask her where my brother needed to mail clothes. And she was like, okay, yeah, you're scheduled to leave a, what was it, January 9th. Oh. And I went, January 9th.

Starting point is 01:23:21 No, I'm scheduled to leave October 22nd. And she was like, oh, no, that got changed. When? She's like a couple weeks ago. Nobody ever told me, like, my, everybody was there playing on coming. Oh, my gosh. Same thing. Same thing happened to me.

Starting point is 01:23:36 Maybe it might have been November or something. Either way, it was like two and a half months, three months that they just cut my thing. So I've seen it happen lots of guys get out there and be turned back. I mean, yeah, yeah. But anyway, go ahead.

Starting point is 01:23:48 Yeah, you've seen it all. No, they did. They told me I was going home. I call my uncle and tell them, hey, you can come pick me up,

Starting point is 01:23:56 which is in Atlanta, Georgia, Clayton County. So he drives up the day before I'm supposed to come home. He's in a hotel. I'm not allowed to go to detail at this point because I'm going home, so I'm not out working. I don't know why they do that,

Starting point is 01:24:08 but you don't go to detail the last couple days when you're about to go home. So I'm playing dominoes in the day room, and I hear a night. announcement over the intercom. Clint, to the door. So I go to the door, and they said, you need to go see your counselor. I'm like, okay, I don't know why.

Starting point is 01:24:24 You know, they already got everything they said they needed. I'm supposed to be released the next morning. They came, my counselor came and got me and walked me to his office and said, I haven't seen it happen this late, but your release has been canceled for tomorrow. And I'm like, do you know why? He said, no. He said, they sent me a one. sentence email that says the release of Dustin Clinton has been canceled for this date. And it was for the

Starting point is 01:24:53 next day. So I go back to the dorm. I'm sick. Yeah, I think I'm going home. I lay in the bunk for probably three days. It was the weekend at the Friday, Saturday, Sunday laying the bunk for three days. Monday, they call me up and I get dressed like I'm going back to the landfill, out to detail. They're like, no, you're not allowed to go outside the gate anymore. I'm like, why? Why? I'm like, why? They're like, because your release was canceled last week. Are you okay? I'm like, yeah, I'm fine, dude. I mean, I've been locked up for three years now.

Starting point is 01:25:24 They're like, no, we'll give you a detail inside the compound. You can work in the kitchen for now. I don't want to work in the kitchen. No, kitchen sucks. Yeah, I said, I don't want to work in the kitchen. They're like, well, you know, if you don't work here at a county camp, you get kicked out back to the state. So anyways, I work in the kitchen probably for a week.

Starting point is 01:25:43 And I told them, LT. I said, LT, I'm not working in the kitchen no more. He said, no, you're going to work in the kitchen or you're going to go back to a stay. I said, send me back to the state. When I said that, I was the next blue bird out of there, that next Monday night on Tuesday. He wasn't bluffing. No, he wasn't bluffing. He sent me back to the state.

Starting point is 01:26:02 So I went back to Johnson State Prison after that. But I did the, I hired a lawyer when they canceled my release. I hired Jacob Arbs out of Atlanta. and he's supposed to be a parole lawyer. And all I wanted to know was why did I not go home that day? So he said, no, yeah, no problem. Yeah, no, I will even get him home. So just send $1,500 deposit and I'll get the ball moving, whatever.

Starting point is 01:26:31 So he emails me back like a month later and says, the judge or the DA stopped your release. I am no longer your lawyer. Thanks. And that was it. Final email. So I knew at that point I'm doing the rest of my two. years. So it finally changed online to where you no longer have a TPM date or you no longer have,

Starting point is 01:26:51 you know, max release date was my date to go home. So I ended up in prison signing up for the fire team. Georgia's, that's part of the best program Georgia has, is to live at a fire station out right outside the prisons. You train and you do all the things that volunteer firefighters do or any firefighter does. It's only five to six men living there. We all get certified. So I'm certified firefighter one, hazmat awareness, hazmat operation. And that's where I served my last year and six months at, you know, because I did six months at the state until I finally got onto that program.

Starting point is 01:27:35 But I did. I lived at Johnson State Fire Department for the last year and a half, which you're in there. There's, you know, there's three fire trucks downstairs. and you're living in the bunks upstairs with five other guys. We all have, there's three showers there. There's a kitchen downstairs, so we're not eating prison food anymore. They send us whole cases of chicken, whole flats of eggs. You know, we're cooking our own food.

Starting point is 01:28:01 Is there a pole? There's not a pole. There's a flight of stairs. Bullshit. Yeah. But no, every time there's a structure fire, a vehicle accident, a lift assist that goes off in Johnson County, that alarm goes off at our fire station. And we're going to the call just like, you know, the real firefighters there.

Starting point is 01:28:20 So that program, I think, in Georgia is the best thing you could do. You almost feel free. Right. So we have no time to be inside the fire station. We can, you know, be out there on the basketball court till dark. We can sit on the front porch of the fire station at dark and watch the P-car right around. So you almost feel free, you know, out there at the fire station. What did you call the car?

Starting point is 01:28:44 The P-car. Why do they call it T-Coremitter? Oh, okay. Just the P-car riding around the perimeter. But we did. That's where I spent my last year and a half at. But my first, you know, everybody goes through Jackson Diagnostics when you go to Georgia State prisons. And then they decide where you're going to go at for your bid.

Starting point is 01:29:03 And I was in Jackson for three weeks. And most people are in there for two months or three months. You know, they're doing mental health evaluations, your education levels, They're checking everything. You're going to see the nurse. You've got to do all your classifications, take an IQ test, do everything before you leave. And Jackson's so crowded.

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Starting point is 01:31:04 So I ended up, you know, five different prisons. But Caleta County Camp, they have like a million and a half budget for the food. So the food that they cook there is like free world food. You're eating ribs and steaks on fish Fridays and Philly Fridays. Like I didn't go to store for the first year and a half being in prison. And then when I left there, I left there and went to Ware State Prison, which is a level five, to originally join the fire team the first time. Well, at Ware State Prison, you don't live at the fire station.

Starting point is 01:31:41 You live at a level five. You live in Ware State Prison, and you go out for detail every day, and you go to the fire station with the chief, and then he drops you back off every day at 5 o'clock. And the only time he ever comes and pulls you out is if there's a call in the middle of the night. They'll come to the prison, pull you out, and you'll go to the fire station, go to the call.

Starting point is 01:32:04 So I didn't that doesn't seem very practical right like that's going to that slows you it's a tremendous slowdown right. That's what I said so you rarely go to a call at that prison and unless it's a structure fire that's going to last all night or you know they're fighting it from the out and it's just going to burn down. So when I left Caleda County Camp and I got to wear state prison you know I called day one. Please call the warden and get me sent back to Caledda like I realize what prison was then, you know. So the problem was, I'm here, I'm minimum security. After a year, they dropped my level from medium to minimum. A minimum security living at the level five just to be on the fire team. Well, COVID happened. And this is during COVID. Where state prison in 2021, they had a riot.

Starting point is 01:32:56 So they took over the whole camp. And there were only three officers at this 3,000 man camp, which is L.T. Sarge and a woman out front in the guard tower. So this whole camp gets taken over. They're walking down the walk. They're in the, the TAC squad's office. They have all the TAC squad gear on. And they're walking up and down the walk with L.T. Hogtide and Sarge locked in a cell because they actually liked Sards.

Starting point is 01:33:24 So they would just bring them water and check on them every 30 minutes. But when they came in that prison that night, so a lot of prisons, a lot of dorms, locked their doors and buried up their doors and they didn't join the riot. But when they came in the prison that night to take you back over, they were shooting real bullets, you know. And the next morning, 30 people were on a bus out of there. But 15 people were dead on scene, you know, and I don't think they talked about that a lot. We seen like 10 injured, five deceased, and then they talked about the two guards that were hurt during the prison riot. But they didn't want to talk about, you know, them coming in and taking over with force at Georgia State Prison. That's what's wrong with Georgia

Starting point is 01:34:07 State prisons. Every state camp, every three-man camp is ran by three officers at night, four officers for a whole compound. So it's terrible. So anyways, I'm here when COVID happened and the riot happened, our chief quit. I've only been at this prison for two, three months. And the fire chief said, I'm no longer going to be the fire chief and have this detail. So now we don't have a chief, and now we're not going to detail. So now we just live at the state prison, me and two of the other firefighters. So the warden gave me his word. He said, I can't put you in for a transfer until you've been here for a year. He said, but when you've been here for a year, I'll get you out of here. So anyways, a year and three days went by, and I was, you know, leaving where state prison

Starting point is 01:34:56 and going to Clayton County camp. But it was terrible when the riot happened, you know, it was bad. And living in it, where state prison is one of the top five worst prisons in state of Georgia. But so that's where I went, Jackson, Caleta, then to where, and I was supposed to be on the fire team, didn't just live at level five. Then I left there and went to Clayton County. And then when I left Clayton County, I went to Johnson State. So that was my five years in prison.

Starting point is 01:35:26 So living at the fire station for a year and three months, my release date was going to be November. So I knew I was going home. We went on a call in November, and it's pouring down rain. It's freezing outside. Icigals hanging off our helmets. And me and one other firefighter were on the ladder truck. And we're trying to cut limbs down to get to the top of this second-story house to access that window. and open it and fight the fire and go in through the house.

Starting point is 01:36:00 And as I'm cutting the limbs on that last limb, I cut it and we say, you can only go left, right, up, down when you're on the top of a ladder truck. And we say, okay, go down. And the chief brought the ladder truck down. And both of my feet were stuck in between the rungs. And it just broke both of my feet right there, cracked both of them. until I'm on the radio saying, Chief, stop, stop, stop.

Starting point is 01:36:27 He hit a release button, and it went back one rung. Right. And I turn it out, and I look at Paul and say, get down. And I come down this ladder truck wide open. And they're like, what's wrong, what's wrong? I'm like, both of my feet are broke. So they put me in the ambulance.

Starting point is 01:36:45 The chief is sitting in the ambulance almost about to cry in tears. And it's like, I'm so sorry. I know it's policy. I shouldn't have brought, you know, brought the ladder truck down, you guys were on it. And the EMT is trying to cut my boots off. I'm like, stop. You know, both my, they're like, both his foot are broke. Stop. They pull the boots off and literally, they take me to the hospital, both of my feet were broke. This one in five spots. This one over here

Starting point is 01:37:12 in two spots. So four of my metatarsals and the top of my foot on this foot and then just two metatarsals over here, spiral break. So I was, I had a TPM month. for November, just like you said. And when November come around, they're like, oh, you're not going home because I have a cast on one foot and nothing on the other foot. So medically, they didn't release me. And I didn't end up coming home until February 23rd the next year.

Starting point is 01:37:42 So, you know, the fall of year, you know, three months later. But the warden let me live at the fire station with two broke feet because they knew it was their, you know, they didn't want to send me back in. to the prison and punish me and make me live back in state prison because of what happened, you know, on the call. So that was, that was a blessing. But then I did. Yeah, I went home from the fire station that day. So were you released to a halfway house or just walked out the door? No, I was released after my five years was up. I was done. Yeah. So I got my sentence was 15 due five. Yeah. Well, I didn't know if they gave you a couple

Starting point is 01:38:20 months or something. Yeah. But you had some place to go too, right? Yeah. back home. Yeah, so I went back home. That's why I said. The biggest difference, I did interstate compact. So I went back to a stepdad in South Carolina, which has always been, you know, our rocking, you know, steady man to, you know, watchovers. And the best thing was after I came home, I got a job opportunity four days after I've been home to do fiberglass repair and jail coat repair on boats and stuff. So there's lakes and everywhere in South Carolina where we live at. There's Lake Hartwell, Lake Kiwi, there's a bunch of lakes. So Lewis Dyer, man, he gave me a job opportunity. And that's what I've been doing for the last three years is working

Starting point is 01:39:03 on boats and living in South Carolina. When I was laying in prison, you know, Jackson State Prison day one, that's why I said I decided that I'm going to be sober. Now this is what's going to change my life. So first night, you know, you're sick. You know, you get to Jackson. and I just decided then I'm going to be sober. So I was sober for my whole bid. So I knew once I got home. So I think my prison time was easy because I wasn't involved in the strips, the K2,

Starting point is 01:39:34 and just getting geeked out all the time or oh and dead or anything. So really my whole bid, my five years, wasn't bad. Hey, you guys. I appreciate you watching. Do me a favor. Hit the subscribe button hit the bell to get notified of videos just like this.

Starting point is 01:39:48 Also, if you want to follow, Dustin on Instagram or any of his social media's, we're going to leave all the links in the description box. You can go there, click on it,

Starting point is 01:39:59 follow him. He's going to be telling his story on those platforms. I really do appreciate you guys watching. Thank you very much. See you.

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