Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - Master Thief Known as 'Golden Eye' | Real-Life Bank Heist Genius

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

In this riveting interview, Scott Martinez--the infamous "Golden Eye" bandit--describes how he pulled off the bank robberies and reveals what let to his eventual capture by the FBI. News Coverage of the "Golden Eye" Bank Robberies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQdx0hfF_KE Book a Call With Dan Wise https://calendly.com/federalprisontime/matt-cox Follow me on all socials! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetruecrime/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattcoxtruecrime Do you want to be a guest? Fill out the form https://forms.gle/5H7FnhvMHKtUnq7k7 Send me an email here: [e-mail] Do you want a custom "con man" painting to shown up at your doorstep every month? Subscribe to my Patreon: https: //www.patreon.com/insidetruecrime Do you want a custom painting done by me? Check out my Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/coxpopart Listen to my True Crime Podcasts anywhere: https://anchor.fm/mattcox Check out my true crime books! Shark in the Housing Pool: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851KBYCF Bent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV4GC7TM It's Insanity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFYXKK8 Devil Exposed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TH1WT5G Devil Exposed (The Abridgment): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070682438 The Program: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858W4G3K Bailout: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bailout-matthew-cox/1142275402 Dude, Where's My Hand-Grenade?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNFHBDF/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678623676&sr=1-1 Checkout my disturbingly twisted satiric novel! Stranger Danger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSWQP3WX If you would like to support me directly, I accept donations here: Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/MattCox69 Cashapp: $coxcon69

One of the day, his friend comes up to me and says, your roommate said he was going to do this, go to this bank and walk in and, you know, rob it basically. And he goes, but if he backs out, will you do it? Bond, James Bond. If you're familiar with golden eyes, it's probably what you think of. But there's a new golden eye tonight. Note the big gold rim glasses, hence the nickname. I wasn't looking to get rich off of the banks.

I was just looking to not get sick. He's pretty straightforward. Heads for the teller, demands cash. And then takes off. And so with some crazy things start happening. Like, uh, I'm like, dude, I feel like we're being followed. It's like, no. Hey, this is Matt Cox, and I'm going to be doing an interview with Scott Martinez.

Scott is a former heroin addict and bank robber. He's got an interesting story that I think you guys will find fascinating. Scott, what's going on? Talk. I've talked to me, and we've gone back and forth on text. We talked a little bit. Tell me, um, tell me what's going on. How did, how did this whole life story kind of, how did this start?

Um, I, um, I, um, I was born in Northern California and, um, the most I could really remember was just my mom and me all the time. I didn't really know my real father and, uh, Vinny Bino's him out there. It'd be great. Um, he was a biker, I guess, and we always lived in this kind of chaos environment. And I was, I was born Scott Green. So I've had several through different marriages, different names and, and that kind of thing. I used to see my mom go through some physical abuse and, you know, I was gaslighted at a young age and and those kind of things. And so I just never felt like I fit in anywhere, you know. And so growing up,

You know, probably the first crime I committed was still in my mom's cigarettes and going behind the A&W to smoke a few when I was like six years old. And then I went to a private school and I was a chatty, popular kid, but always doing stupid things, you know, and like grabbing the phone and pay phone and dialing zero and yelling fire when I was in first grade and the police, all the fire trucks show up and all kinds of crazy things. And as life progressed, I just that, that sense of soullessness kind of where you just feel like you're this person in life, but you're not there. Like, there is no real reality. Like, they would tell me we're going to Magic Mountain when I was a kid and bringing three of my friends. And I would just sit there very stoic and no smile, no emotion. And so somewhere around 12, 13, I, um, I. started running away from home and those kind of things and I ended up robbing my next door

neighbor's house with some friends that basketball went over the why did you go ahead why were you running away from home when it was or you say it was it abusive no my mom yeah no my mom my mom's a great person like she always treated me well she's phenomenal a person now she does a lot of good for other people and my stepfather now tony he's a he's a he's a you He's a great man, too. Like, there was never really any issues with them. It's just I had progressed to the point where I couldn't attach to people. Like, there was just this blockage of emotion in me, you know?

Right. And so, that might be a common theme, you know, with that kind of sense of feeling lost at an age. And I was an only child and spent a lot of time with my grandparents and around adults. And then my mom couldn't have any more children after me. So they decided to take on foster children. And that just kind of threw me for a big loop because here we were finally in a stable relationship with my stepfather and her. And they're doing great. And he's taking care of her the way, you know, a husband should.

And these new kids come in and I just, you know, I don't know. Just that's always been my fighter, you know. And I've always just been the flight. instead of the fire. Right. And so most of my time, like 13, 14, like one time I ran away and I came home, I'd been drinking, I came home, and my mom's asleep in my bed as I'm trying to climb through the window to get back into the house.

I'm like, shit, I didn't want to get in trouble. So I go down to my friends, and I take his bike, and I remember my girlfriend at the time is all the way up in Santa Barbara, and I lived in Redondo Beach. So it's about 180, 180 miles, something like that. I stole this little BMX bike and I'm like, I'm going to go see this girl. She's all the way up at Santa Barbara with her mom. And I'm like in seventh, eighth grade. And I'm just pedaling away through Malibu in the hills and stop at the store and grab some nuts and come back out.

And man, it took like two days, slept on the beach in Oxnard and ended up going to Santa's Village in Santa Barbara. And I get there and then I see her with her mom as they're getting in the car to head back. And I'm like, what are you doing? And, like, I just had to come here and see you. I had, in high school, I started drinking and smuggled a little weed and doing a little coke. And I was about 15. And I thought, you know, this doesn't make sense back to, back in those days in the 80s, you could buy an eight ball for 300, you know, when it was 100 bucks a gram. Like, it doesn't make sense to spend all that when I could just sell the $300 worth and get my little gram for free.

And, of course, the friends all take advantage, don't pay. And I ran away, and the Armenians came through bricks through my window and my parents' house. And so it just got real chaotic. And so I had robbed the name. I saw their window cracked. And so we did that. And I was living in this abandoned house. We pawned the things off.

And I'm living in this abandoned house. And I remember my ex-girlfriend had a code on their alarm. And I'm like, ah, I think I'll go in there and, you know, just take a little bit and get out. Well, I found this big box of credit cards back in the day, you know, like JCPenny's and whatever. So this guy I was staying with at this abandoned house. I'm like, dude, let's get some tickets and we'll go to Miami. And then we're going to do this right. I'm 16, you know, so we're going to do this right.

Miami Vice it. And so we ended up getting the tickets and I'm sitting at LAX. And it's about 20, 30 minutes before they start boarding. He and I are sitting at LAX and two police officers come up and they're like, Scott? I'm like, yes. He's like, we need you to come with this. And so I'm like, what? And the other guy is what?

and so how do they know you were there we go back and well i found out later they got an anonymous tip that i had stolen some credit cards and i bought a plane ticket so they got an anonymous tip and i'm sitting in the the thing in there and they're like okay so how did you get the tickets do you know these people well we have to verify with them and i just you know i just said look i took the credit cards i bought the ticket this guy ever here has no idea what's going on other than we're going to miami he was 18 already so and you know i you know i'm responsible so i um ended up going through uh the process there i spent probably about eight nine months at uh central juvenile hall which is uh just completely chaotic

you know and i had a i had this judge judge dorn and everybody's like oh man if you get Judge Doran, you're screwed. And so I ended up going to this place called Kirby, which was like a closed placement. So you're with other kids and you finish your high school and you get counseling and those kind of things. Your parents kind of come on the weekend and that kind of stuff. But I was there about six months. And so right when I turned 18, so about a year and a half total, and then when I turned 18, right after that, I was released. So, I had, I had credit card fraud, I had breaking and entering on two places, I probably had five or six felonies all listed in that, that whole mess, you know, before I'm 18. So, but I got out after I'm 18. And so I think that was around September or so. And I had a friend, he just got out of the Navy. And I'm thinking, like, I'm going to list in the Navy.

every time you see the Navy guys, they're always partying. They're always hanging out, having a good time, in the bars, with the girls. You know, so I'm going to join the Navy. And I go down to the recruiter and talk to him. And he does a few things. And he's like, well, Mr. Martinez, I'm sorry, but we can't take you. You have all these charges. I'm like, oh, should I go?

But I was a juvenile. He goes, it doesn't matter. It's pulling up in the system. So we called the public defender who had represented me, and he's now in private practice at this time. And so we get a court date and going from the judge. I tell him what I'm trying to do. And good old Judge Dorn, he goes, you know, Ms. Martinez, I think this is a good thing for you. You want to serve your country?

Slams it down. He says, all those charges are dismissed. Just completely dismissed as if I had never been found guilty. Nice. So, yeah, it was just, he did me such a huge solid, you know. and we go back to the recruiter, and I'm in there, and he's like, where are you just in here? He goes, I can't take you.

I can't take you. I go, look it up. And so he punches in. He's like, well, Mr. Martinez, welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Come. So I take the asthma, and I scored pretty eye on it, and it's the test for the military.

I couldn't do was nuclear. Thank God. But they wanted me, I signed up to be a cryptological technician with like the highest clear as thinking you could ever get, you know, I was going to decode secret messages and work on the machines and sitting in some little room with two other people on some NSA building, you know? Right. Yeah, like, I'm the worst, the worst one you ever want. And so I'm in my, so I went in the Navy and, um, boot camp was very horrible, had some bad experiences in the Navy, but they, um, I'm going there and they're interviewing me to go to this.

CT school, and my high school diploma says, graduated from Los Angeles Department of Probation. So, you know, it was like, well, why did you graduate from there? I ran away a few times. So that never ended up happening out. So I ended up doing some other things in Navy and just drinking my whole way through. And I went from E1 to E2 to E3 to E2 to E3 to E3, E3, 4. Yeah. Yeah. In about five years yet. Are these for charges or for being written up? Yeah. Yeah. Not criminal charges. No, I went to Captain's Mass twice. So I was in Plattsburgh, New York, and we're walking along and I find this money order on the ground for a hundred bucks.

No name written out on it. No nothing. And the receipt parts on the back, the carbon and everything. I'm like, well, I'm just going to write it. I was married. married at a at 19 I can talk about that after but I was married and so I just read my wife's name on there to me and go in and cash it well it turns out it was either the commander or the executive commander of the whole entire base there in Plattsburgh New York his wife had dropped it so they were able to search it and next thing you know I'm getting called in and and so I'm sure in a legal world I did nothing wrong but you know when you're supposed to be of the highest standards you tell them it was definitely that my wife wrote me a bad money order you need to talk to

my wife yeah yeah yeah I wish I wish I was that had a person well like just okay just it's like even even even when I was at the airport you know and I'm just like I automatically have always taken the rap like with houses that we broke into there three other ones of us that were in there. Like, I just always just ate it. You know, I'm figured, I'm caught. I'm already busted, you know, so why throw other people into the mix? But I was upset about that, and I had to do base restriction and horrible.

Yeah. So, and then another time we were flying in Tampa, and we landed, and so we have 12 hours before your next flight where you have to stay sober. We had to do a lot of replayers on the plane and a lot of communications equipment and those kind of things. And so we go, and I'm only 18, 19 at the time. And so I think I heard when you said on when you're going to be, you talked about you went into the bank and through lamination over an ID to change something. Yeah, we could do that with our military ID. I outline a number with tape.

And then I put another piece of tape over and rip it off. and the transparency of that number would stick on the sticky part of the tape. And then I laid it over my 1969. And so I got so shit-faced that night. And I'm swimming in the wrong hotel pool at a holiday inn naked. And the guys come along. And I'm swimming naked in the hotel Holiday Inn, and it's the wrong holiday in. and of course there's a female cop

you know tell me to get out of the pool and I was aircrew so I could tread water for a good hour you know at that point I'm like I'm gonna be here all night I can go all night and I saw a break and I thought I could run for it for a limited time at McDonald's enjoy the tasty breakfast trio your choice of chicken or sausage McMuffin or McGrittles with a hash brown

and a small iced coffee for five bucks plus tax available until 11 a.m. at participating McDonald's restaurants Fresh Excludes Flavored Ice Coffee and Delivery Naked and hopped a big juniper tree over the 8 foot cinder block before they caught me and they

I just made the jump to the tree and just slid down and that was about it. So we're in the back of the police car and the cops like, so what's your name? And I'm like, Martinez, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Just giving my social security number, E3, United States Navy, that's it.

Like I'm a prisoner of war. or something, you know, just stupid, stupid. And they pull in the, you know, they park the police car always and they go to the locker and put in their guns. Well, they took me out before one of them had put in their weapon and he starts to take it out and I grab for the weapon. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm like half blacked out.

I grab for the weapon. They pull me back. And, and, um, what's going on YouTube? Ardap Dan here, Federal Prison Time Consulting. Hope you guys are all having a great day. If you're seeing and hearing this right now, that means you're watching Matt Cox on Inside True Crime. At the end of Matt's video, there will be a link in the description where you can book a free consultation with yours truly Ardap Dan, where we can discuss things that could potentially mitigate your circumstances to receive the best possible outcome at sentencing

or even after you started your prison sentence. Prior to sentencing, we can focus on things like your personal narrative, your character reference letters, pre-sentence interview, which is going to determine a lot of what type of you receive. If you've already been sentenced, we can also focus on the residential drug abuse program, how you can knock off one year off of your sentence. Also, we have the first step act where you can earn FSA credits while serving your sentence. For every 30 days that you program through the FSA, you can actually knock an additional 15 days off per month. These are huge benefits. And the only way you're going to find out more is by clicking on the link, booking your free consultation today. All right, guys, see you soon at the end of the video. Peace. I'm out of here. Back to you, Matt.

It took me about eight hours or so to wake up in the cell because we were drinking B-52s and Lodi Marys and so much to get it all in before our 12 hours, 12-hour window closed. And that's pretty serious, you know, like that kind of thing could have put me away for who knows how long, you know, at that point. And so I missed my flight, which was pretty bad because we were a special crew. So to miss my flight was pretty horrific in the Navy's eyes. But they came and they got me out. And no charges pressed on me or nothing. And I went in front of the captain again. And that was pretty much it.

I lost my clearance, lost my wings, lost everything. So the last we talked, you had caught naked in the pool, missed your flight, back in front of you? want to yeah grab the pop gun in the holding area and yeah you're nuts I don't know what I was getting back in front of the captain yeah because I was Navy so it was the second time around I had uh they were familiar with me when I first checked into the base because I was there for training at the same base and the same unit I was in and so I was in training I was dating this girl out in town

and she had given me a calling card to call her when I was out in California because I was stationed in Maryland and so I met another girl and then so when I left California I was calling this girl with that calling card and you know this is back in the 80s so you know it was a buck a minute on AT&T

and yeah you know so what a racket yeah yeah what a racket they had I was sitting on an airplane flying to boot camp in Orlando and this guy's got his laptop open And I said, so what are you doing? What do you do?

And he says, well, I'm a finance manager. And I think he goes, I'm just reviewing some stock things. I go, you got any good picks? And he said, yeah, he goes, MCI. So MCI had started as multi-level marketing through Amway. And then they went, AT&T emerged with AT&T in the long distance. And they went phenomenally huge. Like if I had put $1,000 into MCI back then, I'd be, you know, not sick.

here right now. So, yeah. So you were back at the base. Back at the base. Restriction. I mean, I had to stay on base. So my wife's home alone. And, you know, they step me through this alcohol class.

And they said, well, you're just, you're just an abuser and not an alcoholic, but just a binger. you know so I did this little thing and but I ended up getting out at E4 which I was the same rank as everybody that I was in training with that didn't get busted twice I managed to pass the test the first time I'm around so it was a I felt good about that and I ended up getting honorable discharge so I was just you know so well you got for for this for that that issue they told asked you to leave or you just no i finished out my time there i finished out my time in the service and so but i just i couldn't fly anymore i couldn't do what our unit was doing and and those kind of things anymore so i had uh lost my clearance uh everything so i pretty much

everywhere and everybody that i knew i was isolated from because i uh without the clearance i just couldn't be there right okay so yeah so i i got out of the service in 94, and I grew up in California, originally Northern California. I was born in the hospital of my last name, Martinez, California. But, so we're living in Southern California now, and got my real estate license. My parents sold real estate. I was familiar with that because my dad would give me a stack of flyers like this and pay me 25 cents an hour, and I put a few on the doors and throw the rest in the dumpster and come

home and until the trash day and then all the flyers went out all over the floor all over the ground in the street you know

and people are calling him this Martinez get your flyers off my lawn oh yeah yeah I just if I've done it wrong

I've been caught for it I don't know do you know people like that that just whatever they do they end up getting caught like the dumbest things that just yeah I

definitely like you think I would learn by now, but I, um, my second ex-wife said I suffered from hot stove syndrome that, uh, every time I touched the hot stove and burn myself, I just believe the next time it's not going to be hot. And, uh, right. That seems to be the somewhat of the truth. But I, um, so I was married and tried doing the real estate. Those things didn't really work out well. We traveled quite a bit, California, Oregon. I was licensed, real estate license in California, Oregon and had my license in Maryland when I was their station there.

But the market in that time was just horrible. They were laying off engineers and everything. So I ended up moving out to Cleveland, Ohio, and live there for a while. I got divorced and just drinking constantly. Excuse me. Odd jobs here and there. And I had a lot of PTSD from childhood and from the service. So it's difficult for me to

Like I get brilliant ideas But to follow through on them is It's tough To stay with it, you know Everybody has Everybody has That book syrup or something It's like everybody has three

Multi-Billion dollar ideas in their lifetime Yeah But it's the following through That's the hardest part Yeah I think my favorite that I came up with Is endangered species animal crackers like I thought you can't haunt them but you can eat them

like I thought that would be great gets the area club to come and sponsor you know the spotted owl and talk about it a little bit and then you could have the spotted owl and dip in some peanut butter and chew away but uh you gotta make that phone call to uh the animal cracker people I looked it up a couple years ago and someone's doing it now so a whole man yeah you could you could partner with National Geographic You could, you know, the little kind of.

Yeah, the zoos, they could sell at the zoos, you know. I thought it would just be great. You give me a portion of the, you say, we're giving a portion of the profit, very small portion, to. Yeah, the Sierra Club or Greenpeace or, yeah, yeah, like have little clubs and baby seals there as an aerobracker and you can just eat them away. Yeah, so I got divorced in Cleveland. and then living there for a while and got remarried again. And I was just desperate, you know, like clinging on to anything. You know, I was living on my own, barely paying rent.

And I lived in this little artsy neighborhood where people would come on. It was like Michael Simon's first restaurant there. I know if you know him. He's on a show called The Chew. But he has a restaurant there called Lola's. And he got his start there. And so, but surrounded by it is all. You know, so people come in on the weekends and go to the art galleries and eat at the restaurants, and we call them tourists, you know, and I used to love to go there in the beginning and watch the local. People watch the locals. And then after a few years, you realize you're the one being people watched, you know, because you're the one being stupid in the corner and do whatever. And I had a gun pulled over a few times for drinking and wrecked a few cars and never got any kind of trouble with alcohol. No DUI.

eyes, nothing like that. And my second wife worked for the Department of Justice. And so I got pulled over one time doing 95 on the freeway and at 60 and went. And so we're on the way back to the police station. And I said, so what's the bond on this? And he goes, well, it's 100 bucks. I'm like, you know, my ATM is right by the police station. Can you just take me through?

And he took me through. I pulled out my 100 bucks. and yeah you like i released i released a cup and i did the atm so i'm in the backseat at the atm and i go there i bomb myself out and um you gave it to him and said let's you have the whole thing let me just can i just give you the money and you'll turn it in i yeah can you just let me out now and my house is right over here i swear i'll show up to court and um so i got a good attorney, and I ended up getting what's called a physical control. I don't know if they have that in Florida. So basically, I was in physical control of the vehicle, but not driving,

but doing 95 reckless driving on the freeway. So I didn't get a DUI at all. So I've been fortunate that way, like my whole life, like the Judge Dorn incident. And when I was in Cleveland, I would meet some people and like if anybody talk crap to me or whatever and we're about to go outside and have a fight they just like no no no we got this and so it's kind of a pattern in my life i don't know like there's so like there's always something there looking out for me in some way like grabbing the cop's gun and not getting you know five years for that and um and you can say one time we're playing pool and this guy comes up and he's talking crap and and I start to walk outside, we're going to go outside.

And this other guy is like, boots. He says, no, no, no, we got this. And I'm like, well, I'm going to come with. He's like, no, no, no, you don't want to come out here. And so about a half hour later, you hear the ambulance is coming, and they beat the shit out of that guy. But, like, I've never had to do anything like that. Like, I've probably been in two fights my whole life,

and that's including prison, you know, which is crazy. So, I, um, So I left Cleveland and drinking real bad and went on a driving hiatus and ended up in Las Vegas. I had a little money from schooling I was going to get for the VA Veterans Administration. And so I ended up in Vegas. I was heading back to Ohio, but I got as far as Vegas and just lost it all there. And I'm homeless at this point. And I come out to Phoenix from Vegas.

And I met a girl from, I knew her back from Ohio. And she was super to me and everything. When I got out there, I was just a wreck, you know? And I get out to Phoenix and I'm homeless. And I don't know if you've ever seen the homeless situation out there. They got an area where it's just 10 city and they would lock you up in this area at night. Because they have like a shelter, but the shelter is always overfilled. with people, but if you stay there, you could get meals and, you know, the VA system was there

inside the center, and I just couldn't do it anymore. So I started talking to some people, and the VA gave me my own apartment because I was homeless and my record, my discharge anyway, with the military being honored with discharge. And they gave me my own apartment. And my neighbor, he would I'd see him and he'd be kind of knotted out and happy or whatever and I asked somebody and they said he shot heroin and I said like ah I want to do that you know like and um man that first time Matthew it's like a calm came over me that all of those feelings that I had or lack of feelings inside of me just went away it was it was for the first time I felt normal if that makes any kind a sense. And, yeah, but the problem with that is after, you know, three, four more hours you

need, you're not feeling so normal anymore, but like we talked about, like, the best thing for my alcoholism was heroin because it cured it like that. That first shot, I didn't touch a drink. Automatically, not the next day, I could open up a can of beer and it sit on my table till it was stale, you know, and just no desire to. Colgate Total is more than just your favorite toothpaste. It's dedicated to advancing oral health. The new Colgate Total Active Prevention System features a reformulated toothpaste, innovative toothbrush, and a refreshing

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Drink or anything. And so I was managing that way, holding signs, and and asking for money and I was never wanted to like steal from people like I couldn't go rob a beauty salon or something like that or if somebody came to me and wanted somebody came to me and wanted something I would get it for them and bring it back and and not take from that I'd expect them to do the right thing and and so I um like I said when I was holding the signs

all the people with fancy cars would roll out, I'd just say homeless vet, please help. And all the fancy car people and most of them would roll up the windows and, you know, very just, you know, that face. And the people that would give me money where, you know, the people that look like they didn't have any money,

the Hispanic lady with three kids in the back seat would give me 20 bucks. And I just like, I can't do this. This is horrible. Like what, you know, makes you reflect on yourself. Like, what kind of person am I, you know? like you can tell this lady doesn't seem like she has that much money to feed her kids or anything you know and here she's given to me to support my drug habit and um i've been pretty isolated for

my parents so i never asked them for money and that kind of thing so i met a guy and he's staying in my apartment he's a heroin addict also so one day his friend comes up to me and says hey man um your roommate said he was going to do this go to this bank and walk in and you know rob it basically and he goes um but if he backs out will you do it and like i'm thinking like i'm sick i need money this could take care of me for a while so i said yeah and of course the other guy backed out so i'm like well shit i guess i got to do it and uh that's where it all started that was uh there at phoenix what'd you do you went you just you wrote a note or yeah so um i wrote a note and i had long hair i'm kind of growing it long

now but i had long hair before that about down to here and so i cut my hair and i throw in the little irish you know golfer irish hat and um uh i had a long sleeve shirt on and pants but like i went and got the elastic like grandma pants you know and so underneath my longsleeve shirt was a short-sleeved t-shirt and underneath my pants were shorts and I stashed a backpack in this underground garage and so when I so I went into the bank and I wrote a note I put it on the counter and he's just looking at me and I see his hand go like this I'm like don't you press that fucking button don't you press that fucking button and he goes like this just ragged my face like there you go stick it you know press the button and um i was so nervous like

uh like it's just pure adrenaline at that time because i you know i got the discovery back and i never even put the glasses down over my face i'm staring at the camera like you know when they get the discovery and so you didn't get any money no i got about three grand he gave me the money he gave me the money. And hit the button. And hit the button. And so he gave me the money. And so I went down under the garage, did the little switcheroo, threw the stuff in the backpack. And I had a little black bag like this. And through stuff in the backpack, walked through the parking garage, came up an elevator that was on another side and took another walkway and up another elevator to street level. And then went across. And then I got on the light rail there in Phoenix. And as I'm

I'm coming across, the police are pulling into the bank. And I'm just like, and so that took care of, you know, for, that was the first. That was a U.S. bank there on Central. And no weapon or nothing. And I was very polite in my note. I said, like, good morning. I think the first one I put, this is a, this is a burglary.

This is a burglary, you know, said a few things. And like, thank you. you know and and gave them the note and so um but you know i think here's i've watched a few the videos like you don't really get very much when you go in and and do the teller like with a note or unless you're doing some giant takeover yeah unless you go on after a cash yeah and if you go into a lot of these guys will tell you if you go into the cash uh drawer like sometimes they'll have a main drawer with tim yeah thousand but usually those that per yours and all kind of problem.

I got one of those. Like my third bank, yeah, because I got like 10, 11 grand from that. I hit the head teller. And so she had the big cash door. And so I did the first one, and then it was about two, three weeks. And then, of course, when you have money like that, you're going crazy with dope. I mean, I wasn't buying new things, fancy things or anything like that. And so now it's important to other people's habit.

You know, everybody's your friend when you got the fix. Right. And so then I went and trying to think which was next. So I did this bank way on the, that's the one with the head teller, way on the north side of town. And I had a driver for that. And so, but he didn't know what was going on. I just said, look, you're going to go here and you're going to park right here. And I'll be back in a few minutes.

And then I got back in the car and like, go, go, go, go, go. and so I got the main teller in that one and and so he figured out what was going on you know so obviously now one person knows and then my roommates know and that's never good and so and so by the time I did another one right next to the first one on Central and they had one of those machines where almost like a printer machine but it's a little small ATM machine and And so I go in there and she gives me $1,000. I'm like, what fuck is it? She didn't even open a drawer or nothing. She goes, I have to print it from the machine unless I go back into the vault and that's going to take some time. And she goes, if you want to wait five minutes, I can print out another thousand, kind of like

a drop drawer at a, you know, like Circle K or 7-Eleven, something like that. They have those drop drawers. And I'm like, ah. So that was like a thousand bucks out of that. It's rough my average, you know, but. But after that second one, we got robbed, because my roommate was real sloppy. He would get all Xanaxed out and have these periods of heroin Xanax, three-day blackouts. And so he had people come into her house and late at night because he was selling.

And we got robbed and he's getting pistol whipped. And I jump and come trying to do a Superman and ran right into a fist. And so I had about $4,000. those, you know, those Russian maternity dolls, like the one inside the other, inside of the other, inside of the other. So I'd rolled all the cash and put it in that. It was on my dresser, and I think the guy knew I had money. I think it was a setup.

Like, someone knew, told him I had money or something because he was going through the whole house. He's looking under the mattress, unless he was just looking for dope money, but we weren't those kind of dealer people, you know? And he picks that thing up and he puts it down. He moves it over. And he couldn't find anything, you know, so he just stole my phone. my TV, but it's, you know, that's, uh, I'm lucky we didn't get shot because the guy was getting pissed. My buddy was getting pistol whipped and I grabbed the guy with the knife and just, uh, crazy, crazy things, you know, but that's what happens when you're, when you're

living that life, you know? And, uh, so I, I did the third one and then they, um, they started put me on the news. Oh, those bastards. Those bastards. Those bastards. Those bastards. Jan, do you have the clip? I don't know if you have the clip or not. Did I send it to you? The YouTube clip? I don't think so. You guys send me that, yeah, send it to me for sure.

Yeah. Yeah, so I ended up, they started putting me on the news and I come home and my roommate said, dude, you were just on the news. You're just on the news. I'm like, ah, shit. And so I did one more bank after that and then I decided, you know what, this is it. I bought a Lincoln. Like, this is 2016.

So I bought it like a 2004 Lincoln limo edition, special edition, Windows tinted. And I'm like, you know, this is cool. I got money now. I'm driving my dealer around. So I'm getting hooked up. I'm getting hooked up, you know, like every day. I don't have to worry about money to do my habit, you know, because I wasn't looking to get rich off of the banks. I was just looking to not get sick.

Right. And so like I'm hooked up. I'm driving my dealer around, making deliveries for it. him going here going there and um and so with some crazy things started happening like uh i'm like dude i feel like we're being followed he's like no no and you know he's selling meth so everybody out bet huh who would follow us yeah right you're all like you've only robbed three bag right right and i'm driving around with him with you know a couple ounces of heroin and meth and then shotgun in the back and like who would follow us?

Look at all, look at all heroin now driving the Lincoln. But my excuse was like they had what's called livery service in Arizona. So my justification for it, if I ever got pulled over, I had nothing in the front. It was all in the back and I don't know what he brought in the car. It's, you know, wasn't me. And so I just figured that was the. You know, that was a safe way to go about it. I was like, man, I feel like I'm being followed.

And this was about September, 2016. And like, I would park, we'd park somewhere, and this van would come around to the side, like a little minivan. But it would be like a lady with their two kids, right? And so they followed us all the way to this place, and then they parked there. I'm like, what's up? So I start walking and they just tires peel and take off.

But it's like this, some moaning lady with two kids in the car. And so I'm starting to get more paranoid now. But it's definitely not the police. No, that was definitely not the police. But we're being followed. And so I'm like, what? So one time on the freeway, I feel like, I'm like, man, this is crazy. So I'm on the main freeway there in Phoenix

And everybody's gone Anybody knows Phoenix they're doing 80 if they're doing anything And I slow down to like 40 miles an hour On the freeway in the center lane And the two cars that I thought were following me Wouldn't pass me And I'm like, this is odd This is really odd

And there's a big SUV and I don't know what the person was driving it So then I take off and I'm doing 95 and the guy's right on my tail and then a police car comes flashing his lights and I think he's pulling me over and then he gets in front of the car and me and they pull him over and I'm like

this is this is odd like what I don't I don't understand this you know and so that went on for about three months and later to come and find out they had a GPS on my car so I don't know if they have some kind of they take their CIs to follow people when they're doing this but I don't know it was just or maybe he made some bad deals my my buddy made some bad deals and they were following us I don't know but it was it was a odd things were happening though like I had a a garment that you would put a cell phone chip into for location and and so but I never used it. It was in my drawer. So I come home one day and I had this girl living with me. She was pregnant, not my kid, but. And so I come and I get sitting out on the couch. And then I pull out the chip, the SIM card that was in it. And it was a different SIM card. Okay. And so yeah,

just odd. I don't know. Just really strange things. So come to find out, had several people confidential informants on my on my case so I don't know how many people told you know the FBI what and so I I don't know odd things maybe they're trying to keep track of me my Bluetooth I had a Sony Bluetooth speaker that was I'd come home and it would be on and connected to some other phone or some other Bluetooth and they were friends this girl staying with me was friends with the neighbor next door. So I don't know if the FBI was over there listening to me or trying on the speaker. I don't know. You know, I don't know what kind of tactics they do, but it was just started getting very insane. And then almost 90 days after they put the wards on

for the GPS on my car, which I found this out later, but they came and raided me. And I had bars on my windows. The screen door was a barred screen door. and bars on the windows, and it was right when the sun comes up. That's when they get you, you know, right when the sun comes up. And I wake up, I'm sick, I can't see straight. And like, I'm just working open the door. Like, I'll be right there. Oh, it's a parking door right now.

I'm like, hold on. I got to get so close. I'll be right there. And I had dope all in the house. And, you know, I'm sick because I overslept. And I'm banging. I put on shorts. And I'm like trying to wipe the.

the powdery stuff off the counter and I had a grandma dope and I couldn't, you know, I had no time to do it. I couldn't smoke it or shoot it. So I put it in the only other place I could get away with hiding it for a while, you know? And so they came and they had that Why just survive back to school when you can thrive by creating a space that does it all for you, no matter the size. Whether you're taking over your parents' basement or moving to campus, IKEA has hundreds of design ideas and affordable options to complement any budget. After all, you're in your small space era. It's time to own it.

Shop now at IKEA.ca. Bar that comes through his long bar trying to pull down the blinds to see me. And I come out with the pants on and shirt and shoes, no socks. And they put me on the ground and cuffed me. And the girl that was with me, she was there, and they just let her go, you know, just let her go. So I think there was quite a few things going on there. But, you know, people keeping an eye on me to make sure I wasn't running off or that kind of thing. So, but the only thing I like about all of this is they referenced me to James Bond in the news.

and they call me the golden eye bandit because I wear these silver rim glasses and so so the news thing I'll send you the clip and uh yeah you just like me in a bar article uh I

I think I sent you the YouTube video too in like one of the first texts but I'll send it again maybe it was a link or something I didn't okay yeah yeah it's a link to the it is ABC News there it's B I didn't see it I did it was yeah yeah it was news clip of them talking about you, right?

Yeah, it's like, Bond, James Bond. There's a new golden eye in town. Right. Yeah, so they did, yeah, and they had me blasted, golden eyed, all. Like, they put it on that national syndicated news list all over the country and everything. So it was a matter of time before they got me, but, you know, I didn't really care. I didn't care so much. I'm just saying I didn't care so much that I got arrested like I was just done like I've just spent you know like at this point I'm just white you know right you were gonna say so what did they say when they grab you they get you they bring in the little room the FBI agents come in and sit down yeah so they they take me to some building right across from the main justice center federal justice center there in Phoenix and they're fingerprinting me and they're like to

tell me they didn't say why I was being arrested and I didn't ask you know which is an obvious sign of guilt right what are you doing here and um and so he asked me a few questions and then he was lawyered up you know I said I want an attorney he um he asked me about my cell phone number and then he asked me um if I had ever been in this part of town or something like that and I just said you know what I think I should get an attorney and I just lowered up and um so but they were like super nice to me. Like, you know, just completely nice. They're walking me over to the federal center. They let me have a cigarette.

And they're like saying, don't worry. This, you know, you'll get through this, Mr. Martinez. Just, you know, you'll be okay. And by this time, you know, the the intradote of the heroin's kicking in. I'm kind of, yeah. And they take me right over to the justice center

and I'm sitting in those stainless steel benches, you know, and I'm just falling over on all the people there they got caught crossing the border and everything else I mean I was just out of it and I got to rain that day

and sent straight off to Florence which is the big prison town basically they have state there they have the core civic for the feds I think they have a if you're like a probation violation person you might have another little area there

for federal and right yeah that's started my whole That's certainly my whole prison experience. So, well, what happened? What did they offer you? I mean, did they, do you say, I'm doing the trial? I don't know what you're talking about.

Like, at what point did somebody come up and say, hey, this is why they arrested you. This is what you're looking. Well, I realized then it was for the banks after that, you know, like, because then the, that initial appearance before the judge, you know, they said four counts of bank robbery. And, um, so I had a public defender and, you know, looking over their discovery. and, you know, seeing my picture like this up at the camera. You know, like, and, you know, I mean, I knew I was had. So I didn't fight my case.

And it took a year to get through the whole process, not even trying to fight my case. Because I figured, you know, everybody, someone there has that big, giant book that says, um, uh, the federal sentencing got, beat the feds or something like that or, no, no, uh, busted by our feds.

not to buy the feds. That's it. It's like this big. And the two things I got out of it is, one, they win 95 to 98% of their cases. And two, if you take it to the box, you're screwed. And you lose. You're screwed. And so, and I had no one else on my case.

Like, it wasn't like I could, you know, I mean, I guess I could have snitched on the driver. But what good have that done? You know, I mean, it's like, at this point, I figured out, like, you know, unless you're, I was going to say, and all you've done is hand people a note. Like, you didn't have a God. So that would have been a problem. No, no weapon at all. And my notes were nice and, you know, polite. And I

You didn't hand them a harshly worded. It was a harshly worded note. No. No, it was like, it was like, thank you. You know, it was basically like put the 150s and 20s on the counter, remove the band, spread them open, because I didn't want a GPS chip. You know, um, uh, no

no GPS, no die packs, thank you, you know. And then the first one I left the note, the other ones I realized I should take the note because the first one, I remember he pulled it back because they wanted to keep it as evidence for DNA and those kind of things. So the other ones, I took the notes, but they had them, you know, the shot down with the camera, camera on them. So it took me, they kept delaying the final sentencing and that type of thing. And I'm just like, look, I don't, you know, I don't.

I don't want this to be a problem, but I was a, I had no prior criminal record on anything, like that charges for my kid, you know, being in a juvenile, never showed up. I had, um, I had another incident when I was in Cleveland where I, my wife worked for a bank and we had split up and I was, we had two separate bank accounts. So I was depositing money here and withdrawing it over here and back and forth and back and forth. The next thing you know, you're about six grand overdrawn. Right.

And, yeah, so I had three felony charges on that, and I ended up getting, attempting to pass a bad check misdemeanor. I had, you know, paid the money back, paid the money back, released that day, no probation, attempting to pass a bad check misdemeanor, and that was it. So they didn't do anything with that on my criminal history. And so I basically had nothing on my criminal history, but I was still a 38. on the list. Because I had, I think bank robbery was like a 32 or 34, something like that, just with or without a gun. The gun is just an enhancement.

And then, but they counted each one, each bank was another one point enhancement from the first. So I was looking at five to six years, I think, was my, was my column, you know? And so, but some things started happening there. Like, when I look back at my experience in prison, like, to me, prison saved my life. Like, I don't know how to explain it. Like, I've always been kind of a spiritual person, not really a big religion person, but I've always researched other ways of thinking and following.

And so when I was there at Eric Flores, I'm watching this movie, Battleship. I think Chris Pines Ender or something like. that. And in the beginning, he was talking to him about, what is it? I'm not going to think of it. The book, The Odyssey. And, you know, the old Greek book, The Odyssey and the travels through everywhere and all the Greek mythology and all that. And I'm like, I want to read that book. I would love to read that book. And two days later, it comes on the book cart. Like, who gets Homer's Odyssey on the book cart? I'm like, I'm like, this is. fucking cool. This is way cool. It is a sign. And so I'm thinking like this is like a complete synchronicity. Like I knew about it, but I'd never experienced it before. I'm like, this is a complete synchronicity. And then I get Celestine prophecies coming on the book cart. And that's all about synchronicities and those kind of things in life that everything leads you to the next thing. There's really not any coincidences, so to speak. And so I'm like, man, this is super cool.

two things have happened. I'm like, I want to keep on this pursuit. And so I'm like, I want to read something else. And this book came in called Scientific Christian. I was written back in like 1870s, and it's a very theosophy kind of book, the whole manifestation, but from a very God-centered kind of way. And so I read through that, and then I found another one. When I was finished with that book, it'd be like the next time the book cart comes that week, there was one it was about this stick, it was called The Power of Mind by Ernest Holmes. And it just blew me away. The whole process of changing your thinking and, you know, that what you think about, you bring about, you know,

like I've been through some cognitive behavioral therapy kind of things, you know, where you create, you know, you create your core and what are your values and those kind of things. But, you know, that your thoughts become words, your, your thoughts become words and then they become actions, you know, and it's, and I started to really, uh, develop that sense. And so by the time I'm getting ready to finally go for my sentencing, my attorney asked me, he's like, the FBI really want to talk to you. I'm like, what? I could, you know, I'm getting six years. I go talk to the FBI. I got nothing to tell him. And what, what am I going to do? At the worst, at the worst case, I get one year off and then I go in and everybody knows I'm a snitch, you know? Right. And so, So that was my thought process anyway.

And so I'm like, no, I don't have anything to talk to them about. He goes, just talk to him, just talk to him. So they delayed my sentencing one more time. And I went in and I'm like, okay, what? He goes, well, first of all, is there any money left? You know, did you hide any money? Is there any money left? I'm like, no, I only got like 20 grand out of the four banks.

And so I'm like, no. He's like, I go, what? He goes, how did you pick your banks? And so I explained to them that they used to have a web page, an FBI most wanted web page for bank robbers. And so you could look up on there, all the banks, and you could sort it out by state and then by city, and then you could sort out by weapon or they got away. And it would say it would read, and how long ago. So it was kind of like a sorting protocol for bank robberies. Right.

In the area over a given. The banks. Thanks to Rob paid. That's what I used it for because I'm like, well, this makes sense. They were rough three months ago, two, three months ago. They went in without a weapon and they got away with the undisclosed amount of cash. So that tells me there's no guard there, no, no security. They don't have door locks or they lock you in the bank and they all run in the back or anything like that.

And so I did that. And then so I explained that to them like, ah, interesting. And then I use Google Maps, you know, like I just, the first one I, already had a plan to get out walking, but the rest of my eyes, you'd Google Maps. Like, I looked for banks by a little construction site or, you know, those kind of things as I'd drive by, but places that the bank wasn't, there were obstacles around there, so they couldn't see where I came in from, and they couldn't see where I left when I went out. They didn't have any other photos of me other than just in the bank and leaving the bank.

That's it. No photos of, you know, buildings around me or anything like that. So I just I shared that with them and but I was so nervous because you get those 513 whatever 513 B. I don't know what it is that basically says you cooperate it. Oh, oh yeah, uh, uh, uh, 5K1 or a rule 30. Yeah, that's that 5K1. Yeah. And I like, you know, this is going to give me one of those and, and I'm like, ah, and then everybody's going to think that I had someone else on my cakes and then they're going to know.

so they um when they were when i was getting my sensing they paused the stenographer and they paused the recording of the court case for them to say i cooperated i was very cooperative with them and and so forth and um i ended up getting 28 months nice so i'd already done a year in the um 28 months and maybe i wouldn't have got maybe i I would have gotten that anyway, you know, I don't know, but it just, like, everybody was so nice to me. Like, I don't understand. Like, even in prison, everybody was just so nice to me, even in prison.

Like, I think the harshest, I almost got to fight with my, my, my celly, well, he almost whooped my ass over some little spat, you know, but he's six-foot-poor Missouri boy, you know, and he was working on that 400, 400, 400, you know, squat, dead left, and bench press. Yeah, big arms like this And my room was Well, I mean, I'll go to that later So I got 28 months I already did a year

And then you do the Everybody goes to Colorado And then I ended up going to Latuna In El Paso For I did I only did like nine months there Nine months in Latuna

And I was in low, medium. Just a real fucked up place. Yeah, that's what I heard. Yeah, all the guards that can't make it in other places can't figure out how to get along with the guards or the inmates there, they go there. That's their shit place.

And so you have a it's just a messed up place. But, yeah. I was just smiling because I think about the first thing I remember the first thing someone said to me when I got to Florence was, that's not our table, bro. stop you know how fast you were going i'm going to have to write you a ticket to my new movie

the naked gun Liam Nissan buy your tickets now and get a free chili dog chili dog not included the naked god tickets on sale now August 1st I was there was only two people in the they're pods right so they're like these triangle pods and you got those stainless steel tables with four stools around and then you got the four TVs and there was only two guys two white guys sitting at a table and so I go and I sit at this table over here he's like that's not our table bro like I wasn't sitting at the white

table right so yeah yeah interesting yeah you need some characters man it's just force was crazy I got I was watching one of your interviews and it was they were talking about like when you have when you have somebody you think like please

don't I can't stand that person this person drives me nuts that's exactly who you get put with you know like when you start thinking about it, even if it's in a negative way, that's what happens. And this guy, he was completely just tweaked, even though he was sober. He's walking around and you know how they are. Like, oh, man, I can't believe. Can you believe it? My wife slept with my three sons. Can you believe it? I love that bitch, but I love her. You know, just pacing, walking around, pacing the whole time, like all night, all day. And then one time my system, I'm like, well, dude, why do you, why do you even

writing to her now anymore. But then I'm at, you know, because I'm intruding on his thing there now and he looks and he, you think you want to get involved in this? You want to get involved in this? Like, you know, like, okay, no. No, you're right. Yeah, there's a lot of mental, a lot of mental issues going on in prison. Yeah.

Like, I had never, other than a few drug tanks and one night in a holding cell for the check thing, I'd never been, you know, in any kind of facility or anything. So, like, I had no prison sense. I had no idea what, you know, like, I used to joke with my friend. Like, I'm like, because I would go to Walmart when I was drinking a lot and still the big, the big bottle. Like, every two days, I still a big bottle. I did that for about six months without getting caught. And then it's like, dude, you're going to go to jail.

I'm like, I don't go to jail. Like, because all these things that had happened to me. me in my whole life. I'd never. Yeah, you're getting away with it. I kept getting away with it. Yeah. I mean, the Jury thing, yes. I mean, that was, but then I went to a, you know, I went to a placement. I didn't even do like, and then the churches got dismissed. I'm like, I don't go to jail. Well, he was right. I just went straight to prison, you know. Yeah.

Yeah. Did you get halfway house? Yeah, three months halfway house in Phoenix. I, um, halfway house was, uh, halfway house was, I almost rather have done my three months still in Latuna than to go to the halfway house because, you know, I don't know where you were in a camp. I couldn't go to a camp. No, I was in a lot. I was in a medium. I went to a medium for three years. Then I went to a low for like nine years. And then I went, I did seven months and a halfway house. Oh, wow. I would have rather been in the prison than prison. But I needed a halfway house. I needed to get a job. I had to say, They've money. After 13 years, yeah. Yeah.

For sure. Yeah, there's no money. So, you know, but the problem, like you said, the problem is, the halfway house, it's so overly intrusive. It's just much, much worse, it's a much worse place than the prison. Yeah. And where I was in El Paso, they had, I wouldn't say that everybody sticks with their own race. You know how that is, you know? Right.

And then the ones that aren't allowed. to sit at anybody's table, they all stick together, you know? Right. But the people I came across in El Paso, many of them are, and they get funded by the federal prison system to keep taking hormones to complete their transition. And so because they're in that transition phase, any kind of, any kind of violence against them is a hate crime, a federal hate crime. And so they're almost, they're almost to protect.

class there in El Paso and like just everything blew me away anywhere anywhere in the pedal system yeah and I'm not saying there's wrong with people taking hormone or anything like that I'm just it just it wasn't what I thought you know like I thought like man you know because they're just walking around and you know everybody's got their hustle so like you could sell to them but you couldn't buy from them you know and and uh what was your husband I mean mine I caught the real estate class, you know, and I wrote stories for people, but, you know, nobody felt like anybody paid me for the story, but spent my time writing stories. I spent my time doing the real estate class. And then, you know, people would send me money, you know,

on the street a little bit, yeah, a little bit there, for the most part. But that's it. Like, that's it. Like, I didn't, but I didn't really go to can, I mean, And I really go to the commissary. Like, I would get coffee and creamer to get coffee and creamer, you know, for, I'm sorry, for coffee. But I also taught the real estate class. So people would, if they wanted a certificate, if they didn't want to go to the class, and I said, great, give me, like, coffee and two creamers. So I always had a ton of the coffee and creamer.

Worst case scenarios, my mom would send me money. But I also, like, I option a couple of guys, a light. rights to their stories so that okay i also got a couple book deals so that also paid me you know i got some advances so i had a little bit little chunks of money let's face it you get a check for $3,500 in prison you're going to be okay for a while yeah yeah you know and that's i don't think a lot of people i don't think a lot of people understand too like um i don't know states the same way or not but feds you pretty much have to pay for everything like if you want toothpaste unless you want those little clears and the toothbrush that lasts like a day in a bar of soap, but everything

else, like shampoo and everything else you have to pay for. And my job paid me $15 a month there. So, you know, that's like, do honey buns. What was that? Yeah, I had one job paid like $23 or $26. Did that for a while. And then I had another job that paid like 80 or 90 when I was at GED tutor. But for the most part, yeah, the jobs don't pay anything. Yeah. Yeah. And, The ones, you had to have a lot of time to get the ones where you, you know, they have the prisoners making the whole land security trucks, putting all the enhancement on. Unicorn, yeah. They got paid very well, you know, but $14. My parents, my parents didn't even know where I was.

They knew I got arrested, but they had no idea where it was. I didn't ask him for money, so I never had anything coming in on my books. He just can't survive on $14 a month, man. There's just no way, you know. Not if you want to eat anything. decent once in a while because you know everybody's cooking food and and um we didn't have microwaves we had uh 204 which is water at 204 degrees just under boiling so yeah yeah no microwave yeah no microwaves but my my cellie he made a what's that you could make coffee

with it you can make coffee or you could take uh you know something and and put it in there and heated up for a while, like wrap it in cellophane, like a trash bag and heat it up. The people have stingers? Yeah, stingers, but the cell, the way it was where I was at is they had two parts to Latuna. So they had, it looks like it was an old Catholic mission that got converted over. And so they built a new pod area, which is kind of like where it was in Florence with the different pods and regular cells. and then they had one area where it was two long hallways and then you had gates at the end of each hallway

and then the CO's little area there and the main exit out in a bathroom on the inside. But there were no doors, no doors on the rooms. So anybody just come walking by could peek in or whatever and there were four-man rooms. So same-sized rooms but four-man rooms. So you can imagine, you know, you had about this much between this much between the two bugs and about maybe four feet to walk the bed because you

have four lockers in there you know top well two top and bottom and uh yeah it gets pretty tight in there yeah yeah yeah can't just get high can't just get eye for yeah yeah yeah people have to you want to change somebody has to walk out of the room just for you have enough room to kind to move around just to put your pants on yeah yeah yeah and it's it's amazing how well everybody has their locker memorized. Like, if one little thing is moved, like, they know, like, someone's been in my locker. You know, like, they know, like, the toothpaste has turned sideways or something, you know, like. Or the cops would come and search the lockers. Yeah, they would search. And so we didn't have doors. So we weren't even allowed to have buckets in our room. Like, because people

would get stingers. They would make them out of, like, coils out of, like, vacuum machines or, you know, and then so my cellie had a sting he used to make real cheesecakes like with an actual yogurt kind of uh he had a kicker he would make and he would let the yeast the yeast grow into like real actual cheese and then drain it out and oh they're amazing um you guys are amazing in there they got to admit they come up with some amazing stuff like the the creamer cheesecakes were all right everybody sold those but my my cellie yeah the real cheesecakes So that was my house So I made

I took his leftover cheese And made like these brownie balls And you sell like 10 of them for a tuna or something like that But Yeah So halfway house Yeah I got a job right out of halfway house And I went to halfway house

You have to get a job So At this point I'm feeling good You know like I remember when I first got to El Paso My cellie looked at me and he said Now never forget this Like if he was out there somewhere bro

Thank you He said, is this what you're going to do with the rest of your time here? Just lay around, just wasted away. He goes, you know what you do here is going to be exactly what you do when you get out of here. I'm like, all right. So, you know, that kind of like started the process. You get up every day, you make your bed. You know, you get into that routine of starting to take care of yourself.

And actually for the first time, started to feel like a little self-respect and some goodness. about myself, you know, like, just, I've always been kind of this insecure person, you know, very chatty, but like, when I'm done, then, you know, leave me alone. I'm all by myself and in my head. Right. And, like, I just felt like I was walking taller and, and, uh, feeling good about myself. And so when I got out of the halfway house, before my probation officer even came, I already had a job. I was working at a Jackson's, and they love felons because they get a tax right off. So I was going to, I was changing oil and washing cars, you know, and send them through the car wash. And I did that for about a year. And, um, and just got my life together. I got

it. My credit was fine by then. So I got a car loan and had a car and started dating. I dated this girl for about three years. And, um, that went to crap. But, you know, stayed clean. And, and, uh, I just kept but the process of taking care of myself. You know, like I went and registered with the VA for some PTSD classes and, you know, there's a lot of help out there if one needs it and wants it. You know, I think you have to be flexible because nothing's going to be tailor made to every specific person, but I had issues from the military and things like that. And, you know, every time I turned, they were there for me, you know, like they, and I went

to Fed, um, federal probation. court. Well, federal probation, but it was vet court for feds. And Phoenix was the first one to do that. They have it for state, like a lot of vet courts and state, but there's not many federal. And so if we're doing my two years of probation, they knocked off a year. I don't know if they do that in other programs, but you go there and the judge and everybody pledges allegiance to the flag, and you have the judge there, you have your probation officer, you have a VA representative, you have the district attorney that's there and you have another person and you have just people there that want to help you get on your feet.

And so the judge is absolutely amazing, Judge Silver. And she starts out and she's basically like, so what do you need, Scott? Tell me how it's going. What can we do for you? Tell me what you need. And let's see if we can get you, keep you going. And so it was just my whole experience with everything in the system is just, for what it was, you know, I mean, for being in prison and that kind of thing. Like, I had,

to me, it was like going to a rehab that I just couldn't leave, you know? Like, I didn't have any problems with anybody. I never got in a fight. I never, I never had to run away from a fight. You know what I mean? Like, I never had to, I just never had a problem. You know, like, it was just in the same way with probation, you know, and I'm just very grateful for that. Like, I think, I think a lot of people come out and they effed the police and this and that, you know, everything I got arrested for, I did, you know. There wasn't one thing that I got nailed on me that I didn't deserve to have nailed on me, you know?

How did you end up in Mexico? So I got out, my probation ended in November of 2020. So I got out in 2018, my probation in 2020. And I just started watching YouTube and I was like, You know, I have no money, basically, you know, no money. Everybody told me I needed to file a claim with the VA for my first disability. And so I started that process, and I just started watching YouTube. And, like, they gave me a certain rating and then eventually got upped because I realize I guess I am a little nuts.

But, and so I was watching and I just, I was like, shit. So my girlfriend, I broke up and I went on one last tear through Las Vegas, which I don't even want to get into that. That was horrible. But I'm like, you know what? I guess I got to go. I got to go. Like, just be somewhere where I can be my myself and nobody around me. And I went and I applied for a one-day passport.

I went down the passport agency. And they told me no. They go, we can't give you a passport today. I'm like, what? And so they had never released me in this system. them from being off federal probation or anything like that. So they had to get an email back from D.C. or something. I got my probation officer, you know, my probation officers.

Anyway, text them or whatever. And so I went back the next day. They gave me my passport and I was gone the next day and came down here. But I love it here, man. It's just, it's so calm. The area I'm at is, like, there's no crime here. Right. Like, you know, is, in Mexico, there's not a lot of crime in Mexico anyway, you know, like, except bad people doing things of bad people, you know, like, in that sense.

But, but here, there's, if you hear about a house getting broken into, like, that's odd. Like, it's considered the third or fourth, safest city in the country, in the world, basically. Like, it's safer than Amsterdam and I think only one other place, like maybe British Columbia is, you know, on the other top two or three. and the people here the other night we went and I was having dinner and I left a little change you know a little thing with my cards and change because you get all these pesos and everything here and I left out on the table and I forgot and I come back like 20 minutes later and it's sitting right there all the money's in it no one even touches it no one even touches it to turn it in they just leave it I mean they're just it's just an honest kind place you know I don't get mail

I don't get telemarketing calls. I don't get nothing. Like I just take my money and I don't leave the house a lot. So I take my money and I go and I swim in the pool, which is in the area. I'm like a 750 square foot apartments, two bedroom and I pay with utilities and everything like $4.50 a month. Wow. So, yeah, it's amazing. You should come visit.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, basically you just go to the beach and hang out at the pool. my girlfriend she you know I still I still have moments where I just go and like I could disappear for a month just in my house you know so she'll come and get me and take me shopping and you know that kind of stuff but but um yeah I love it and so I think that one of the reasons I wanted to come and tell this like I don't think my story is so extravagant or you know I didn't I didn't do so many horrific things I think like it would make a great book or anything

or that kind of stuff. But I think there's a good message to be said that if there's someone else say this, too, that, you know, from, I've started over so many times, Matthew. Like, I've gone from nothing, like so many times in my life to back up, to back down, to back up and to back down, and then to come out of prison. And the girl I dated when I got out, like, before we went to having the first date, I told her, I said, look, I robbed four banks. You know, you have a 15-year-old daughter.

We had talked on the phone a little bit. I said, but you have a 15-year-old daughter. You're going to invite me into your home. I think you should know this before I come into your house. You know what I mean? And meet your daughter. You know, like, I mean, it just seems like the right thing to do. And, like, we talked and she didn't unbeat my probation officer.

I still chat with my probation officer now. Like, you know, this, the process I went through in Florence and the process of changing the way you think and making it a part of a part of who you are not just it's easy to say like I hear these people on YouTube or wherever talking about oh it just manifests a thousand dollars do this over here and you know

if I think about wanting a car so much like I could say I manifested coming to Mexico because I put three years into thinking about it into a plan to get here right does that make sense? Yeah you know I didn't know how I was going to do each little

step along the way but it became my focus. It became my purpose. And I never had a purpose before for anything, you know, like, I think I heard you talk about it on one of your other interviews about having that purpose is, is a big motivator to keeping you moving in the right direction, you know. And if my purpose is doing drugs, I'm going to go on that route. But if I keep another purpose, you know. Yeah, definitely. And I feel like I'm sorry, I was going to say you can, you know, basically, I think it's like you could withstand you know anything if you have a purpose you know right there's there's a yeah there's a well there's that book that purpose driven life and then there's um a book by uh victor frankl he was a

a jewish guy in the concentration camps and it's called a man's search for meaning and um and he just talks about making yourself almost to the point where you're transparent and everything is your purpose You know, like, if I want $1,000 for me, I mean, that's an ego-centered kind of thing. You know what I mean? Like, if I pray to find $100 on the ground, I'm really praying for someone to lose $100, too, right? Like, I mean, that's a very kind of selfish motivation. But if I want to do something that can enlighten or help or motivate other people to or just bring a smile to their face, you know, and that's my purpose.

Then good things will come to me. You know what I mean? Because it's not an ego. It's not an ego thing. It's a soul thing, you know? I don't know if that makes sense or not. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. I feel like we've so thoroughly investigated this matter. Thank you. Thank you. Tada. I'm grateful. That's what turned out of it. I'm grateful in a good place, man.

I'm very happy. I have a, I have the things I'm trying to do. There's a thing here that's legal in Mexico called Ibogang, and it's phenomenal results. And they take people, they go on a three-day treatment. You can go in addicted to heroin right then. You don't go through withdrawals. If you're an alcoholic, you won't go through the DTs or anything like that. You come out and you might have a follow-up in two, three months and maybe one or two every couple of years, but completely kicks the habit.

Completely. Alcohol, heroin. So I'm in the process of trying to work out some things for veterans to come down here to Mexico and just kind of have a calm way of living. And it's legal here in Mexico. It's not in the United States because there's no money in it because it's made out of a natural source, kind of like cratum or, you know, so. So I'm hoping that works out. you know and uh yeah yeah the drug comes drug and alcohol uh companies can't or the uh rehab companies can't figure out how to monetize it they're right yeah there's no way to monetize it yeah because you don't need to keep them there 30 days like someone could um and they have treatment centers here in mexico already someone could come and spend three or four days here and go back not addicted and not have the cravings and not have the urges and and find a sense of uh the wholeness You know, like when I talked about just felt like I had no soul, you know, you find a sense of wholeness in you and, you know, and it kind of takes away that need to medicate. Yeah, that's not going to take.

That's not going to take root here. No. And I just want to say one other thing real quick, like to anybody else that might see this or whatever, if you see this and I know I destroyed a lot of lives in this process of the getting here. I mean, I really did. My parents and other people, people I stole from and that kind of thing. I just, you know, I'm very sorry. I apologize. You know, it's a long trip getting here.

And so, okay. Well, yeah. I don't know about destroying their lives, but you've affected several people's lives. Yeah, yeah. I had to spread it with you. So, yeah. Well, hey, I appreciate you. I appreciate you contacting me and coming on.

And I appreciate you doing the, uh, doing the interview. Hey, I hope you guys liked the interview. And if you did, do me a favor and subscribe to the channel, hit the bell so you get notified of videos like this and leave me a comment in the comment section and thank you for checking out the channel. See you.