Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - My Last Day In Prison | Everything Changed

Episode Date: March 9, 2024

My Last Day In Prison | Everything Changed

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and it was just real quiet. I was kind of looking at the prison. I remember my brother, because he was looking at me in the rear of mirror, and he said, you're glad to be leaving that place, huh? I just think I shook my head, but I remember thinking, It seems weird to be saying this. I knew I was going to miss all those guys. And I felt horrible that I was leaving and I knew they were still there.

Hey, this is Matt Cox. And this is a continuation of my, I guess, really, it's just of my story. This may be part 14. It may be part 25. vibe. I'm not sure. Colby's breaking it up and all kinds of different things. So at this point, I'm going to go back. I just, the last video, or the last two videos, I explained about my lawsuit with Ephraim Devoroli and Warner Brothers over the movie Wardogues. So let me go back to me when I first got to the halfway house.

So I kind of explain how part of that, how that went through while I was in the halfway house or while that was happening during prison and the halfway house. But let me explain about the halfway house. I'm sure people have heard about halfway houses before. So what happens is just as, you know, you're coming up on your last, whatever, year of incarceration, you know, typically if you're lucky, your counselor will put you in for a halfway house. and the reason you need halfway house is it's important I may have said this in the last video or two

but it's important you need it so you need it because one obviously it helps you reacclimate to just society in general and there are little things that it seems silly but like after like 12, 13 years in prison there are little tiny things that you stop

or that I stopped doing just because it's frowned upon in prison you know like saying please and thank you like guys don't say please and thank you in prison it's it's a yo let me get some sugar or you got some coffee yeah let me get some and that's just everybody talks like that

if you don't talk like that then essentially you end up getting pegged to someone who's super soft so you have to walk around all the time acting like I don't want to say like a tough guy or like a you know But you just lose all of the, you know, the social graces or your, you know, the grease that helps people not kill each other, I guess, in society, which is, you know, pleasantries and things. Well, initially it was, I don't know, did I tell the sandwich story? Have you heard me talk about the chick at the gym with the sandwich? Listen, it was so bad, it was so bad that, you know, this is, and this just really is kind of like, it's very much a prison mentality, which bothers me because I really didn't realize how bad it was for me.

And I'll go into the halfway house in a second, but I'll just give you an example of how, just how mentally disturbed you become or, you know, altered as a result of being. prison for so long and honestly like I wasn't in a super tough prison I mean I'm not saying people weren't getting there weren't lots of fights and people weren't getting stabbed but you know I started a medium which was you know is a rough place but there are rougher mediums obviously and there are there are non rougher mediums right like I was in an average medium like it wasn't super soft but it wasn't hard like you didn't have to run with a gang but if you didn't run with a gang like you better not get yourself in trouble because there ain't nobody back in you up. Now I'm lucky because I didn't get in trouble a lot, you know, or very much or nothing I couldn't

get myself out of, you know, like I didn't gamble, so I didn't run up debts. I didn't borrow from anybody. And I didn't allow myself to be, you know, beholden to anyone. So I'll give you an example. Like when I got out of prison, I ended up getting a job, I'll explain. I got a job with my buddy and and I'm not like an aggressive person by nature I consider myself maybe I'm assertive like I go after what I want but I don't think I'm aggressive in any way and my assertiveness had very much turned to aggression where people were constantly like friends of mine would tell me like bro you're like super aggressive like you don't realize how aggressive you are And I'm like, what are you talking about?

They're like, even that, like, that, what are you talking about? Like, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, oh, you're just overtly aggressive about everything. So I don't really tone it back. And, and, and, and I was like, no, man, I'm just assertive. And they were like, yeah, you're, you're, you're overboard. It's not assertiveness. It's, it's aggression. But in prison, that's normal.

Like in prison, I'm soft as cotton. And I'm, and, and I'm, you know, I'm saying, hey, man, can i get some of that you know uh what uh what's going on with so and so yeah well how come well why why do you do that bro like i mean it's just super like aggressive and it was just so i i really it took it takes you a while to kind of tone it down it was and i still had that mentality like i went to so i tell you one of the things at the halfway house they give you a when you go to work every day you get you get breakfast for free right like they give you breakfast you can pay for extra stuff but they give you breakfast and then when you leave for the day they'll give you a bag

lunch so when you go to work the reason they do this is they don't want you to leave work they're like we're giving you a bag lunch because you don't have permission to leave and go to you know you can't you can't go to a restaurant and come back you have to here's your bag lunch stay at work and eat and they're going to call several times during the day so you better be there or you may have an ankle monitor on so they give you a bag lunch well i remember one time this this this uh woman was leaving the gym where i worked she was going to get um she was going to get lunch and i'd been there for like two months and she was going to get lunch and she said to me she was mad i'm i'm getting i'm going to get lunch she was she was you want

something and i went um no i'm good i'm good i've got my bag i've got a i've got a you know like i I had like a bologna sandwich. I got a sandwich. I got a bag lunch. I'm good. And she goes, no, come on. She said, you eat that every day. She was, where was she going?

She was going to Jimmy Johns. She was, let me get you a sandwich from Jimmy Johns. And I went, no, I'm good. I, I've got a back lunch. I'm good. And she said, come on. She said, you're always eating that. She was, you've got to be tired of bologna sandwiches.

Well, sometimes we've got peanut butter. So, you know, you got to be tired of those sandwiches. and I went and she I said well I don't really have money to be buying to be going to lunch like you know it's like 10 bucks to go to lunch right so I said I don't really have money to do that so I'm good with the bag lunch and she goes no it's okay she's I got it I've I've got it I'll pay for it and I and I went you know like I didn't understand I didn't you know for clarity's sake I said to her Listen

Let me be very clear about this And I remember My buddy Trian was there And a couple And like one of the other employees is there And they're looking at me like Let me be very clear I said

If you are saying That you want to buy me a sandwich At Jimmy Johns With your own money And that you do not expect that at any time in the future I'm going to pay you back or that I'm going to reciprocate by buying you something in the future if you are simply buying me a sandwich out of the goodness of your heart

and do not expect me to ever pay you back in any way yes I will take a sandwich from Jimmy Johns if you are thinking that at some point in the future this will come back to you or I will be beholden to you in any way please do not buy me anything i have a bag of lunch i'm fine and i remember my buddy trion looked at me just like what the fuck is wrong with you and she looked at me and she just kind of smiled and she goes let me buy you a sandwich at jimmy johns you don't ever have to pay me back and i went i mean okay i don't know i'll take whatever whatever you want to get me that's fine you know

like that's how clear you kind of have to be in prison because someone will give you something in prison and you think maybe you've just been there maybe six months or a year maybe someone's putting money on your books you know or I'm sorry on your account so you can buy stuff so you're not realizing how desperate people's situations are and the prison economy and and what taking something from someone means so maybe one day you're in prison and you run out of uh you run out of coffee and you could turn to your your celly or the guy in the cube next to you which you've talked to all of 10 times in the last two months or six months and you go hey man you got any coffee and they go yeah i got yeah i got some here you go oh bro can i get

some coffee they go sure they give you some coffee no big deal you get a little bag of instant coffee keefy coffee and they give you a scoop of coffee and you go okay and you know you drink your coffee you know what does that cost 15, 20 cents for a scoop of coffee. The bag's like $3.50, right? So you get maybe 20, 30 bags. So, you know, what does that break down to? 20 cents, 25 cents.

So he gives you a scoop. No big deal. You know, you don't care. It's not a big deal. You don't think anything of it. You certainly do the same for him. And come commissary, a couple days later, he comes to you and he says,

yo, bro, I need to give me a bag of coffee. and you go, oh, okay, for, all right, why am I getting your bag of coffee? Yo, man, you borrowed coffee from me the other day. You got some coffee from me the other day, so give me a bag of coffee. It's like, you gave me a scoop of coffee out of your bag. Like, that's 25 cents. A bag of coffee is 350. So, or maybe you just say, you shrug it off, and you go, yeah,

Man, sure. Oh, yeah, no problem. And you get them to $3.50 because maybe it doesn't matter to you. The problem with that mentality is you're like, oh, it doesn't matter. I got people put three, I got my wife or my kids or my buddy Jimmy who's putting $300 a month on my books or something. So maybe you don't care. The problem is that that guy ends up kind of joking about it or telling people about it.

And now people think they can ask you for stuff. You kind of get that, this guy's a sucker mentality or a sucker reputation. So what ends up happening is if you borrow something from someone, you've got to be super clear. Hey, bro, let me borrow a thing of coffee and I'll give you one back, a cup of coffee back or a scoop of coffee, whatever you want to say. You know, when I get my commissary. So I'll get you a scoop back. But that's it. and they're like yeah yeah that's cool bro or they say hey man you know what don't even worry about it

i don't even want anything you sure yeah i don't want to no no man it's a scoop of coffee it's nothing okay cool we got an agreement we have an understanding if you don't have that understanding very clearly it can go bad for you and if you're not some super jacked up fucking guy then you've got a real problem because you've got to be super clear all the time so you know because it could go bad and there's not much you can do about it And if you're not running with some gang, then you've got a real problem because there's nobody backing you up. Well, you know, like, I'm super, super clear on everything. Like, the one great thing is I have great communication skills.

So, anyway. So, but like I said, that was my, I was very clear about everything and very, very semi, I'd say, aggressive. So when I got to the halfway house, listen, when I got to the halfway house, I weighed 150 pounds because the last six months of prison, so I was 185. The last six months of prison, I weighed 185 pounds in prison. Last six months, I thought, you know what? Like, I'm going to gain some weight probably when I get out. You've heard of the freshman 15, right? Like you go to college, you either lose 15 or you gain 15 pounds.

So same thing with prison. You get out, you either gain 15 or 20 pounds, you either lose 15 or 20 pounds. Well, I thought, you know what I'm, I know, like I don't eat a lot. So, but I am probably going to be out there. I probably will gain some weight. So I better go ahead and start losing some weight. So I went from 185 pounds, I was probably closer to 190, all the way down to 150 pounds. I weighed 148 or 149 pounds.

I think like the morning I live. left the morning i left prison i remember so when you leave prison if nobody so let me jump back i'm all over the fucking place anyway there's a lot of things to cover so what what happens is the last whatever year a year before you're scheduled to get released your counselor will put you in for a halfway house now i'd been locked up so long i should have gotten a year but there were a lot of things happening with Trump and with a lot of there were a lot of laws Trump had signed it signed some stuff where he'd signed a I don't know if it was a I don't know if it was a bill or I don't know if it was an I think it was an executive order where the Bureau of Prisons used to

it says you're supposed to do 85% of your time right but the Bureau of Prisons for some reason had calculated it where it was, people were doing on average 87.5% of their time. And so you were supposed to get 54 days a year and you were actually getting like 46, 47, 45 days a year or something, good time. So off of your sentence, if you're good, if you behave well, they knock some time off. Like it's supposed to be 15%. It wasn't. It was like 12.5.

So, and they supposedly, you know, Obama was going to correct it. he never did you know everybody was always going to correct it right well i'm going to fix that now well they never did trump got in there he signed it he said yeah that's ridiculous it says 85 why aren't they calculated so it's 85 from now on well what ended up happening was because of that there were people that had six months a year years of of good time that had to come to them and so if you did 15 or 20 years then suddenly bam you get a year off or x amount of time off so guys were being thrust into the halfway house and initially I was given I wanted 12 months but this was going on at that time and I knew it was probably going to get less than that I remember I got like nine I want to say

nine and a half or 10 months halfway house and I was like that's not quite what I expected but that's fine so like a few months like probably you know it was really messed up about this I called my mother and told her I was coming home on a certain date so at that point i was writing talking to my brother on the phone and telling him like hey man i i need clothes sent in because if you if you leave you're going to leave half you're going to leave the halfway house i mean sorry you're going to leave prison with just what you have like you're going to be able to walk out with like sweatpants if you might have some sweatpants and a t-shirt so i'm going to the halfway house and sweatpants and a t-shirt and probably

like they're a guy like or tennis shoes i guess you could probably and tennis shoes like you you can buy stuff like that on commissary so and i did have some of that stuff stuff that was okay to wear in prison but if you saw me walking around in the sweatpants that they give you they're like sweatpants from like the 1980s like they're like real sweatpants they're not like the cool sweatpants we have now and the sweatshirts are like sweatshirts like the t-shirts are like they're pretty much fruit of loom or haines or something they're all right uh and then the Tennis shoes are just really, you know, kind of just basic tennis shoes, which I had crappy, basic tennis shoes. So I would have been leaving in that.

And if you don't have anything like that, which some people do, some people have nothing. So those people end up leaving with, you know, they'll actually, Bureau of Prisons will give you a pair of blue jeans, which are blue jeans that, I swear to God, they're like something that a poor peasant in, some peasant in. you know, Guatemala would be wearing like, I mean, like they're just straight leg, you know, like cut out, like stitched through, I mean, they really, they're that bad. And they'll give you like a brown t-shirt that is probably 10 years old and 60 inmates have worn it. Because they recycle the clothes. So when you get there, you don't get a brand new uniform. You get a uniform that somebody else wore for four years. And then when he left, it went back in the pile and they wash it and they fold it. And here's just. your uniform so you've got i always love it when you watch you ever see like uh orange is the new black or any prison tv show they come out and their orange jumpsuits are bright color like they're like a bright orange i ain't ever seen a bright orange uh jumpsuit in my life like i've never you it's it's always you're like okay so they order that off the internet and they had this guy put it on like if they want to make it look right they got to wash it about 600 times

lay it in the sun for about five or six weeks beat it up really bad cut some stuff off because you'll get a jumpsuit and the legs will be too long so guys will cut off six or eight six or eight inches of of you know or you'll get the nice thing is when you get to prison you get you get regular like like a uniform um I tell you what though what you don't realize is the sizes are all fucked up so I remember when I got there I ordered like I was at that point I was heavy when I first came into prison I had already lost some weight um and when I first got there and I ordered I got I ordered like a like a size like a waist like a 32 inch waist because I was you know maybe 33 and I said yeah 33 and the guy looked at me and he goes he goes man they like the sizes

run small. I went, okay, and he said, you sure you want a 33? And I went, yeah, man, I wear 33. I'll be all right. I've lost some weight. That's what I was wearing, 33, 34s. And he goes, all right. So he gave him to me, listen,

those pants were like a size 30. I mean, I was sporting a camel toe for about two weeks. I got three pair of these pants, and I'm walking around with like a camel toe for three weeks. The first three weeks I'm in prison, Not a good look for a soft, looking for a soft white guy in a medium security prison. Like, I was very popular. You know, everybody wanted to be my friend.

You know what I'm saying? They all want to, I'm getting guys offering me tennis shoes and stuff. It's not a good thing. It's not good. It's like, you need anything? No, I don't need it. I'm fine. Look, I got, the pants are too tight.

It's not what it looks like. So it took me about two weeks to get new pants. Somewhere like a size 38, and they're okay. They're like slightly loose, you know, it's. Um, it's not funny. It seems bad. It's a bad situation, bro. So what, what happened is I, so I remember when I left prison, I started, I called my brother and I said, hey, can you send me in some blue jeans and, you know, I got a t-shirt, like I'll wear a white dress. I need some blue jeans or an antenna shoe, something. And he goes, yeah, yeah, that's fine. He goes, what size do you wear? And I went, man, I don't know. I mean, I've lost so much weight. I went from 185 down to like 150 and I was like I don't know Mark I don't know and he goes yeah you know what he is it's okay he said I know your measure I know how tall you are in what you weigh I'll ask tell my you know his daughter my niece he goes she'll grab you some he goes we'll go to Walmart we'll grab you some pants I said okay no problem so he sent in a size 30 or 20 I want to say 20 28 or 20 maybe it was a size 30 probably size let's say size 30 and I remember when I got them

and I saw that they were size 30 when I and this was when I got them in the I went I was in the um I went to art what's called R&D receiving and departure so when I went to R&D and I saw the pants and they were size 30 I thought fuck I'm gonna have to wear my sweatpants I put on the size 30 I shit you not I could all put on a size 28 waist I was that small I had no I put them on I was like oh my god I'm gonna need a belt like this is ridiculous how fit like wasn't that bad but they were they were loose uh and I remember thinking I'm gonna give some weight it's okay it'll be fine so but what happens is you have to pack up all your stuff and go to R&D you get a you so let me let me jump

let me jump back so I told my mother I was leaving on a certain date which was going to be like sometime in it was like in in October supposed to leave in October so when I wrote I got the form and I sent it off to my you have to continually contact talk to your your counselor about doing stuff like hey I need to get money sent in or hey I need to arrange for a ride or hey I need to you know so i ended up going to my counselor and the coordinator that releases you and at some point i went there and i said hey listen i need to get my ride approved they have to approve the people to come to see you because like i guess they just i don't know why i don't know why it doesn't matter it's so stupid because like you could basically have anybody pick you up and then drive down

the street and all your buddies could jump in the car and which people do but my my brother was coming to get me and my brother and my brother and my sister-in-law and my mom were coming and but I think my sister-in-law wasn't approved so I was trying to get her approved so I kept going to the counselor and going to the coordinator and saying hey look my sister-in-law I need to know because I don't want her to show up and me not be able to get in the car with her and she was like yeah yeah well there's plenty of time I was like no there's not like I'm leaving on you know on Tuesday and the coordinator looked and she goes you're not leaving for a couple more months I went what and she said I would no I'm leaving October whatever it was you know

October 12th or whatever and she went no no wait a second she pulled it up she was no you're not leaving until uh January 9th and I was like what she said yeah you're leaving January 9th and I went no I I and I explained it to her and I said I go I can show you the paper and she goes hold on she goes oh yeah it got changed well nobody told me that my mother thinks she's coming to see me next week and and she's like no oh no no she's not because trust me that's that's not yeah so yeah oh well sorry I mean listen you know not I didn't give a shit really I didn't care about staying in a few more months. Like that, that didn't mean anything to me.

But, you know, the fact that, that, you know, I told my 90-year-old mother at that time, I think she was 90 or 91, told my 90-year-old mother that I was, you know, and every time I talk to her, when are you coming? When are we coming to pick you up? You know, it had been like that for over a month. So now I got to tell her, hey, look, I'm sorry, this is what happened. You know, there's so many people at a halfway house, they pushed a bunch of people's dates back. And so a few more months go by, at least by that point, I did have some clothes sent in, which was great. You know, I pack up all my stuff. I go to R&D.

The, you know, you go early in the morning. You know, I go to R&D. I had to drag all my stuff to R&D, which was I had so much legal work and just, you know, legal work, books, just tons of stuff that I wanted to bring. And I had mailed a bunch of stuff home already. So I'm dragging it there and I remember I got to R&D and the COs and R&D can't work with inmates. Like that's how you end up in R&D because you've had so many problems dealing with inmates or just people in general that you end up working in a place where all you do is paperwork. So I get there and I say, hey, I'm here. What, you cocks?

And I was like, yeah, I'm cox. And they, all right, yeah, Cox, go over there. You're like, all right, so you go over there, you stand here, you wait, you wait. They strip search you because they don't want you to sneak anything out of the prison. Because apparently we've got great stuff in the prison. We want to sneak out of the prison. Then they go through all of my stuff. Now, I've got tons of stuff.

It took me two trips to get to R&D, where I had to drag stuff across the compact. So if you want to know how large a compound is, imagine like a city block. Like, I mean, it's like a large park in the middle of the compound. So I have to drag all my stuff. Then I have to drag it back, another load. And so I finally get to R&D. And so they look through all my stuff and I go, okay. And then I'm sitting there and they're like, all right.

And then they wait and they wait. Then they come back. And then they fingerprint you again. They give you another DNA. I remember the guy. in front of me they make you they make you this is funny

they make you tell your chart like what your charge is they're like a Cox what's your reg number you know 40171-018 they're like all right what are your charges

I go it's you know fucking bank fraud wire fraud money laundering passport fraud identity theft I said I there's a bunch of other ones

financial institution fraud, government document fraud. And I go social security fraud. He goes, all right, Jesus Christ. He goes, all right. So I remember you do all that and you're waiting. And then I remember there was another guy with me. And they go, okay, what's this? And so they talk to him a little bit.

And he gives him their reg number. And then he goes, what's your charges? He goes, man, you know what my charges are, man. And he goes, now, what are your charges? The guy ends up saying, and you know, this is a guy who I'm sure the entire time he was in Coleman had been telling everybody he was there for something else. And he was like, and he goes, speak up, speak up. And he had to tell him like, child. I'm not going to say it because I don't want the algorithm, but child, whatever.

And he tells them what it was. You know, he had some bad stuff on his computer. and um and i just remember thinking like i'd never really talk to the guy but i just remember thinking wow like i never i wouldn't have guessed it well i thought you were here for i thought he was there i thought he was there for like drugs or something you know he didn't look the type so and the guy was like all right and so he stands there so then i he go i remember he went his family showed up first so he laughed or whatever he was going to a bus station or wherever and they took him then like 30 minutes later then then i go like they were like hey cox you're you're a

your family's here and then they're like you know who's coming to get you what are their names it's like man cut the shit like let me go so i tell them and then they go okay well r and d is a detached building from the front of the prison like there's multiple layers of security and so i have to go from r and d i have to go like it's like 400 feet to the next building and i went all right and i grab some of my stuff i said i'll have to come back for that and he goes he goes now you ain't coming back. I said, yeah, bro, that's my legal work. I have to come back for it. And I said, I can't carry it. We've got to carry it all at once. And I go, like, I mean, we're talking about like four, we have like four duffel bags. Like, I can't, I can't drag these. Like, and the duffel bags, they're

not even duffel bags. Like, there's like a duffel bag. And then I ended up having, I ended up having, like, a couple laundry bags. Like, you can't drag them. They'll tear. They're shitty laundry bags and I went no I can't I said well then I need to borrow one of these dollies and they have those big bins you know where you can throw clothes you know they're like a big square made a canvas with wheels I'm like well I have to borrow one of these they got you you ain't taking that and I went what am I supposed to do with my legal work and he goes we can chuck it we can throw it away and I went I'm not throwing it away it's my legal work i'm still fighting a lawsuit i'm not i'm not doing that and he goes well then you're not leaving

i said well then i won't leave i said tell my family to leave i'll stay and he goes well you're going to stay in the shoe i said like i ain't never fucking been to the shoe i said been the shoe like three or four times i said i'll go do some shoe time i don't care i'm not leaving away without my shit and he sat there he was like all right well grab that bin loaded up i ain't helping you load in the bend like you know there's such pricks so you got throw it in the fucking bend and i throw it in the in the bin and then we wheel it out wheel it out to the car go you got to go through multiple layers like there's a sally port they buzz you in one door they buzz you out the other you know they check you they look at your ID again they ask you who you are again what's your reg number

it's like oh my god like I'm with two guys here so get all the way the front My brother's there. Hey, what's up? And, you know, obviously, I hug at my brother. We grab my stuff. They won't let me take the bin outside the front. So my brother and I have to take my bags. What the hell?

So I end up going. My mom's in the car. And it's, you know, she's, by this point, she had had a stroke. and so she couldn't walk in the last probably year she was probably the last year to two years she was coming to see me she was coming to see me in a wheelchair and so obviously I see her I hug her I get in the back of the car and pack all my stuff in and we're driving um and I remember this happened to me every fucking time I tell this fucking story I remember being in the back of the car and driving and the prison was you know it's getting small and I can see it for the first time well not for the first time like I think I'd seen it from a bus before you know I'd seen it but like it's it's getting further and further away and I can see it and you're you know and there's like multiple layers of the prison there's you're you're as you drive down a lot of long street and there's signs and there's this and there's this prison you can see the

girls prison and you can see the other prisons you can see the pen and so you're driving you get all the way out of the complex and you pass the thing and you're driving and you can kind of tell where you're passing where the prison is where they're where they're the whatever the lands that they own and I remember my brother saying um because I remember I was it was so quiet in the car like I don't think anybody knew what to say But I was sitting in the back seat with my mom, and my brother was in the front seat, and my sister-in-law was in the other seat, and we were driving, and it was just real quiet. I was kind of looking at the prison, and I started tearing up.

And I remember my brother, because he was looking at me in the rear of your mirror, and he said, well, I guess you're glad to see that place, or you're glad to be leaving that place, huh? And I was like, yeah, I just think I shook my head. But I remember thinking, it seems weird to be saying this. But it's not like I was like relieved to be leaving as much as I was sad because there were so many people that I liked there. And it's like all the friends that I had were in that prison. You know, I have a friend named Pete, God, you know, there's, you know, there's a guy named Donovan Davis, there's, you know, there's tons of guys, Jesus, there's a guy named a Dennis Caroni, which I can't stand. But, you know, I saw him every day and we hung out and, God, he was irritating.

And, but, you know, I, I knew I was going to miss all those guys. and I felt horrible that I was leaving and I knew they were still there. And, you know, it's survivor's guilt, I think, that, you know, you, I don't know. Anyway, I just felt bad. Hold on. So it's just survivor's guilt, I think, from, you know, you make it through some. and you feel bad for the people that you have to leave behind. Yeah, so we drove, and I remember my brother said, you know, are you hungry?

It was probably 10 or 11 o'clock. And I think they give you, like, it's funny, they give you like an hour and a half. Like, Coleman's an hour and a half from Tampa, and they give you an hour and a half to get to the halfway house. and I've known guys that have taken like two or three hours to get there when they had like an hour and a half and they showed up you know three hours later they stopped and they're like oh what are they going to do you know I'm just going to show up I'll be there today they get there and they violate them immediately and send them back to prison so well they don't send them back to prison they actually put them in like a

holding facility in the county the county has a holding facility for people to violate for the feds they'll hold them there for two or three months go in front of the judge and the judge will send them back to prison and then they'll do some more time at prison and go back to the halfway house they'll be back in six months because they were late uh so i knew i had like an hour and a half i might have had two hours anyway i remember driving and i we drew or my brother drove me there and we drove and we we were going and my brother said uh what do you want you know what do you want to eat you want to stop me get something to eat i was like yeah

I want to, and I remember I've been thinking about this because people ask you a lot when you're leaving. Like, what do you want to eat? What's your first meal going to be? And, you know, guys are always like, oh, I'm going to go and I'm going to get a steak. I'm going to get this. And I just wanted a cheeseburger from McDonald's. So like a cheeseburger, and I don't mean a big cheese, like a little kids cheeseburger and french fries and a Coke. a fountain coke because i hadn't had fountain coke in like forever so anyway we went to

mcdonalds and they were still serving lunch i mean it's still serving breakfast they were still serving breakfast so i couldn't get that so then we pulled over and we went to like a cvs or something and i think or something like that like a drug store maybe walgreens or something and i pulled into a walgreens and i got a ben and jerry's uh pistachio ice cream and so i ate the pistachio ice cream on my way to the halfway house we got to the halfway house went in the halfway house dragged all my stuff in the halfway house left some of it in my car in my brother's car went in the halfway house they then searched all my stuff that that i get because they want to make sure that you they want to make sure that you're not sneaking in drugs into the halfway house

and the halfway house is just like a prison there's not as many later of security, but they still, the people that, they run it worse than a prison in a very real way, because they're searching you constantly. The great thing about prison is in federal prison, you don't really have to have any interaction with any staff members or guards, you know, correctional officers or anything. Like, you can go months and months without ever talking to them. You're basically on your own. You know, they announce it's time to eat and the door is open.

You go to eat. You know, you go through the whole thing, you eat, you put your plate up, you leave. leave, you know, they might search you when you leave randomly, but if you walk out and you're in a t-shirt and a pair, you're in your uniform slacks and a t-shirt and you don't even look like you could possibly. They're not going to search you. They search guys that are walking out with like two jackets on who are, you know, and look like they got something. Like, I almost search this guy. So I almost never got searched. You just have very, there's no real need for interaction. So anyway, I leave and I go to the halfway house. These people search my bags.

They give me a piss test immediately. And I know tons of guys that have on the way to the halfway house, got stoned, got to the halfway house, failed a piss test. They immediately violate them and send them to the county. They sit there for three months, get in front of a judge. Judge's back to jail for six months. Then six months later, they come back to the halfway house for a month or something. Inmates are idiots. Like, I mean, they really are He built some of the nation's largest banks out of an estimated $55 million, because $50 million wasn't enough, and $60 million seemed excessive. He is the most interesting man in the world. I don't typically commit crimes, but when I do, it's bank fraud.

Stay greedy, my friends. Support the channel. Join Matthew Cox's Patreon. I'm in the halfway house. The halfway house is set up. There's probably maybe 100 people in the halfway house. It was, I went to the one on Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa, Florida, and it was, it's run by the goodwill. So the goodwill runs, they have a contract with the federal government to run a halfway house.

Maybe six months to a year prior to me getting there, you were, they, allowed you to have a cell phone wasn't allowed a computer you're allowed a cell phone so and they have to check your cell phone on a regular basis they'll check it they'll check it randomly throughout the week you they have a list and suddenly they call you get you bring your cell phone here you bring your cell phone they pop it open they check it and they check it every time you come in and leave the facility it's outrageous they and they scroll through your stuff like they'll go through all your pictures like there will be people that will take pictures in the halfway house they'll give them a shot if they do it again they'll violate them they don't want pictures inside the halfway house there were guys

that guys would take a selfie in like the bathroom of themselves and they would find that and that's it oh that's it's like bro i'm i'm in the bathroom it's like me and you can see the mirror like you can't see any doesn't matter so search my stuff give me a piss test i'm fine um that They put me in a room with, it's got eight beds in it. Most of the rooms have about eight beds. And eight to, I think some of them have like 12, 10 or 12. Anyway, so they're like 100 people. So I go into one of the rooms.

And they have men and women there too. That's another thing you'll get violated for. A lot of guys will hook up with the girls. You can't really hook up with them because you're just being watched all the time. But maybe they'll go on, I'll both leave to go to, I'll explain it. and they'll hook up outside or something somebody they'll find out bam violated um so i go in i end up getting get into a room it's an eight-man room it's me and seven black guys and i had actually been in prison with a couple of black guys right because guys are coming from all over like you might be

in california but your release date or your release area or um district is is in florida and you end up at a halfway house in Tampa, even though you did all your time in California or Oregon or wherever. You end up in there, but I happened to be, I was with a couple of the guys that were there. So I walk in, they're like, what's up, Cox, how's it going on? I was up. So that was cool. I have my bunk, which was not a great bed, but compared to a prison bed, it was great. You get one locker.

You have to put all your stuff in the locker. What a pain that was to try and just literally half my locker was completely filled up with just like paperwork books. So I remember I got to the halfway house. And as soon as I walked in the front door. So I was still waiting like to wait for. for them to bring me back to do the urinalysis. I was waiting and I remember I looked probably

up, maybe it was probably 75 feet, maybe 100 feet away because it's a big room. They call it the day room. It's this really just big open bay room. And all the women's rooms are on one side. I want to say there's probably four women's rooms with eight beds a piece

in those rooms. And then the rest are on the guys' rooms on the other side. So so maybe there's 35 maybe 30 women and 70 guys something like that maybe less women but i remember looked across and i saw this chick sitting with another woman and some somebody else some guy there's a bunch of tables there like there's a bunch of couches as soon as you walk in there's a bunch of couches and a TV, and a TV. Just past that, there's a bunch of little circular tables with maybe four chairs around them.

There's probably 10 of those, maybe 12. And there's also a TV there. And then to the left of that is a hallway that leads to where they dispense medication and the kitchen. And then on the right side is an area where they have a class. like a it's like a very miniature version of the art app of like a drug treatment class so i get there to the halfway house i look over and i see jess which is the chick i'm i'm currently i'm currently because you know just currently um she'd love that so uh my girlfriend that i live with i saw her in the halfway house so i saw her with this other woman and somebody else some other guy and i

saw her and i remember looking at her and thinking just like like i got to get me one of them um so but i remember sitting there in the halfway house and thinking while i was sitting there i was like there are three things i need to work on one is i've got to get a vehicle two i go well i got to get a job first then I got to get a vehicle and at some point in the future I got to get a girlfriend and I have no phone like you have no idea

you just have nothing you have all these things you need to do and you need to acquire and I had nothing I did have a few hundred dollars like I think I had like $300 I actually had

prided myself that I was going to get out of prison with no money none like i expected to walk out with like 12 cents on my books like i was telling everybody they were like where you're going to work i go well i'm going to try and get a job but i mean if i if i don't get a job and you know apply it some places but i'm on a job within a few days or a week then i'll go work at macdonalds and everybody was like man you ain't going to work at macdonald and i'm like yeah i am said i i want to work at my i wanted to work at macdonalds because i remember thinking

I want to work at McDonald's so that for the rest of my life people could I heard somebody complaining I could say listen bro I got out of prison and worked at McDonald's for six months and then I did this and then I did this and then I did this

so I don't want to hear how hard your life is or how you're not happy with your current job or whatever you don't like it change it you know like I started at the bottom nothing a pair of blue jeans some sweatpants 300 bucks in my bank or my

I wanted like no money in my bank account working at McDonald's and McDonald's gives you a uniform right so like you can go there and get a uniform like I didn't need anything you don't need anything McDonald's is geared toward you starting with nothing so I was excited about it I looked at the whole thing as like an adventure right

like this is all an adventure like it's fun like the worst that happens is I go back to prison and I remember thinking I was going to bust my I have no problem busting my ass for a year straight like I'll do nothing but work and and save my money and make it a game make a game out of it well it ends up what ends up happening is I pick up the phone I felt but you know obviously I'm going to try and get a regular job first I'm going to make that attempt but who's going to hire me so I go to they have pay phones in the halfway you don't even have your cell phones they got pay phones right you know I don't have a cell phone so I go to the pay phone pick up the phone

and I had the phone, I look up, or I get the phone number to Coulta's Gym, which was funny because it was one major road away from where I was. I was on Hillsborough Avenue, and one major road over is Waters Avenue. So I knew that the gym was about, about two miles from the halfway house, which just a fluke. and I had grown up with some guys, a guy named Trent Coulta, Trian Coulta, and Troy Coulta, and their father owned a bunch of gyms, the gyms that I worked out as a teenager, and into my 20s when I was in college, I worked out there all the time, and I grew up with these guys, and we were friends. Like, I was best friends with Trent Calta.

But Trent, I knew wasn't really, he was like a personal trainer now. Trian was running the gyms. so I called the gym and said hey my name's Matt Cox and it's funny because the woman that answered the phone she's like oh Matt yeah I know who you are yeah you're a friend of Tron's what's going on I said well look can you tell him I'm in the halfway house and you know obviously she knew she must have known something I could hear it in her voice like oh wow oh I'm okay are you mad so I could tell

and I was like hey can you tell Tron I'm in the halfway house and and she goes you know what she said let me um she said yeah i will do you have a phone number i said yeah you can call the phones back like the the pay phones you could actually call back so i gave her the number and she said i'll call him on his cell phone let him know and i'd say maybe 20 minutes later the phone rang i picked it up um or maybe somebody else got it somehow another i picked i ended up on the phone with him i was like hey what's up and he said what's going on what are you doing where are you i said i'm at the halfway house on hillsborough avenue and he goes I said, you know, at the, at Goodwill.

And he goes, whoa, bro. He said, do you need anything? And I went, I actually, you know, I hate to say this, but I do. I need a job. I said, you need to save up some money to get a car. And he went, I said, I don't have a vehicle. I don't really have a way to get there. I can probably take the bus.

He said, no, bro. He said, I'll give you a job. Of course, I can't pay you much. Like, we don't pay anything. Like, they pay like minimum wage. And he said, but I can run interference for you. or with the halfway house and I said that sounds good and what he meant by that was you know I can help you move around like I'll work with you in the halfway house and so what ended up happening

was I was scheduled to work 80 hours a week at the gym so he picked me up every morning almost always late pick me up in the morning and drop me and then he would drop me off at night or someone would drop me off at night and somebody picked me up like sometimes his wife would pick me up trium would pick me up um other people the gym would pick me up you know it's literally a mile or two away so so he picked me up a couple days later he well first i got to get him approved right like you got to see your counselor and do all this stuff and i have to pay while i'm in the halfway house and you have to understand too that the halfway house takes like 30% of every of your gross so if i make a thousand dollars they take three three years

A week, they take $300. Plus, and then, of course, you also have your taxes of $200, $300. So if you make $1,000, you're lucky if you're making $400 a week, if you make $1,000, which I didn't make $1,000. But what Treon did was he paid me minimum wage. He gave them my schedule saying I worked 80 hours a week, and he paid me minimum wage. but he only paid me for maybe 40 hours 40 maybe 50 hours

and for some reason the halfway house never put it together that I was gone 80 hours plus they give you they gave me like an hour well they gave me 30 minutes to get there and get back so I was scheduled for

I got another hour every day so I'm getting I'm out of the halfway house I think it was like 80 six hours because I didn't work every day, Sunday I got off. So 86 hours a week is roughly what I was working with the, obviously the X six hours is travel time when it doesn't take that long. But so I got 80, I was able to get out of the halfway house 86 hours a week. And they would call when I get there, you pick up the phone, you call.

And when you're leaving, you call. And then they call randomly throughout the day every once in a while they would call. Initially, the first month or two, they call like almost every day. Then it starts to trail off. and so but he would pay me for like 40 hours maybe 50 hours a week but I was gone 80 and they never quite put it together that this guy is supposed to be working but he's not he's not getting the money there's just nobody to really make that you know they don't that what they do is they you get your you get in your you know you get in your your your paycheck they say

want to see your paycheck and then they want to you okay we'll go cash it and give bring us a cashier's check for the different for the 30% they okay and you're okay and you You got to make a copy, fill out of form, the whole thing. Anyway, so a couple, a few days later, maybe a week later, Triam picks me up, and he picked me up. And I remember, you know, we went, obviously, the first day I remember was nothing but me just telling stories. Nothing but guys showing up, like friends. It's funny, too, how many friends I suddenly had. Like, guys are showing up like, bro, what's up, man?

It's me, Mike, man. What's going on? I'm like, I have no idea who this guy is. But apparently, when you talk to him, we were best buddies growing up in high school, and we were friends in college. And I don't have any clue really who this person is. Like, as he talked, I was like, I kind of think I remember meeting this guy, you know. And that happened quite a bit. Trian's dad was there.

So I talked to him and his girlfriend. eventually Troy shows up, Trian showed up. No, I'm Trian, I'm sorry, Trent showed up, Troy showed up, Trent was there, like everybody shows up. So the first day or two is nothing but stories. And I was trying to say, I remember saying I got to save up some money for a car, a vehicle. And literally within maybe a week, my ex-wife called me and told me that one of the stories for these guys that I'd got, into Rolling Stone magazine it was a story it was a book it was called the the short story I wrote was called um I called it a um orange was it oxy oxy rush oxy was the first one I wrote and then I

expanded it into a book and it was called Generation Oxy and I had this I had worked with a a reporter that got it into Rolling Stone Magazine, wrote an article on Rolling Stone Magazine, and the truth is I wrote the article, and then at the last minute, the guy basically put his name on the article and really fucked me over. But ended up optioning it, and so I got a piece of that option, you know, which never really seemed fair to me, but I was in prison and I don't there wasn't much I could do. It wasn't given like much of an option. So, I got I got would get a check right but I got a check and I got to get a check for like it was like a little over $6,000 like maybe $6,000 $6,200 something like that and then so my ex-wife calls or ends up calling me and saying hey listen by this point by the way the second day of I was at the halfway house I was allowed to leave so I left I want to say I had $400 because I went to I went to Walmart My brother was allowed to pick me up, drive me to Walmart, and drive me back.

And I bought $300 worth of clothes at Walmart. And I got like two pair of blue jeans, which I still have today, size 30, waist. And I got some black t-shirts and some white t-shirts. And I got a pair of rubber boots. And what else, socks, underwear, some hair care products. That's important. Still have my brush. I still have my brush from prison.

From the medium, from the medium, I still have my brush from prison from the medium right now in my thing. I need a new brush, though, because some of the, you know, it's got the long bristles things, the long ones. and a couple of them have broken off it's time for a new but still have it I'm very frugal anyway I got a bunch of stuff deodorant whatever went to Walmart

so came back and I remember I had about 100 bucks I do remember that I do remember after I went to Walmart I had about 100 bucks left so anyway probably a week or so later after going to the gym

my ex-wife calls me on my cell phone and said you've got a check here and I went really and she went yeah you got a check here because she had been getting the checks from the other from the other options and I go how much is it and she goes hold on and she looked at it and she's like oh it's you know sixty three hundred dollars or sixty two whatever it was and I was like are you fucking serious they optioned they optioned the movie again or the the the rights this the life rights to this kid's story again and I went I was just like, whoa. I was able to take that money. I was able to go open up a bank account at Wells Fargo Bank, deposit the check, put my $100 in there,

and applied for a secured credit card. So I got a secure credit card for like 300 bucks from Wells Fargo because I had to build up my, I wanted to build up my credit. And I did that. And I took the money and I went and I want to say it was like $2,500, $2,600, I bought a Jeep Liberty, a Jeep, right? It's like a chick Jeep. So I bought this chick Jeep and I was able to drive back and forth to work. Oh, and I got a year's worth of insurance.

So I got a years worth of insurance. And when I was in prison, I had gotten my driver's license while I was in prison because, Because they have something, they call it the flow bus, right? It's the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles, you know, transportation, whatever, where they go to prisons and you can get a driver's license. So I had to take a test, had to go, I took the test, not the driving test, obviously, you're in prison. They don't want to let me drive. So, but I took the test, got my picture taken, and I had a driver's license.

And the picture on my driver's license that I have to this day is the picture that I took in prison. still same picture same thing so um yeah so i had a driver's license i i got um i got insurance got a car super thrilled able to drive to working back and uh started flirting with jess you know she was helping me with my uh with my phone i start going and i start sitting down at the table with her so in the morning i wake up you know in the morning wake up i wake up i go get my food my my free meal free you get several free meals you get free meals and then you got meals you can pay for and wasn't thrilled with the idea of paying for a meal because they take 30% of everything you make and that includes your meals but if you want extra stuff like you're like yeah hey here's your we're

giving sort of a meatloaf for dinner tonight but you can also if you want you can buy a hamburger or you can buy this or buy that so guys start spending their money on that and that just seemed ridiculous like I'm already paying 30% wish to be honest for three meals and a roof over your head 30% of your salary is not really a bad deal even though everybody complained about it it's not a bad deal the problem was they felt like hey I'm still in prison because what people don't understand about the halfway houses at least the one in Tampa you'll talk to other guys who'll say let's don't what a halfway house is like listen bro I don't know what your halfway house is like on your state crime with your state halfway house and your nice plush

liberal state but this was a federal halfway house in a very conservative district and I can tell you right now you are allowed to go to work and back you're not going to dinner with your family my family wanted to visit me they had to come to the facility you're allowed if you have to go buy something you're allowed you where are you going what's the address you have to fill out a form they have to okay it and they'll tell you who's picking you up okay we're giving you 15 minutes to be there you have one hour and 15 minutes you'll have to be back here at an hour and a half 15 minutes there an hour to spend in the store so it better not be crowded and 15 minutes to get back or we violate you and they love to violate people

love it and you're being counted three four times a day it's it's really ridiculous really bothered me when they would count us in the middle of the night they could just they would shine the light in your face and wake you up at two in the morning you're like are you serious like this is a halfway house. And there's only one way in and one way out. Like nobody snuck out. Nobody's escaping from the house by house. Do you know why?

Because if I got up and walked out the front door, they don't have permission to physically stop me. So I don't have to climb up in the rafters and saw my way through the roof and sneak out so that I have an extra two hours of time and jump the fence and get by the guard tower. Like I can walk out the front fucking door. You're not going to stop me.

You're not even allowed to stop me. So why are you counting me, us, at one in the morning? Anyway. Okay. So I end up buying the car. I get the thing, get the whole thing, see Jess. Start flirting with Jess. Because every once in a while, you know, I'm sitting there.

And the first time I ate, there was this woman that was there. Her name was Tina. Tina is, you know, like, she's insane. I mean, she really is insane. Like, not sure what to believe any. Not, that's not true. I know not to believe pretty much anything she says. Like, she, when I asked her, so we sat down, we were sitting there.

And Tina's massive. She's got to be over six foot tall. And so I see my girlfriend. Jess. Jess has got like one arm's tatted out, brown hair, weighed a buck, I'm going to say she weighed a buck 55, right? And she's like five, six. She's my height.

I think I'm taller than her. But whatever, that's, you know, it's also probably partially a mental condition that I have. I feel I'm about half an inch to an inch taller than her, but whatever. So she's about, we're both about five, six. she's 150 probably believe my weight at that point by that point I was starting to gain some weight like I've been eating um in the halfway house I got up to like ones when I left the halfway house was probably 165 so just there's 150 155 and you know we're sitting there Tina sees me this is by the way this is like the white table so everybody else is either Hispanic or black and then you have like one table of the whites

Because even though it's a halfway house, it's still much, like I said, it's really a prison. And so guys are still clicking up. And there would be like a black guy would sit at our table or a Hispanic guy or something like that. No big deal. Like nobody cares. But for the most part, I'm sitting at like the white table. So I sit there with Tina and Jess. And there were these two other guys.

One of the guys I called Snowden because he looked just like Snowden. And he was super good with computers, too. Like he would help you with your phone and stuff. He didn't want to help me, by the way. He hated me. There were a couple other white guys that were there. They hated my guts because as soon as I got there, somebody obviously had said, this guy cooperated.

Like, this guy got 26 years. He just got out of prison. He cooperated. And I knew that rumor was going around. And the other thing that happened was, as soon as I got there, the COs, or COs, whatever they call them, they knew me. And so they started watching.

it slowly went around where everybody was watching American Greed. I'd been on a program called American Greed. So they're watching American Greed. And so I remember walking by this one counselor. He was a counselor. He walked by and he looked at me and I go, what's up? And he goes, saw you last night.

And I went, what? He said, yeah, watch your show. And I go, what show? And he goes, American Greed. And I said, man, I said, who else? Who else has, anybody else seen that? He goes, oh, everybody's seen it. Everybody's seen it.

He said, we all, we all see it by now. And I was like, okay. And so then one day, a couple days later, I remember walking where the couch area was, and I'm walking by, and there's a guy sitting there watching the American Greed on his phone. So, and keep in mind, I got a phone, I got like an $80, cheap, real cheap Android phone for like 80, 90 bucks. so I get the phone and I downloaded some app that let you get free you got to watch free movies but it must have gotten a virus or something on it like everybody's like oh you were watching a porn so I wasn't going I wasn't watching a porn site it was I think it was this one app so I downloaded

the app and it kept my phone kept freezing up and just doing weird stuff and it was a cheap phone too so I would I would ask a Jess or I'd be like hey man my phone's messed up And I remember I would always ask this guy, Snowden. Now, the reason I asked Snowden was, one, he was good with phones, and two, I knew he hated my guts. But there were multiple guys that hated my guts, and I would sit at the table. And Jess always laughs to this day. She's like, you knew that Carl and Snowden hated your guts. And you would walk out with your tray.

She said, I would watch you look at them, grin, and sit down at the table. Boom. What's going on, guys? and I just start eating and you could just see it there they would just they did disgust they would they didn't want to sit with me like oh this fucking guy and I go

what's up how's it going and I'd stare at them they'd be like what's up man like they you didn't even like you didn't have the courage to go to not say anything to not to say man fuck you or man don't talk to me

or nothing like they talk around behind your back but they don't even have the courage to say something to my face. So as a result, I constantly sat with him and tried to talk to him. I would talk to him. I talked to you. And Jess would sit there and grin because she knew she's like, she's like, I was thinking to myself like, does he know? These guys don't like him. He's got to know. Like you can feel the tension, right? And I always joke because I always say, yeah, like I says, I'm a con man. I've got great intuition. So I can feel what something's not right. Very intuitive. and so I would ask Jess to help me like my phone kept freezing up like it would freeze up like every day or two and if Snowden one's there I had to ask somebody so I asked Jess and I remember Tina had had had said you know hey oh team talks with a real a real thick accent my head my I do a great Tina too I hope she didn't see that um it killer because she because in her mind she has me fooled like I remember with the story she told me why she was arrested Tina said she was arrested because she was arrested because she was arrested because she was arrested because she was

man I was running a large construction a development company and we needed money and so we asked some of the employees if they wanted to invest and they invested some of their they would empty out their 401k and give it to me and because I didn't fill out the proper forms I ended up getting charged with with fraud with wire fraud and they gave me 10 years can you believe they gave me 10 years for that no No, I can't believe that a few guys gave you their retirement and you simply didn't fill out the correct form and you got 10 years. Because the newspapers said you were running a fucking Ponzi scheme and that you were a pathological liar and that you continually lied and they couldn't believe anything that came out of your mouth and you spun them and spun them and you stole from your employees and your friends and family and lost a bunch of. of money and then when the government came to introduce to talk to you you lied to them too and you lied and lied and lied and lying as a result you ended up getting 10

years roughly 10 years it might have been 8 might have been 11 whatever I don't know I don't know this the deal with this chick is but she did she definitely went to prison for like a significant amount of time like it wasn't like two years which some people would say two years is significant but this was like it was like

it was like she ended up doing like like eight years seven and a half eight years so she had to have gotten like 10 years um and she got like a year's worth a halfway house or a year worth a halfway house so anyway um we're sitting there and i'm joking with jess and i remember joking with saying to jess one time like my phone's fucked up and then she goes okay she goes give me your phone we looked at it and she went and jess was by the way at this point jess was 32 years old? Yeah, she was 31 or 32. And she looked at the phone and she goes, what's your password?

I told her what my password was and my password ended with 69. It's like blah, blah, like whatever, you know, dog 69. And she goes, oh, 69, huh? She says, you're one of those guys. And I went, no, I said, I don't know what that means, but I said, no, but that's the year of my birth, 69. And she sat there, and she froze. And I could see the wheels moving, the calculations. And she looked at me, and she went, well, she goes, you're 50?

I went, well, I'm 49. I'll be 50 in a few months. And she goes, you're a. I'm forty-nine and she goes I go why and I remember I had said like the guys in my room right like the guys in my room were always like bro that chick likes you I was like no she didn't like me she were just she they go you eat you eat all your meals with her she's always coming up to you you guys are always talking and laughing she thinks you're funny she she likes you bro and I'm like no she don't like me we're just we're just white so we're clicking up together because

we're both we're there's very few whites here And, you know, these are a bunch of black guys. I go, nah, Cox, you don't understand. You've been locked up too long. You don't see the signs. You don't understand. That girl likes you. And I went, nah, nah, she didn't like me.

And so when Jess was looking at my phone, she goes, she looked at my phone and she went, so you're 50? I went on, I'm 49. She goes, and she went, I go, why? Does it matter? And she went, well, no, it's just like, my, my dad's like 50, 50, 53, 54. And I went, and I remember thinking, I keep mind that I'm 18 years older than Jess.

So I remember thinking to myself, I was like, like, to me, I was like, okay, well, what's the big deal? I thought, wow, like, that's, like, she does like me. Because if you were friends, what does it matter if I'm 18 years older? What does it matter if I'm 50? We're just friends. But as somebody you're prospectively thinking, this is someone I may like or want to hook up with or I'm interested in, now your age makes a difference. And she was like, no, it's my dad like 53, 54, something. And I was like, okay.

And she goes, I go, you know, she was like, it doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't matter. It's nothing. So we, she helps me and everything. But at that point, I remember thinking, this chick likes me. She likes me for sure. So I remember went back to those guys in my room. I was like, listen to what just happened. And I told them they were like, Cox, I told you, man.

Told you that girl likes you. He built some of the nation's largest banks out of an estimated $55 million because 50 million wasn't enough. and 60 million seemed excessive. He is the most interesting man in the world. I don't typically commit crimes, but when I do, it's bank fraud. Stay greedy, my friends. Support the channel. Join Matthew Cox's Patreon.

So then, yeah, so then I start text. Oh, this is the other thing. Jess was texting me a couple times a day, three, four, five times a day. for the next day no texts the next day i texted like twice got one response and i didn't get the long five or six emails five or six sentences response i got the i'm like hey what's going on how's your day going how's everything going fine like an hour later i got the one the one word response fine listen no no you don't go from us going back and forth all day i was like oh wow Okay, the 50, the 49, the 50 year old thing, that bothers her.

So then over the next week or two, she slowly started, you know. And then I started realizing, like, she has been flirting with me. And then at one point, she, I remember, I was at the gym and she texted me and she said, hey, but I didn't text her back right away because I was doing something and I didn't realize my phone had gone off. So by the time I was like 20 minutes later, by the time I checked it. And she had said, hey, are you at the gym? Is it the one of the gym on Waters Avenue? And I could text her back and I said, why?

And she said, she's like, well, I was going to come by. Because she was coming back from her job. She worked as a, she worked as a maid at a, at like a motel. And so she took the bus back and forth. and so she was like well I got off work early and my bus stop isn't far from there and I thought I might come by

and I was like well come by and she's like no I can't because it's too late now and I've got to catch the bus if I miss this this bus and then whatever I have to walk here I have to do this or whatever it's a whole thing where she had like a 30 minute window that she could have come by and seen me

and all I could think about was like why are you coming by to see me why are you risking coming by and seeing me and when i was like what that night like when i saw her i was like why you know why would you why were you going to come by and see me she's like no i don't know i just i said well like what and she goes i was just i go you think about me a lot and she was like i think about you sometimes during the day i think about you know i was just going to stop i wanted to see the gym i wanted to see the gym and i just was like no no no now there's something else is going on here

And she was like, no, nothing else. I go, yeah, yeah, you like me. You like me. And she's like, no, I don't like you. I don't think of you like that. I'm like, nah, listen, I'm a con man. I have very good intuition. I'm telling you right now, you dig me.

You dig me. And she's like, I don't know what you're thinking. I don't dig you. Not interested. She was, I make fun of guys like you. Like, I don't date. Girls like me don't date guys like you. If you think, Jess was raised in, she was raised.

Her whole family has worked for, like, like the dairy industry. So they work, you know, they work on these dairy farms. And dairy farms are, are, listen, it's backbreaking work. Most of the dairy workers are Mexicans, are like illegal Mexicans. And so her family, she's not Mexican, but, you know, her family works like her sister, like, raises cats. Her father breeds, breeds cows, you know. Jess works in the factory.

You know, her brother works maintenance. Her mother was a milker. You know what I'm saying? Like they work, they work these factories. Now, they don't all work there now, but they come and go. Her father still works there. And they come and go. But basically, she grew up in the, and on these large farms, they have houses for the employees.

So you'll, you can rent a house. And so she grew up in these dairy houses. So, this is, this is, these are not soft, nice, well manicured, um, areas where these places are. These are, you know, dirt roads. It's a rough area. Like, she grew up very poor. And, um, so she was like, you know, listen, we, she's like, girls like me make fun of guys like you.

She's like, you don't hunt. you don't fish you don't you don't own you don't own a truck you don't like she's like a cowgirl you know she's like a a farm you know a farm girl um she's like a redneck and so anyway she she was like and i was like no no but i told her i said no i said you you you like you some city boy that's what it is you like you like me anyway um she ended up leaving oh this was funny too this was funny this is classic feel like this this is so sad i remember she said we were sitting at the table one day and and one of the guys was talking about hooking up with some girl how they had met like some girl was you know whatever they he'd met her and they met in the parking lot or something

he's like yeah man like we've been meeting like for lunch and this and that and she works near me and and so it was like oh okay that's great that's great and i think was it bobby anyway so we were talking and i remember um Tina said to said well uh mad have you are you are you looking for anybody you think about dating anybody and of course you know i'm in the halfway house like who's going to date me in the halfway house like I'm like no not really I said and she's what kind of girl do you like? And she goes, I work in an office. Like, I might know somebody.

And I went, I mean, what kind of girl do I like? I said, I'll be honest with you. I said, I like the kind of girls that I like. I said, honestly, it's not what you expect. She goes, what's that? I said, you know, like I like a chick with tattoos. You know, like maybe she's got some tattoos. She's a little rough around the edges.

She's like a tomboy or, you know, maybe a stripper. Maybe she's a stripper. Maybe she's been married a couple times. Got some kids. I don't know. Like, I just, that's my, I kind of like that rough around the edges, kind of. And so as I'm talking, Jess glances up at me. And a couple of guys, everybody starts to glance over at Jess.

And Tina goes, what about Jess? And I went, she goes, what about Jess? And Jess looks at me and I went, I'd be honest with you. I said, Jess is about, I said, Jess is about 20 pounds away from being datable. and she went and and jess goes you think i need to lose 20 pounds i said no i think you need to lose 30 pounds but if you lost 20 you're datable and we'll talk about the other 10 and she goes well i think i'm fine the way i am i said right so that's fine it's no big deal i get it you like me it's not gonna happen she's i don't like you i go whatever whatever so so anyway not long after that

and she was so irritated by that she brings that up to this day so what's so funny about that anyway is that literally you have to understand she left so she let she gets on an ankle monitor she goes home and she was like hey i'm leaving tomorrow like you know like that's the kind of stuff she would do she'd go you know i'm supposed to be leaving tomorrow right and i'm like yeah i mean that's good it's good you get to go home and she's like yeah and she's giving me the girly glancy eyes you know the whole thing the whole little flirtatious like you know she's sad and you know and what do you think about i'm going to miss you she don't want to say it though anyway she leaves we keep texting she gets home eventually i leave i end up leaving so just before i leave the houseway house i'm looking for a place to stay so what i realized very quickly is that as a result of having a felony, nobody wants to rent to me. And I'm being honest with people.

When I call them, I'm like, hey, I'd like to rent a place, blah, blah, blah, yes. And then they say, well, okay, so are you a felon? I am a felon. I'm in a halfway house. Yeah, okay, well, no, that's not going to happen. Click. Like, that happened over and over again. So I'm having a real hard time.

Tina ends up telling me. she has a friend of her no she just built she she because she was working for like a company that does engineering and she said that they had just put on like a mother-in-law's quarters in these people's house that lived on Bayshore Boulevard so Bayshore Avenue Bayshore whatever it's a it's a nice it's really nice area. So in Tampa. So she tells me that, hey, these people travel like nine months out of the year and they need someone to house sit and they will let you stay for free in the back if you'll just make sure you watch their house. They'll have your cell number. You can call them, let them know what's going on. Everything's okay. Make sure the sprinklers are running. Nothing breaks. Whatever.

I'm like, like, that's a sweet deal. So I'm more like super-exam. excited. So I basically stop looking. And I tell Tina, but I can feel something that's not right about Tina. Like I know something's not normal with this woman. Like her story doesn't make sense. You got 10 years because you fell out a form, you didn't fill out the right form. Like stop it. That's not what happened to prison. I know what's going on. You're a fucking con artist. So you built a bunch of people. You ran a little Ponzi scheme just like what you pled guilty to in federal court. and you went to prison so she said so she's saying all this stuff and i keep telling her i want to go meet these people like i'd like to come by and me oh of course of course so she scheduled a time

where we're going to go meet and i at this point i can leave work like i've got it set up where trion we've got it set up with a halfway house where i have to go pick up gym equipment and pick up things for the gym and i have to go to sam's club and pick up stuff for the gym for coax or not coax, but whatever, you know, energy drinks and towels and cleaning equipment. So I'm allowed, I can leave for a couple hours here, a couple hours there. And I started being able to go to see my mother, like, twice a week. I would go see my mom twice a week, like on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the morning. I would go in, sign into the gym, leave for two or three hours, and then come back.

So, which was great. I mean, I appreciate Treon for arranging that for me. Of course, they have no idea that the halfway house had no idea where, I was going. They think I'm going to driving, you know, I'm driving to go drop off equipment or get equipment welded. Like, we had all kinds of excuses. And then I'd come back and Trion, if they called, he'd say, yeah, yeah, he's not here. He had to go do this. And you have to call in and tell him, hey, I'm leaving. Here's where I'm going. And then you call, hey, I'm back now. So I would see my mom. Anyway, so I had it a range where I was like, hey, I can go see these people that's

set up a thing. And she rescheduled several times. She was like, oh, man, they can't do it today. they extended their trip but they're going to be back on Wednesday can you do it Wednesday yeah I can do it Thursday yeah we'll do it Thursday yeah Thursday or Wednesday or Friday whatever kept getting pushed back and I was at the point where I was like Tina you don't seem to understand

like I'm leaving in in a week like I have to meet these people and so it comes down to it where at the last minute I go to Tina and I say the fuck is going on.

And she was, oh, Matt, I didn't want to tell you. I just found this out this morning. They don't want you to be. They want you to. They know me and we're friends. And they want you to be there, but they talk to their son about it. And their son looked you up and they said, they don't want, he doesn't want you at his parents' house.

I'm so sorry, Matt. And she tears up. Like she's going to start crying. And I'm like, are you out of your fucking mind? The other reason I knew it was fucked up was because Tina would send me stuff. I was like, hey, Tina, what are you working on? And she would send me stuff like,

she sent me one time a little, like a little one bedroom, one bath schematic. Oh, this is what I'm working on right now, and she sends it to me. Well, then a month later, when she was telling me she had these people's little, this little house thing in the back, mother-in-law's quarters in the back near the pool that i could stay in she sent me the same

schematic that she'd sent me a month or two before oh well yeah we designed their whole the mother-in-law's quarters it just got finished it's brand new here's a picture of it boom and she sent it to me and i thought boy that looks familiar and i checked back a month or two sure enough it's the same one she sent me before where she wasn't working on that one this was another one she was working on in a development So it was like, I know she's like, I already know she's lying. Because she also said that she was one of the models in John Palmer's, is it John Palmer? The guy who sings, addicted to love, it was a big song. And they had a bunch of models that were dressed in black with slit black hair playing guitars.

She said she was one of the models. So I went and looked up who all the models were. She's not one of the models. Anyway, and when I asked her, I said, hey, you know, it's funny, teen, I said, I looked up those models. Like, you're not one of them. She was, oh, well, see, I was like 15 years old, so they couldn't use my name. They couldn't use my name. I was underage, so they just left me off.

Listen, I've seen those models. I stopped that video. She ain't one of the models. I don't care 15 or not. She ain't one of them. Anyway, the point is, now at the very last minute in the halfway house, I have nowhere to go. just so happened that I had a friend or I had a girl that I dated I had a girl that I dated when when I was I was 19. Yeah, I dated for about a year. I dated from the age of 19 to 20. We live

together. Her name was Stacy. Stacy and I had always remained friends. In fact, I went to Stacy's wedding and actually ended up meeting a girl at Stacy's wedding and then took her like a week later I took her to I want to say Acapoco in Mexico or was it Cozumel or I don't know I took her to Mexico for like a week her name was Christy she was nice she was nice girl anyway so I took she's too tall she was like 5758 like it was never going to work but the point is is I took it like I meet her at Stacy's wedding I remember too Stacy sat me at the she goes look I'm sitting you at a table with some of the bridesmaids

there's this one girl there her name is Christy and I'm not going to say her last name and Christy is a very nice girl Matt don't get any ideas do you understand I was like of course I'm not going to get any ideas I wouldn't do that

did I ever tell you this story I listen to this so I remember I go so I go with Chris I go and I meet Christy and I flirt with Christy all night we end up I end up

we end up going for like after the wedding towards the end. I go, hey, I go, let's get out of here. Let's go get some coffee. So we go to Starbucks and we get some coffee. She's in my car, right? I had an Audi TT Quatra when they first came out, right? They were like 50, 60 grand. So it's like a $100,000 vehicle now. Anyways, super cool car. So shoot, now it's probably even more if his cars are fucking outrageous. $40,000 vehicles now are going for $70,000 is fucking crazy. So it's probably $200,000 sports car now. Anyway, point is we go to, I remember we went to Starbucks. This is what a, this is so, you love this.

We go to Starbucks. We eat at Starbucks. I mean, not we eat, you know, whatever. We have some coffee and whatever, a scone or something. We, I flirt, you know, really seriously with her. We end up going back. We get in my car. I drive her back to her car so she can get her car and go home.

We start making out. And I remember. And so she goes to get out of her car and she goes, oh, my God, I can't find my keys. I, she goes, oh, my gosh. I put them in the chair in Starbucks. I go, shit, jump in the car, turn around, drive back to Starbucks, walk up. She's in the car. I walk up to Starbucks, knock on the door.

They're just so happens. They're just like leaving. Everybody's just walking out the door. And they're like, yeah, what's going on? And I was here. There's a girl. And she goes, car keys. And I went, yes.

And she goes and she gets me the car keys and hands them to me. And I go, thank you very much. And I walk. I put them in my pocket. I get in the fucking car. I started the car. And she goes, did they have them? And I go, listen, here's what we can do.

You can come back to my place. or i said if you feel uncomfortable with that i said i can i can i can rent you a hotel room or something and she's i'm not going to let you rent me a hotel room because she had like an hour to drive or something i said and what we do is we'll come back here tomorrow morning so i said or you can come to my place stay at my place i'll sleep on the couch and i said and we'll come back here early in the morning and when they open and get the keys and she goes oh god she sat there and she goes i can't believe i can't go home with you. She says, I can't. And I go, well, I'll sleep on the couch. She's, you're not going to sleep on the couch. And she goes, oh my God. And she went, okay, look, she's, let's just

go back to your place. And I go, I've reached in my pocket and I pulled out the keys. I said, now listen, if I was a real scoundrel, I said, I would have waited until we came back here tomorrow morning. I said, and I said, they gave me the keys. I said, I want brownie points for giving you these keys right now. Because I said, you don't know how much I want to, I was hoping. I was, listen, I was this close to being like, damn, that was easy. Like, I'm just going to take this chick home. Like, it would be stupid to give her the keys now, but I thought, nah, you know what?

You get some browning port. So I gave her the keys and she was like, oh my God. She's like, Stacy told me you were just a scoundrel, like, you were a horrible person. Like, I gave you the keys. And then like a week later, I took her to fucking Mexico. for like a week and then maybe two three weeks later we broke up um you know beth she's she was a giant she was like five seven five eight she's that's she's that's huge to me so um anyway i so then back to jess so let me tell you how i end up with jess listen to this this is

good so go back to jess i'm not so oh it's a lot i'm at the halfway house i'm not the halfway house So the last minute, I call Stacey, my ex-girlfriend Stacey, I call her and I go, and Stacey had already told me if you need a place to stay, I have a spare room. And I went, oh my God. So I call Stacey and I go, hey, God, you're not going to believe this. She goes, I have the room all waiting for you, not going to be a problem. I said, are you serious? And she goes, I said, Stacey, it's so weird.

Like I feel really weird. You're there with your husband and your kids. and it's just so uncomfortable. And she was, it's not going to be uncomfortable. It's not a big deal. She said, she actually, she, listen, she was actually a nice place. And she said, I'm renting another room to a friend of mine who's going through a divorce, who's a police officer. So there's a cop living in one spare room, and I'm living in the other spare room.

And then her kids live in a couple. And listen, it's for, for, for, I'm going to call it a rooming house. For a rooming house, it was a nice room. rooming house like this place is massive she lives on two acres on a lake house was probably worth seven eight hundred thousand dollars pool so um i go there i meet her her husband and kids a couple days later i move all my stuff i go walk out of the halfway house move all my stuff out the halfway house and um yeah so then i i end up in the halfway house i mean end up in the halfway I move into her her I'm gonna say I always say rooming house you know because I did I rented a room so I'm you know I end up moving into the rooming house to Stacy's spare room and you know and so about so at the same time period I had been I had called a guy named Danny Jones Danny runs a YouTube channel called

Concrete with a K. I think most people probably know this. Concrete with a K. So at the time, you know, it was doing pretty well. It had like three, I want to say it had 300,000 subscribers. He had about 300,000 subscribers. Might have been under 300. Or maybe it was like a little, right at 300, let's say.

So I had about 300,000 subscribers. And I had called him in the halfway house. I'd sent him an email and then we spoke on the phone. I told him who I was. But I also told him that I'd written a bunch of true crime stories. And I was thinking about starting a podcast. I was wondering if he could answer some questions. So he, of course, being Danny, takes that and turns it into, he says, look, I can answer your questions.

I can, I don't mind helping you out. But he says, you really want to know if you're any good speaking in front of a camera or if anybody's going to be interested in you or your story. He said, you should come on my show and tell your story. I was like, I don't know. He said, I know I have an amazing story. So my fear is I tell my story and people start focusing on me and not really focusing on these amazing true crime stories that I've written. And he's like, bro, I mean, honestly, man, you know, you really should come on.

And you can always come back and talk about your stories. These other stories, I was like, all right, all right. So I put him off because I was in the halfway house. I'm like, yeah, bro, I can't, I can't, I can't. So finally what happens is I've been in Stacey's probably a month or so. and Danny calls me up one day and he's like listen you're not in the halfway house

you're living in someone's spare room you have a vehicle I've answered all your questions regarding YouTube and how to start a podcast and the whole thing you said you'd come on the show I haven't posted anything in almost two weeks I need

you to come and do a fucking interview with me I mean I was like fuck you I mean he like he's right like he did I did say I'd do it He has been really cool with me I was like all right bro win He's like tonight

I was like oh shit So I throw on a shirt I drive to St. Petersburg Or he always says Seminole Which is really I think Seminole Is in St. Pete but is it What did you say? Next to St. Whatever

Doesn't matter I drive there Go there I remember I walked in and he was there and I think some other guy was there it wasn't hat rack no no hat rack was there

Hat rack was there real name of Shane so Shane was there so he was there and we sat down and he goes how long is your story taken I said shit man I could tell it in five minutes I got a five minute version I got a 15 minute version I got an hour version I got a two hour version

he goes give me the two hour version I said all right so I talked for like two hours and 15 minutes and I think that video has like 1.8 million views right now within the first three months i think it got like a million views and he was you know ecstatic so i did really well that was doing really well well well at some point after it had been up for like a month or so jess saw the story she saw the podcast so people in the halfway house are passing it around and then people are still friends from being in the halfway house together so she ends up getting it she watches it

She texts me one day and says, hey, listen, I'm supposed to be coming into Tampa. Would you like to, she said, I've been thinking about you lately. And I was wondering if you wanted to, you know, get lunch or dinner or something. And I went, yeah, yeah, I said, yeah. I said, yeah, I texted her back. I said, yeah, of course. I'd love to. I said, she was, okay, well, you know, and I said, yeah, when?

And she told me, you know, oh, we came up with a time. And I said, yeah, yeah, I said, okay, well, it's a date. And she goes, no, it's not a date. I'm just saying as friends. Because she actually was dating a chick that she had met in prison. That girl lived in Tennessee. And I remember she used to always say, well, you know, we're going to end up together. And I was like, you're not going to end up together.

And I'm like, I can tell you right now you're not going to end up together because this girl's been on probation for over a year and a half and if you were going to end up together she would have come down here she can easily get her her probation transferred and she had nothing but excuses i was like look that's over you don't know it's over you're still holding out hope but i promise you she's dating somebody else like i'm doing everything i can to undermine that relationship you know what i'm saying and i'm saying it in such a way that wasn't that brass about it i was very well you know there's probably what happened you know it's not a big like a relationship in prison's probably different and you know i'm trying to be understanding but i also want to get into her pants

So, I'm presuming to be understanding when my real goal is to get in her pants. So anyway, we're on, so she's like, okay, so let's go to dinner. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, we'll do it as friends. And I was like, no, no, not as friends. It's a date. And she goes, no, no, I just, I have a girlfriend. I just want it to be friends. And I went, no, I don't want to go on to dinner with you as friends.

And she was like, well, I want it to be friends. I said, well, that's really irrelevant. I'm not going as friends. And she goes, well, then we're not going to go. I said, well, then we're not going to go. And she was, why can't we go as friends? And I go, let me, let's just, let me just be honest with you. I said, there is nothing more useless in the world than having a female friend that you're attracted to.

Like, that is the most useless friendship out there. Like the whole time she thinks she's building a friendship. All I'm doing is waiting for an opportunity to nail. like I'll it's not that hard to maintain a relationship right like with a chick you can you can text once or twice a day say some flirty cutie stuff and then at some point there's a weakening there's a chink in the armor of the relationship that she's currently in and boom you're in there so you know you're just help you know so and that's up because I'm living in a half I'm living in somebody's spare room like I mean you know I don't know

I saw like I got women falling out of this guy and every woman that I dated that I tried to date Like, I got on some of these apps, catastrophes. I mean, every time they would look me up, it was over. It was done. So, yeah, so she, Jess says, yeah, she doesn't want to go on a date with me. She's, well, forget it then. We're not going to, then forget it. I said, okay, fine.

And she's like, you're serious. I go, yeah, I'm serious. So maybe a week later, we were supposed to go again. She schedules and we schedule. She calls back. She's like, you were serious? I go, yeah, I'm serious. She goes.

I said, look, we'll go. I said, you can call it what you want. I'll call it a date. So we schedule another time. She was supposed to call me, and she stood me up. Then a couple days later, you know, she was like, I'll text you when I get off work. Well, she worked late, but she didn't text me, you know, which was bullshit. But a couple days later, she texted me, I'm sorry.

I was working late. I know that was a shitty thing, blah, blah, blah, blah. I still want to see you. Next week, next week, same type of thing happens. Next week, or maybe two weeks go by, no, she texts me, look, I'm coming. I'm going to be off work. At this time, I can meet you. can we go out and i went yes as a date just not as a date and i said let me explain to you something

i said this is a date in my mind you don't want to call it a date that's fine but it's it's it's a date in my mind she says okay whatever so then i head to the restaurant and remember my ex-wife called me and she's like why are you going to dinner with this girl that has a girlfriend that says she does not like you she's not interested in you and she's telling you it's not a date and why are you going i said let me explain something i said i'm going to go on the date i'm going to be charming i'm going to be funny i'm going to buy her dinner as we're going to laugh we're going to go to the movies we're going to hang out i'm going to be just amazing and i said at the end of the date i'm going to try and kiss her now if she doesn't kiss me we're good i know this was your chance i know i know i get it

It didn't work. You're not interested. But if she does kiss me, then I know the whole fucking time it was bullshit. And my intuition was right, and she was interested. What happens is I go to the, I end up going to meet her. And when she shows up, she's wearing a long sleeve. I remember, too, it was burgundy. It was a burgundy long sleeve shirt.

She had makeup on, hairs done. blue jeans she looked amazing cowboy boots she always wears cowboy boots and i just was like and i was like hey what's up she walks up and she gives me this huge hug and like i let go like i hugged her for a second and then let go and she just kept holding me and so kind of hugged her back rubbed her back a little bit and then she kind of let go and she smiled at me and listen i knew right then you didn't dress up like this for your friend so we go we eat she laughs at every single joke i tell everything grins smiles and i'm not that funny like it was overboard the flirtation was outrageous then we end up going we get my car we leave we get

my car my little jeep get my jeep go to the movies when we go to the movies it's packed like we can't you know you can't even get into the movies because it was opening night of star wars The new Star Wars. And so we couldn't get in. So we get back in. We get in my truck or my little Jeep, and I get in him. She gets in. And she goes, well, we're not going to know the movie.

She's, what do you want to do now? And I go, well, I want to make out in the car. What do you want to do? And she goes, and she looks at me and she kind of rocks her head and kind of shrugs. And I thought, oh, hell no. Boom. Listen, I, there was like a gap like this. Like, I'm in my seat.

And I mean, I went. I went, I was right there in her fucking seat right next to her. I mean, to this day, she'll say, I was so nervous. Like, she's like, you jumped forward and nose to nose looking at it. Like, I'm waiting for her to be like, okay, no, forget it. Like, I'm assuming it's not going anywhere. Like, even though I knew, I felt it. I thought this is our chance.

Like, like, I'm no, I have very little, the, I have very little embarrassment. me right like like it's hard to shame me or make me feel embarrassed at this point in my life so if i got right up to her she's like now what are you doing it forget it it's not going to happen i told you i would i'd be like yeah all right now i know and i'd have dropped her off but that's not what happened we start making out we made out so much for like probably for hours so much my lips were were um uh what is it were chapped my lips her lips were chapped we had to stop multiple times we were like look, we got to stop kissing. We have to stop kissing.

Like, my lips are killing me. They're chapsed there. And then boom, we'd start making out again. So anyway, a couple days later. So we, nothing, we end up, I end up taking her back. We end up making out in the back of the AMC theaters. We drove around back in the back of, like, all class, right? All class.

In the back of the AMC theaters, we end up making out, by the way. And by this time, I'm not 49. I am 50. So I'm 18 years older than her. Like, not a bad comeback, right? so fresh out of prison making out some chick it wasn't like I don't think it was right next to the dumpsters but we could have should have added right next to the

should throw in the next time I'll say right next to the dumpsters no but anyway we made out for hours and hours and then I end up dropping her off and she leaves and then you know we went to we got back together a couple days later and um you know I think we were into a hotel it's nice right and we're not messing around like I'm straight for the same thing we went to the movies that time got out

She's, what do you want to do? I said, I want to go rent a motel room. What do you want to do? She was like, oh, my God, I can't believe this. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I'm not, I'm not pussyfooting around here. I'm down to, we need to handle business here. Okay, I got a lot of pent-up sexual tension here.

So anyway, yeah. So we've been dating since then. We did break up a couple times crushing to me. And yet, that's a whole video. she should be here for that we can drag that i can drag that fucker out for two hours right then and we'd argue too because it's one of the few things we argue about one how many times she broke up with me why we broke up getting back together so you know but that could be a whole thing that could be a whole thing yeah um all right i think that's the end of my story because at this point you know

I mean, there are some other things Like I had a deal with Blumhouse productions on a thing Oh, I didn't even talk about I was interviewed by A couple magazines I was interviewed by Forbes magazine I was interviewed by What else was I interviewed by? The Atlantic did an interview about me getting out of prison

They were basically like he's a true crime writer And I've optioned several since I've been out of prison, I've optioned several books, several of my true crime books. Should I have focused on that? I don't know, whatever. I've optioned several of my stories. You know, it just takes a lot. Like I could get to a whole hour on how many things have gone wrong.

But the problem is that, and this is the thing that I know about this, just having talked to guys that are in the industry and other reporters, is that, you know, there are guys that do not. nothing but write articles and magazines and option those articles and those options never end up getting made into movies. And they'll, I remember my literary agent, he told me, this is the guy who got me the deal on Generation Oxy, he told me that he said he has authors that do nothing but write books that get optioned three or four times he was and they've sold 30 40 options and they're constantly being re-options because they you optioned in something for like 18 months and then it gets re-optioned so you said they'll have like 30 of them he is they've never been made into a movie

or or a series nothing's ever happened they just re-option them and re-option them and re-option them and they make good living writing books that are optioned and he's like they make a decent living you know and so I was always he told me this when I was in prison and so I always remember thinking so if I could get it to the point where this is before I started doing you know the podcasting or painting I'm still in prison kind of thinking about what I was going to do and I remember thinking like I could just just option shit for the rest of my life like how hard is it to just write stories and I don't even try and get the stories into into I don't even try and get them into magazines, which is really something I should be doing.

But if I just optioned these art or these stories that I'm writing on these guys and option them, like you could live your whole life just on those options. So even though I've optioned a bunch of stuff, a bunch of stories that I have, like I've, my buddy Rusini's story I optioned, Boziacs, I've optioned Generation Oxy, that one. I mean, anyway, the point is, is that, you know, I would love for those stories to be made into movies or some kind of like a series or something. And actually, I'm getting a couple of them right now are being turned into documentaries. And that gives you the ability to say, hey, to be able to point it at a longer version of the story that you can then option into. or parlay into a series of some kind or maybe a full-length feature film or something.

But the point is, is that, you know, if that never happens, it never happens. I mean, obviously it's what I want to happen, but we'll see. So I don't know where else to go with this. I appreciate you guys. Check it out or listening or watching or whatever. And if you like the story, you know, do me a favor. Subscribe to the channel. Hit the bell.

Also, there's a thank you. button now a YouTube has where you go it's it's on the same same bar that you where the likes are where it's like like and share and all those you can swivel it over and there's a little dollar sign and you hit that and it's a thank you button you can leave me like five bucks three two bucks five bucks ten or or fifty bucks something like that I don't know you can leave different amounts so that would be great if you're interested if you're interested in kind of helping support the channel let me you know make you know different content and do these interviews and continue to do them obviously i have a patreon you can join

for like 10 dollars a month you can join for 50 bucks a month you can join for 125 a month also all my books are available on amazon between amazon and borders books i think all my books are available so yeah and i'm going to try and continue this series i'm probably going to talk about some of the other books i might take the frank amadeo story and kind of tell the whole story of Frank Amadeo, which is basically my book, maybe do a multi-part series on that, possibly. Let me know in the comment section that that's something you guys are interested in.

Also, I could probably do bailout, which is another one I have. There's a bunch of books that I have, and almost all of them are available on Audible. So I appreciate you guys watching. Thank you very much, and I really do appreciate it. So see you.