Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - Wes Watson Student Arrested as a Firefighter

Episode Date: May 10, 2026

After spiraling from addiction and losing everything, including his firefighting career, freedom, and custody of his son, Jonnie Parsons, a former Wes Watson student, rebuilt his life through sobriety, faith, and relentless discipline to become a successful businessman and mentor.⁣ ⁣ Jonnie's links - ⁣ https://www.instagram.com/jonnie_parsons_official/⁣ https://www.tiktok.com/@jonnie_parsons_official⁣ https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.parsons.583234?rdid=N76vYHVh3BgLDzQ1&share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2F154RySfkHCc%2F%3Futm_source%3Dig%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_content%3Dlink_in_bio#theperfectjeanpod ⁣ ⁣ Do you want to be a guest? Fill out the form https://www.insidetruecrimepodcast.com/apply-to-be-a-guest⁣ ⁣ Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at https://RocketMoney.com/COX⁣ ⁣ Go to GoodRanchers.com and use code INSIDE to get free meat for life, plus $25 off your first order.⁣ ⁣ Send me an email here: [e-mail]⁣ ⁣ Do you extra clips and behind the scenes content?⁣ Subscribe to my Patreon: https://patreon.com/InsideTrueCrime ⁣ ⁣ Check out my Dark Docs YouTube channel here -⁣ https://www.youtube.com/@DarkDocsMatthewCox⁣ ⁣ Follow me on all socials!⁣ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetruecrime/⁣ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@matthewcoxtruecrime⁣ ⁣ ⁣ Do you want a custom painting done by me? Check out my Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/coxpopart⁣ ⁣ Listen to my True Crime Podcasts anywhere: https://anchor.fm/mattcox ⁣ ⁣ Check out my true crime books! ⁣ Shark in the Housing Pool: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851KBYCF⁣ Bent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV4GC7TM⁣ It's Insanity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFYXKK8⁣ Devil Exposed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TH1WT5G⁣ Devil Exposed (The Abridgment): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070682438⁣ The Program: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858W4G3K⁣ Bailout: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bailout-matthew-cox/1142275402⁣ Dude, Where's My Hand-Grenade?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNFHBDF/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678623676&sr=1-1⁣ ⁣ Checkout my disturbingly twisted satiric novel!⁣ Stranger Danger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSWQP3WX⁣ ⁣ If you would like to support me directly, I accept donations here:⁣ Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/MattCox69⁣ Cashapp: $coxcon69⁣ ⁣ CHAPTERS: ⁣ 00:00 - Early Addiction & First Arrests⁣ 08:00 - Toxic Relationships & Hitting Rock Bottom⁣ 14:30 - Finding Faith & Getting Clean at 21⁣ 17:00 - Firefighter Career & Secret Relapse⁣ 23:00 - Losing Control, Family & Custody⁣ 35:00 - Father’s Cancer Diagnosis & Death⁣ 41:00 - Arrested, Jailed & Losing His Son⁣ 1:03:00 - Halfway House, Marriage & Starting Over⁣ 1:08:00 - Building a Multi-Million Dollar Business⁣ 1:18:00 - Wes Watson Coaching, Fitness & Life Transformation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Not available in all states. Have you ever wondered why songs on the radio are popular? Why does certain movies get made, even though the premise seems completely random? Why are concert tickets costing you $3,000, but nobody makes any money touring? Well, on my podcast, breaking down the biz, we answer all those questions and more. I'm Seth Schachner. I have over two decades of experience in the entertainment and the music industry, and every week I talk to insiders that lend insight and expertise on the media

you know and love, past, present, and future. Subscribe now on your favorite podcasting platform or watch us on YouTube so you never miss a beat. Let's make sense of this industry together. I was on West Watson's coaching program, and then as a paramedic, I have access to narcotics. The first year we hit 15 million. Cops arrest me in the parking lot at the bank.

My oldest nephew was a year younger than me. When we were about 11 years old, me and my nephew decided it would be a good idea to go out and try what everybody else was doing. So I had watched my dad roll joint so many times. I grabbed his little box with his rolling tray and everything, and we took it out in the garage and rolled up our joint, and me and him smoked it.

And you get to see what everybody else is doing. There was a curiosity there for me, I think. And so it was a door opener for me. I remember I got in a fight with this girl. The hardest fight I ever been in with this was a six-foot black girl in middle school. And she had a crush on me, you know, and that's why, but she stepped on my brand-new Adidas. and and I'm like we got we're tussling in the floor at the school and she bit and I had to rip my back out of her mouth

she bit me I had to get a tetanus shot and then at the end of it all like she's like oh I just I liked you you know like we saw each other at the hospital and and but my mom went to the school the next day and like got me out of trouble yeah she's like hey he was attacked you know like you shouldn't be you know so there was a lot of that for me growing up was like I would get out of stuff and I think when you played sports, like I didn't get detentions and stuff. I would go to like, those on the football team, the guy who ran detention was the football coach. So he's like, Parsons, get out of here. Like, go back to class. I mean, there was just a time there where we were party on the weekends after the football games and stuff. And I go drinking with

these, with everybody. And at the end of the night, everybody's like, oh, we're going to Denny's. And I'm like, what do you mean you're going to Denny's? Like, I want to keep, like, I want to, I was the guy that wanted to continue to party. And, you know, I think one weekend, I remember, remember they said they were like yeah you know this guy was there he had some powder and and and he was like yeah you know you don't remember doing this last weekend and I'm like no he's like yeah you did this and I'm like no I never did that you're crazy and he's like yeah you did and I'm like all right well if I did it last weekend let me do it again you know and then so this is high school man I'm in like the 10th grade like I crossed the line it was no longer fun for me it was I did it to because I had

developed an addiction to it. I like that more and more. Like I slacked off on going to football practices. I slacked off on, I completely stopped playing baseball. They weren't letting me play. My performance definitely dwindled because of not practicing as much. And, you know, that was like my biggest love of my life was baseball, you know, and for me to walk away from it, something got inside of me that wasn't me. And it definitely was, you know, some people call it a disease. I call it, I was a different person whenever I put substance inside of me. And I think that that's where it started for me was my path of destruction. Because like I said, I threw away all the things that I loved.

I ended up getting into the 11th grade. I was like the end of 11th grade. I decided that I wanted to start going to work. My brother invited me to go do some roofing with them. I made like $350 that week. And I was like, yeah, you know what? I don't need to go to school anymore. I'm making $350 a week.

started buying quarter pounds on Friday and thinking I was a drug dealer and dropped out of school got to the point where a monkey can't sell bananas, right? So I was using more of the product that I was supposed to be selling and getting robbed.

I'd hang out with girls and all my money's gone and, you know, like, how does that would you be like they're taking it there? Yeah, these girls are coming. Like they knew that I had a kind of an operation going on and it was a one, girl, you know, that this happened with. And she came in the house, you know, ended up hanging out and woke up the next day. Like half of my drugs were gone. And, you know, I was missing money.

And she was gone, too. So there's two plus two equaled four. And same thing. I had people, like, I remember coming home one night, like, because I'm selling drugs out of my mom's house. Like, these people are seeing this stack of money in my, I'm pulling out, giving them change or whatever and they see, you know, where I'm pulling the drugs from as I'm giving it to them. So I came home one night and I seen, you know, we lived in, it was old Cracker House. We had window units. I see this kid lifting up the, they're climbing in the side of my mom's house and my bedroom trying to get in.

And I'm like, what the hell are you people doing, you know? They're trying to rob me. But as soon as we pulled in the driveway, they took off. I could see the lights. They're like, obvious that they're pulling the window unit out to try to get into the house. but took off to the right side. And it was, you know, I knew what was going on. Another night I was there, you know, we're slaying in stuff.

These people rolled up with baseball bats and stuff, and me and my buddy are inside. We didn't know that, you know, were coming into Rob us, but my buddies were in my bedroom. My buddy just starts fighting with this dude. They are, we go outside. My mom sees everything. My little nephew's in there.

We're fighting on the front. porch baseball bats get brought out um and we're you know having this brawl on the front porch in my mom's house and uh you know everybody scattered after that but it was you know it got to the point where it was it was a drug hole right right this same time frame when i'm selling drugs i was dating this columbian girl we were i was at the basketball court i had a backpack full of drugs i had a bong in there there was like a bottle of vodka i'm not even you know 18 years old yet this is still like just dropped out and cops pull us over my stuff as much drugs as I can.

I'm in my buddy's van. Stuff as much drugs as I can over to the side. And they pull us out of the car, found the drugs. The backpack wasn't on my purse. It was behind me. Obviously, the eating stuff was next to me. And, you know, they came to me and the girl I was dating. We were sitting on the curb.

And she said, and they said, we know it's your drugs. You know, like you're dating a Colombian girl. you got you got you know right drugs to the side of you and I'm like nah you know I always played that story you know anytime I dealt with the cops they told me I grew up with a defense attorney's son so they said never admit to anything like no you're crazy it ain't mine I don't know what you're talking about and uh I ended up going to jail because I was the I was the closest proximity to all of it and it's just funny because I'm sitting there like in handcuffs in the front of this cop car and they got this backpack and they just keep like pulling stuff out

like they set the bong down and I'm just like like, nope, it's not mine. Like, and, but it was like, you know, in the cop, I remember he said that he's like, we're going to have a party, huh? Because there was just like, all this stuff. And I was underage. I ended up, they took me to the real county jail. I was under arrest.

At that time, like, if you, for E, there was, it was like a manslaughter charge to have that. And, and then I had, you know, I'll possess PCS, the intent to distribute, like, it's like three felonies and a misdemeanor. and so going back to what I said earlier, we're like, you know, I keep getting spared. I just keep getting lucky. And so I went to go to court for it.

And it was around the time of like the Iraq, you know, things were going on in Iraq. And they said, I get him bludder in the mail, it said, no prosecute charges dropped. My arresting officer was in Iraq. So he couldn't testify. Nice. So everything was, you know, completely cleared off of my

record. And so I took that as like a blessing. And then I, you know, everybody and my family's like, John, you got to get your shit together. And so I started working for this. It was the fifth largest construction company in the United States at the time, Elmo Greer and sons. And the foreman was a, but they were from Kentucky, London, Kentucky. And he was living in a trailer on site, like he rented from one of the ranch people.

and he brought his girlfriend down from up there. And she, they were like, I don't know, what would you call that, like swingers or something? Because she's seeing me and she's like, I want to bang him. And her boyfriend was like, all right, you know, like, so I ended up going over to their house one night. Didn't know this was like in their plans or anything. Right.

And, you know, the next thing you know, they're doing, we're doing meth or drinking. He's sitting in the living room and she brings me in the back of this, you know, trailer and I'm like, rocket. Like she starts rubbing my back and like I'm 18, you know, like I'm sure, let's go. And so I, you know, banged his girlfriend in the back of his trailer in the, and Holy Paul. And he told him. He was cool with it.

I guess like, yeah, he didn't just let it happen. Did you think that he was cool with it when it was happening or? There was the weirdest thing that, you know, I'm 18 years old. She's just like, let it happen. And I'm like, all right. She pushed me down on the bed and took, you know. it was consensual. I wasn't saying no, you know.

So, but that was how, and then she ends up leaving him for me. She leaves the guy, like, he gets fired. She's, like, leaves him for me. And I don't know if she thought, like, I made, like, a bunch of money or something, but, like, I'm picking her up in my 1972 Ford Mustang, four-cylinder Mustang, and, like, picking her up, taking her on dates and stuff. And, and then the first time I told her how much money I made, she never, I never talked to her again.

I was making $11 an hour. She never picked up the phone again after that. I'm like, oh, well, I don't know if she thought I was like the foreman or making money like him or what, but. I used to avoid looking at my bank account, not because I didn't care, but because I knew there were stuff in there that I didn't understand. Subscriptions I'd forgotten about, charges I didn't recognize. It just felt messy. Then I started using rocket money. And the first thing I noticed was how clear everything became.

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RocketMoney.com slash COX. But it was fun. She was like 23 and I was 18. ended up getting another girlfriend there and holy paul she was the same kind of deal she liked doing drugs um and so like we hung out for two years um i was with her one i was going to her house i was in i just bought this new dodge ram it was a what's new to me and uh uh i didn't have a license at the time because my my insurance it got made my license get suspended but i still had this truck and I was intoxicated enough to where I was trying to go see this girl.

And she was going to the strip club or something. I don't remember why I had to leave. She was going somewhere where I was like, I'm following her, and I was drunk off some Yeager. And so as I'm trying to follow, I don't remember anything. This is what people told me. I was highly intoxicated. As I'm going to follow her,

I ended up clipping a guardrail with my truck, just clipped the rear right tire on the guardware enough to wear tore the whole rear end out of my truck i did a 180 and i'm sitting on the side of the road literally in the grass and like i said i don't remember anything i was blackout drunk but i was coherent and smart enough to when the person walked up behind me to check on me and said ask me if i was okay should they walk up they're like hey you okay i was like did you see that fucking raccoon run across the road and and and just mind-blown it like that I could think about that at the time to make up a story. But so the cops show up.

Two blonde cops. I remember, like I started remembering stuff after, like I crashed a truck. I did a 180. I'm pushing the gas because I'm like, I got to get out of here. And the truck won't go nowhere.

It's just revving up really loud because the whole rear end sitting on the other side of the road. And two blonde women cops, St. Cloud cops. I remember that. And somehow all I got was a driving on a suspended. license. They took me to jail. Oh, I didn't have my phone. So the lady who walked up to check on me whenever I crashed the car, I said, do you have your phone? I need to call my mom. So I call my mom in Fort Pierce. I'm in St. Cloud. It's like a two-hour ride. I was like, Ma, if you leave now, you can probably get here by the time I make it to the jail to bail out. And she said when she

got me out of jail that night, I smelled like a walking Yeager bottle. And yet they didn't. No DUI. Nothing. And I don't like these are like I tell these stories because it's like I don't like I was spared for some reason. You know what I mean? And so mom gets me out of that one, goes, pays rent for me. I used enough, used drugs and I was at a point where like I couldn't even pay my rent. So she gets me out of that, fills my fridge up with food. Like, come on, Johnny.

It's a new start, you know. and of course, you know, I ended up being on probation for that. So I had to stay in St. Cloud. I was on unemployment at the time because I ended up getting laid off and went on this bender and started doing drugs. I never said I would do. I was doing the opiates, pills. I was doing the benzos, like just and not remembering what was going on,

but just ran through this money in a short amount of time. And I was sitting in my apartment in downtown St. Cloud, ran through the money, had a little bit of drugs left. And that's the first time I prayed to God. You know, I was on my knees in my apartment. And at this point, my father is clean, by the way. I want to go back and say that. My father got clean three years prior. First time I were actually, like, truly, it wasn't like a foxhole prayer.

Like, get me out of this one, please, and I won't ever do it again. And it was the true, like, from the heart, tired to live in that way kind of attitude. And I felt the presence in that room that night. It wasn't the drugs that made me feel that way. It was truly something there that was like letting me know everything was going to be okay. And I ended up going to sleep that night. Mind you, like I said, my family lives two hours away. I wake up the next morning.

of my dad standing next to my bed out of nowhere just shows up and he's like hey you want to come home i'm like sure you know i couldn't pay the rent like it was at bottom right um and i went home uh i remember like sleeping on i didn't know what detoxing was at the time like i was just felt like i was had to cold or something felt like i was sick and uh so i slept on my parents couch for three days and just detoxed sweated through the sheets and um And then three days after I showed up at their house, my dad invited me to go with them to an N.A. meeting or 12-step meeting. And I ended up staying. Was it AA? NARCICs. Okay. So that was where it started for me to get clean. It was a turning point for me at 21 years old.

Some people, you know, start drinking at 21. I stopped drinking at 21. That's how it worked because of the history. It was the change of my life, the best change of my life that I ever had. me and him went to meetings for, you know, say you're supposed to go for like 90 meetings and 90 days. I did 190 and 190, you know, and every single day was with my dad. We had built a relationship that none of my other brothers and sisters got to have. You know, we would go to the county jail and bring meetings in there. And he would tell the story about how I used to steal all his wood and he'd want to beat the shit out of me. And then we told him the story of how now we're clean together and we get to come in here and share

a message I hoped with you guys. And so it was really awesome, like probably the best few years of my life. I ended up going back to school, became a paramedic, certified paramedic, ended up doing fire school after a paramedic school. And this was a time period and when the economy was slow, it was like 0708. Like, even the chief son couldn't even get a job at this point in time. Like it was, it was hard to get a job in public safety. I went to city of Seminole, took the job over there.

Six months in working over here, the fire. service, let's call it that, right? There's a lot of alcoholism and addiction in it. It's one of the, I think years, I don't remember statistics. I don't know what they are now, but it was the number one most stressful job in America, being a firefighter. Cops was like third because of, you know, you're desensitized. You know, working in Pinellas County, there was people come to Florida to die.

So that, like November through April. in Pinellas County is like the retirement capital. So like it like doubles in size from people from snowbirds that show up there. So you got all these old people there. And they're, you know, every shift we're doing car on cardiac arrest. Like you're, you can't get them back, you know. So it was like you become desensitized to death. And like you'd go back to the station like keep drinking your coffee like nothing just happened.

Right. And so it was people coped with things. And this is just my opinion on the outside looking in now. You know, they coped with it through two days off. They just drank alcohol for two days. Not everybody did this, but, you know, there's some pretty big addiction and alcoholism problems in the fire service. Like, I was in recovery, like at the time when I moved over here, like, I still was clean. I had almost six years clean.

I didn't really get connected with the community over here like I had on the east coast of Florida. And so, like, about six months in, it became a good idea for me to start drinking. Like, it became a good idea for me to hang out with everybody that was drinking on the weekends and go, you know, have hang out. I mean, Tampa Pinellas County is a beautiful area. Like, you know, go out on the weekends, go to the boat. And so, like, I was good, man, for a little while. Like, just drinking was not an issue. And then little by little, man, my dope man's phone number was in the bottom of my beer.

And anywhere I go, like, I can spot them wherever I'm at. Just the street mentality, how I grew up, like the area I grew up, like, the area I grew up, like, I have a certain character about me to where, like, I was able to find drugs wherever I went. So, like I said, it didn't take long for just starting drinking again for me to want other options. So I ended up moving into the powder again and then into the opiates. And then as a paramedic, I have access to narcotics, medical grade narcotics. So we would show up on scene And nine times out of ten

You let's say I'm giving grandma some For a broken hip, right? Well, I'm not using the whole bottle. There's still some left over And you're supposed to When you go to the hospital, you waste it. You draw it up in front of a nurse Or somebody else a doctor

And they sign a paper and say, yeah, you just wasted the rest of it. Well, I'm just realized that water looks just like So I would take the vinyl out Draw the fendos. Anytime I would give narcotics and keep it for myself and then put water back in the bottle and and you know waste the water at the hospital and You know I was at a point in my addiction at that point too where like I got pretty heavy. I started doing the the opiates Um I couldn't function without it. I got into that point pretty quick. I'd say you know five I'd say yeah I mean within within the first

two years of using again, I was I was dope sick every day. I got to the point where the, the, the, the, the, the, that I was taking wasn't even, it was just making me feel normal. Right. And, and this is medical grade, like, narcotics that, like, would kill people, normal people, and I'm, like, doing enough that would kill a horse, and it, you know, I'm just, just to get by. And so, like, I don't think anybody ever noticed, you know, I started, I did the Suboxin thing. I did, like, you know, I never did the methadone thing, but I was, you know, I was on Suboxone to where like it blocked the narcotic receptors. And my dad ended up getting cancer.

So this was, like I said, probably about five years into my career when things got bad. And then he had gotten cancer. So I'm like, you know what? Let me start looking for a job on the East Coast again. We want to go back to Fort Pierce. And so I can see my son see my dad. You know, if he passes away, I want him to spend time with him, you know, take care of him, whatever. and he was like full-blown, full-blown, you know, chemo when we ended up moving back.

I'd resigned, left on good terms, they never had any issues. I don't think anybody ever really knew. I never went back and, like, asked people, like, now. Like, they see me on social media and they're like, man, I had no idea you did all that. But I always wonder if there's, like, a couple people were like, hey, I knew you were on some shit. Like, like, because I remember, man, coming back from calls and just being, like, just tactile, disturbed, like, just skin crawling. super dope sick like sweating and like I remember taking like cratum just to like make me feel better but I have to hurry up and go upstairs in my bunk room to get you know to feel better and it just sucked

sucked sucked for sure because my two days off I was good I always I had access I didn't have to hide it from nobody anyway we moved back to to Fort Pierce I got a job at Indian River County and Vero working for the fire department there we bought a house there in Fort Pierce and four bedroom, beautiful, two-story town home. I ended up getting, right when we moved back, I ended up getting like my dream

truck was a brand new platinum F-150 because the years that I drove back and forth to Fort Pierce, you know, I put 80,000 miles on this little Honda Civic. It was like that thing was toast. I think I blew the motor on it or something is why I ended up with the F-150.

So we're setting ourselves up good. I'm back on the Suboxi. and I'm going to meetings again back in Fort Pierce. Like I got about six months clean, started working for Indian River County. Like, great department pay was not the greatest. Like I took like a $15,000 a year pay cut just to go be close to my dad. But I had the lawn business. So like it was still kind of weighing it out.

And it wasn't long. My son's mother started using again. I couldn't be with her anymore. I ended up she went back to live with her mom. and I had full custody to my son. And this is like the first time I've been single since I was like 18 before I moved back to Fort St. Lucy. So I'm on like Tinder.

Like my profile is like firefighter, you know, got the kid on my shoulders, like F-Platinum F-150. The profile was perfect, man. And it was like, and I was never like that type of guy where I could go just bang a bunch of chicks or whatever. But like I would go out like not intending to have sex with anyone. And these girls are like, we don't, I don't have sex on the first date. Sure enough. Like, it always happened.

It's not true. Sure way to hit one on the first date is when they tell you, look, I don't have sex on the first date. Okay. And it happened. But it kind of like that desensitized me to, you know, a relationship to where I was like living this life of, you know, I was clean. I was going to meetings again.

You know, my son's mother's out of the house. I got my own house. And, you know, I'm going out on dates, like trying to find, you know, a connection with somebody and they're just they're all like the girls that you don't want to talk to the next day because they gave it up so quick so the uh the the it became uh it's a hard lifestyle man the andrew shultz says uh he's like i don't even know if i like you until i fucking until i hit it i don't even know if i like he's like i i don't even emotionally know do i enjoy being around this woman because for that until that happens i he can't trust him

And when he was explaining that, have you never heard him say this? No, no. hilarious, because as he's saying it, I'm like, oh my God, it's not just me. There comes a point in life when you realize you need to be more intentional about what you're eating every day. That's actually why I started using good ranchers. Good ranchers partners with local American farms and ranchers to deliver 100% American meat straight to your door.

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Like, see you. He's saying once it's over, if he still wants to hang out with her, he's like, I like this chick. He's like, but the other ones, I like them up until we have sex. and then 95% of them is like, okay, I wish this chick would leave. Maybe that's what it was for me. But it's the 5%. Because then you can't even trust yourself until afterward. Then you're like, I really want to see her again.

He's like, oh, I must like this chick. I usually could care less at this point. Gotcha. But that's the desensitation. It's even worse now. Like, I couldn't date. This guy's a professional comedian. I'm sure he's slaughtered him.

And like, I couldn't date at this day and age. Like, I just see the way that they're, I mean, anyway. we're not going to go there but it was a hard lifestyle to live because you know there was a new one every night you're texting them back and forth and it's like you don't know what you said to this one to the other one and i'm trying to just like be normal again like i got it my house i got my truck i got you know my the career i'm doing good again and and then but it only took a little bit of time when going to hang out with these girls at bars and stuff and having dinner where i'm like hey sure why not have a drink you ever have a you ever have a um

have a chick call you and you're talking to her for about five minutes and you'd have no idea who it is no oh i've i've i've had it where this is when i was on the run where because i was match and and i don't think tinder was a thing then i don't know match was like the o g one that was like the first one right and it was it was great and i would i was going through them left and right so i had plenty of money and plenty of time so but i'd get a phone call and she'd be like hey what's up I'd be like, hey, how's it going? And I'm thinking, and I'm, and we're talking. Which one is this?

We're talking for five minutes. Who is this? I don't know who this is. And finally, they would realize they'd go, you don't know who this is. You don't know who this is. You don't know who this is. And I'd be like, listen, I'm sorry. I just, they click.

It's hard, man. It's a difficult lifestyle. I know. They don't see it from my point of view. Yeah. You know? It's hard on me too. That's where I was saying, man.

It's like, and I, and then they're like, are we together? And it's like, no. I'm not. And I see me with another girl. And it's like, there was a point in time where like the one, there was one girl that I was talking to. She's upstairs in my bed laying in bed wearing one of my firefighter t-shirts. And I bring another one home and I'm downstairs in my house like, hurried up, got, take,

took care of her and then went back upstairs to the other girl. Wow. And I'm like, this is difficult, man. I can't do this. You 44 thing. You must be traumatized. But realist, now looking back on it, it's, you know, it ain't the right thing. It ain't me.

Let's put it that way. It was at that point in time. And then, like I said, you know, the trying to keep everything in order with my son and everything, too. I had him full time. So I'm taking him to, like, my brother's house for him to watch him whenever I go to work. Like, his mother is not capable of taking care of him at this point in time. So what happens with your dad? So Pops is, he's still good.

Oh, okay, so he beats the... He was cancer-free for five years. Okay. After that. So we'll get to that. He's a big part of my story. So I ended up drinking again. I'm hanging out with these girls.

I'm going out on dates and stuff. It got to the point where it's like, well, most of these times I'm going out on dates, we're in bars, and they're drinking, so I might as well just have a drink. So same night I'm buying powder. uh the beautiful girl amazing looking girl and and i'm you know i'm like i found some powder i'm doing that and then we end up getting to the house and like i don't even want her like i just like you know she's all over me and i'm like i'm good like but that's what you know drugs did to me like it's it's stuck making me stuck especially like the more and more times like i went back to it like it just

wasn't the same for me like it wasn't fun anymore even like smoke of i was just always like like paranoid and it got to that point where it just wasn't like fun and uh and so i'm here i am i'm on a run again so ended up going back right to the opiates my son's mother and i get back together which wasn't good we ended up in an altercation not like we're physical like punching or anything but uh you know i pulled the phone out of her hand and and cops got involved DCF gets called So now DCF's involved with my son and my, me and my son's mother. She goes back to her mom's house. So here I am in the house and I'm using drugs again.

So still working as a firefighter, still got my business. But, you know, I started doing fentanyl was probably the thing that took me to my, to my knees. That was the worst that I've ever done because there would be at times like where you just get finished using it. And you're so sick because of your tolerance minutes after. using it. And so, like, you need more, like, to continue, like to, to, and I never felt like I was going to die or, I felt like I was going to die, but I knew I couldn't die, you know, it was bad, but that's what fueled my addiction was the fact, like, I can't be sick, I can't be sick. And then I got to the point where it was like, I didn't want to do f***as I had hard.

So, like, there was, it was an expensive habit. And, and having the business and having, you know, the fire department wasn't keeping up with it. So I started selling chunks of my lawn accounts, started selling equipment, just started to just really hit bottom, man, really started to roll down to the bottom. I was about a year end of my career at Indian River County.

And same thing, man. I was taking drugs off the truck. I had perfected my method, like where I took it with me to another department. And I remember they had like ketamine. I was like they just brought it on as like a new drug that we could use for because there was like it was when the guy was eating people's faces down in Miami and like he was fighting six cops. They're like, we got to have something for people like this.

So the ketamine would knock them down, but they'd still have the respiratory drive. So like you get somebody that's fighting six cops, you hit them in the leg with some ketamine. They're out, you know. It was in. So they had this new drug and I'm like, I want to be the first guy to use it. So we get a call where I'm like on the way there. And I'm like, yeah, there's, he's fighting cops. I'm like, yes, I'm using ketamine.

Like, I'm unlocking the narc boxes. We're on our way to this call because I already knew I was going to use it and be able to have some for me. Like, that's what was in my mind is like, I get to use today's the day. Like, I get to use medical grade ketamine. And so I did, you know, I ended up giving it to him. I didn't use it at work, but I ended up bringing it home in a syringe and went into this, we call it a K-hole. But I was just, you know, I've done a lot of psychedictory. You know from growing up in Florida from the cow pastures and stuff and it was very similar to that you know kind of

Anyway, so I did not resign from Indian River County for any for hurting anybody or for but I think like what what happened was it was really stupid I was still on probation I put gas in the diesel on accident one morning it wasn't high or anything right feel bad I just accidentally pumped that thing full of gas at the gas station and didn't know. And, you know, the diesel was still good enough to get back to the station, but we're switching shifts. And I'm handing over the keys of the new medic, and they got a call.

And the, the ambulance wouldn't start. And I'm like, oh, shit, I think I put gas in it. And so, like, the union director came to me,

and he's like, hey, look, you're not protected by the union yet. Like, that you can either fire or we can either resign or they're going to fire you. And I was like, all right, well, I resigned. And that was, like, kind of like, I think God intervening before things got too bad.

But, you know, I tell people that story because I work in heavy equipment industry, and I've worked in, you know, site work. And it's like the cardinal sin to put gas and a diesel. But I just blindly did it one morning, didn't even thinking about it. And so now the fire department's gone. I've only got the lawn business going. And little by little, man, where I was at with my, my addiction, like it didn't take.

It was about six months before I ended up, you know, couldn't pay my mortgage, ended up selling all my lawn equipment. I ended up blowing the motor up in my truck running down south to get drugs. I remember taking my dad to the hospital all the time. He'd call me. He'd wait until the last minute. This guy's had like three heart attacks. He's got multiple stents, you know.

So like him going to the hospital for me was like normal. So like he calls me one day. And mind you, at this point in time, he's been cancer free like five years. so we didn't think anything about it being cancer. He had like flank pain. You know, we were thinking like, oh, maybe he's got a kidney stone or something. And, and, and, and, how was he? He was 65, I believe.

Okay. And so he, I'm the one who usually took him, you know. I was like, all right, let's go. And so I take him to the hospital. And at this point in time, like, I'm using again. So, like, I had, I was high on opiates. Like, I remember, like, kind of vividly, like, just got a brand new. iPhone and I was I remember getting out of the because I got out at the hospital out of the car

and I didn't even have the case on it yet and the thing fell out of my pocket and fucking cracked on the ground at the hospital but but I remember this because it was like you know it was pretty big part of my life is that you took him he goes into the ER they put him up in a room and we're like I said I don't I'm like yeah my dad's going to the hospital it's no big deal well there the doctor comes in and he's like I was like you know how When's he coming home? You know, like, what's going on? And he's like, well, it's not looking good.

I don't think he's coming home. He's got his cancer has went to his adrenal gland and spread across his whole body. And so, like, this was the first day. Like, I literally, it was like four in the afternoon. I'm there at the hospital. I drop them off. And then I'm the one that hears this info from him after they just ran these tests. Like, and, you know, like, I don't even think they told him yet, like, what was going on.

And so, like, we're talking at the table or at the, in the hospital room after that. And I, like, got a selfie with him. And I remember because I was like, I was still, like, using. So I was, like, high still at this time. And, uh, and, like, you could see in the picture that I had with him. Like, I could just, I, I, I have blue eyes. Like, anytime I did opiates, my pen pupils would get pinpoint.

So, like, I could never hide it from anybody. I was horrible at hiding it from anybody anyway. But, uh, so anyway, we ended up explaining everything to him. Like, this was the last time that I saw him normal. like he was we were talking we were having a conversation remember sitting at the bed with him and like because for him it's just he's just his side hurts yeah he had flank pain like it was just like maybe like a kidney stone like yeah it was like we didn't think it was cardiac or anything because it was lower and um you know I don't remember the exact specifics I know that I went home my mom ended up was

there I don't know I don't remember them if they told him you know what had happened but I remember like being in tears after he told me this and and and then And like my mom stayed with him. I went home. The next day I go to the hospital and he's, he's a vegetable. Like he doesn't, he can't talk. They've got him like comatose. And like it happened quick.

Like this, this whole process. And like, and then so like my mom's talking to me in the hallway. She's like talking about hospice. And like I just remember like bawling. And of course I'm using. So I'm like, I just want to cover it up. So I remember leaving there. This is like, I think when my.

My motor and my truck blew up. It was around the same time because I hauled ass from there and tried to go to Palm Beach. And, like, I don't, this was a, it was an eco boost. One of the first years of the eco-boost, so that one of the bad things that happened to him was the oil sending unit would go bad. So the pump, the oil that pumps oil to the top of the motor, that went bad and blew the motor up. And I was flooring it and fucking driving like an animal.

So long story short, I was using pretty hard. It made it worse knowing that and ended up, you know, my mom ended up putting them in hospice and he died four days later. So it was, and obviously hospice, they take you off of your medications. My dad had everything like cardiovascular issues. He had cholesterol. He was a diabetic. So when they take you off your medicines, when you have all that going on,

like I think that happened pretty quick. And then they pretty much just give you a medical-induced, you know, You die from opiate overdose is what happens. They just give you enough morphine until you can't breathe no more. But it was probably the toughest part of my life. He ended up dying on my birthday. This will be 10 years ago this year, October 4th of this year will be 10 years that he passed away. And, you know, like I said before, like his relationship with me was much different than any of my other brothers and sisters

because of the time that we spent together because of the realness that we had together with, you know, getting clean. You know, we did everything together, you know. and I know now that he's proud of me. But that time that he passed away, I even remember being at his funeral and just everybody looking at me, like I was just a piece of shit because I was, you know, just so lit up

and, you know, I had screwing people over and steal them from my, my mom's purse. Anytime it was there, man, I was taking money from it, you know? And that's just where I was at in my life, man, was it any possible way that I could get what I needed to, for me, you know, I think it was selfish. is to get high. I mean, that's what I did.

But it was tough. It was tough and didn't have a vehicle. And then so I ended up moving back in with my mom. She moved me in on the couch. We were trying to sell my house so that I can at least make up for the months of mortgage that I wasn't able to pay. And I remember sitting on her couch thinking that, like,

I was just, like, at the bitter ends, like truly at the bottom, the bottomest body. that I've ever been in. I'd lost custody of my son, you know, through DCF. He was with his grandma and didn't lose it custody at this point, but he wasn't able to stay with me. Yeah. And I ended up getting arrested. It was the first time I've ever been arrested. And I, I thought you had arrested before, but they dropped as an adult. Oh, okay. Yeah, as an adult. At 30 years old, I got arrested as an adult. and it wasn't because of, I didn't get arrested, you know, for, like, the drugs I was using.

I got arrested for, I was, so I was, my mom had some money of mine in her bank account, and I'd come home off of a bender, and I wanted to, I wasn't wanted my money. You know, I said, Ma, give me my money. She knew I was going to go get drugs. She wouldn't give me the money. She wouldn't give me anything. And so I went into her bedroom and got her checkbook and said, all right, well, I'm going to go get my money out of your bank account. She's standing in the door

kind of like this and like kind of blocking me and I've just brushed past her, you know, to go past her and took the car, went to go to the bank and get money. And of course it had paraphernalia all over the car. I had within the car.

And so she called the cops. She knew where I was going. She sent them to the bank. Cops pull me over, arrest me in the parking lot at the bank and the drive-thru. you know, found any little piece of whatever they could find in the car. So I ended up, I had like paraphernalia. I had a couple small pieces of drugs.

And then they got me with the fraud. And, oh, battery on an elderly because I brushed past her. And at this point, like, my family was like, they were done with me. They were like, this was a blessing that I was going to jail. Like, they couldn't control me. Like, nobody, my brother was like, you know, they were happy to see it happen. And so, of course, it wasn't my fault. I'm in the felony dorm at the county jail at Rock Road in Fort Pierce.

They, about two weeks, it was everybody else's fault. You know, I didn't do anything wrong. I'm blaming everything on them. And, you know, it took about two weeks for me being in the county to, like, really clear my mind and realize that I had a problem and that I needed to get my crap together. While I was in there, I had missed, like, two of the drug tests for going, getting custody of my son back. And so I get papers served to me saying that, you know, I gave up my parental rights legally that I can't be a parent because I wasn't able to go through the process of getting his getting custody back. So he ended up being adopted by my, his grandma, which is her mom.

And, you know, I lost custody of my son while I was in there. I wasn't even allowed to talk to my mom because there was a battery charge with her involved in it. So nobody. Sorry, what about your son's mom? She's still using at this point in time. Oh, okay. Yes, she's not a incapable either. Yeah.

So she was, and I don't know if she lost her parental rights as well. Like I never really. She probably did. The grandparents got adopted. She lived with her mom. So. Well, so she's there. But technically, the grandmother has.

The grandmother had sole custody of him. And he was, I would say, like, five or six at this point. So, like, he was old enough to know what, was going on. Like, he saw, there was times where I took him with me to get drugs. Like, I was at the crack house and the hard, picking up hard. And he was in the car while I was going inside. And like, so it sounds like at the time, it was the right decision.

It was, I wasn't capable of being his parent at all. And I admit that. And, you know, there was, like, I tell people, like, I was never like a super person. Like, I never, like I said, I want to kill myself. But every single time that I've used drugs, I, put so much in my body that like subconsciously I was either it was either a cry for help like or I was trying to kill myself right like looking back on it and uh nobody uses that amount of drugs and tries to put it in their body and uh it so like I said looking back on it was it was what

needed to happen you know and and but of course it hurt still you know my mind's clear I'm in in the county um I'm facing some pretty serious charges and it was kind of done there I'm I got to the point where nobody wanted nothing to do with me. And I always, that was like a fear of mine to like get to that point. It gets hold trying to help somebody and help them and help them. You get to that point where it's like you got to go, what am I doing?

Like I, this, he's got to be on his own. He's probably better off letting you be on your own and hit rock bottom. And, you know, that's it. You know, even after like she,

you know, my mom didn't pursue charges. But while I was in Rock Road, this is, you know, a story I like to tell. is that I never really told this story, but I was in there where, you know, canteen is a big deal in there, right?

Coffee's a big deal. You know, I had, I was still talking. My son's mother came and saw me a couple times when I was in there, so I was still talking to her. I had, she was putting money on the phone. I was getting some canteen. And one of the guys in my dorm, and this is a felony dorm. Like, these guys are, you know, they're in there for something.

Yeah, yeah. And, and we had, the way that it was is you had a, a cell. with like six bumps in it and the door shuts but there was like six doors and then you had an upper upper tier as well i've been in that exact you know a unit almost identical to that so and that's the way this one was and then we were in the back corner and you know i'm in there with this like like some gang bangers and like i'm from fort pierce like i knew how to like talk to people i knew how to uh you know i came from a street area and and uh but so we the guy tends up taking my coffee and i'm on the bunk and I'm like getting around like bro what are you doing like I'm getting you know

taking my stuff like I still wouldn't you know I would still put up a fight if I needed to and so no sooner that I jump off of the bunk and before my feet hit the floor he's already hit me one time you know what I mean leaking blood everywhere like your face is the most vascular place face part of your body that's where the scar came from and so and we're wrestling around in there and of course they end up taking me out I'm going to the hospital all this was laid down. And so I'm still in jail, but I'm at the hospital. They stitch me up.

They bring me back. And I just tell that story that, you know, there was, you know, still scars on my face to this day as a result of my entire life, you know, the things that I put myself through. When I got out, nobody wanted anything to do with me. I ended up going to a prison ministry, a jail ministry, in the area that I lived. It was like a halfway house. They would take you off the street with nothing and you had to get a job. You had to get food stamps and contribute.

You had to have, I had a little bunk in the back corner. And like I said, at this point, like I wanted to change. Like I wanted a different life. So I was moving in that direction. I was reading Bible. I was reading self-help books. And I did. You know, I've jumped in there and, you know, did everything I was supposed to do.

You know, I think I did more than that. than most folks. You know, I was like my third week there. Everybody else was riding bicycles to work and weed eating. It's like my third week there, and I had like a foreman position with a company truck in the driveway. Like I moved up quick.

And I didn't hang out with like nobody, you know, smoking cigarettes. I didn't start smoking again. I, you know, like why would I start a $20 a day habit again if I haven't smoked for the last eight months? And so excelled, man, did really good. My biggest downfall for me, man is like, you know, you can take the drugs away from me, you can take everything away, is, you know, the lustful thinking and the lustful thoughts of just women, man.

Like, that's still one of the things I struggle with today is, you know, lust. And so, of course, I wanted to find a girl, and I found a girl, you know, that part of being in this program is you're not allowed to have a girlfriend. So I got caught with a girlfriend. and they kicked me out. So I still wanted to do the right thing. At this point, like, this is where I met. The girl that I was with initially was like, she was like naming our kids, like the first week I met her.

And like she wanted, you know, I was like red flag, red flag, red flag, so I moved on from her pretty quick and ended up finding, you know, who's the woman who's my wife now, who's a Brazilian girl. She somehow, like, friended me on Snapchat. She's Brazilian. didn't speak any English at all. There was a Jonathan that she went to church with that was a gringo,

and she, like, thought I was this kid, and she friended me, and, like, I started seeing her stories and stuff. So we're all, she finds me on Snapchat. She sees, like, work out pictures of me in the gym with the guys, and she's, like, hitting the, she says she didn't put the fire symbol first, but I was fire symbol in her, too. And, and, and so, long story short, we were talking. She realized she's got to learn English.

She didn't know any English at all. But she saw the pictures and she said, I'm going to have to learn English. Probably. I don't know what she thought. But it was just the whole situation was weird. And I'm the one that invited her. Like when you're talking through text with someone that doesn't speak the same language, it's great because now they got like the translating and stuff.

There was a translator app. So I didn't know that it was that bad until I went on the first date with her. We're sitting face to face. And I'm just rambling. And she's just sitting there. with a smile on her face. Beautiful girl, you know, and I'm like, you don't understand anything I'm saying, do you?

And she's like, but she had, you know, she was an amazing looking girl. Through text, everything that we had talked about through text, like we were on the same level. Like she had a history like me. She had a past like me. Like, I'll say that, that like we connected before we even met. And sometimes you don't have to speak the same language

to know that you love somebody. You know, and I think that was our part of our journey. She learned English really fast. She, uh, invited her to church one night with the pastor of the ministry and saw her. And he's like, you know, what's going on here? I'm like, oh, this is Nicole, you know, like, and, uh, he just kind of shook his head a little bit and was like, okay. And, you know, we ended up going back to the house.

He's like, hey, you know, you're not supposed to have a girlfriend. Uh, you're out of the program. And so like, I had known her probably at this point, maybe two months. And I'm like, hey, I don't have a place to live. Like, he just kicked me out of this halfway house. Like, she's like, all right, well, she had a one-bedroom efficiency. She's like, you can come move in with me, you know? And I'm like, all right, let's do it.

She had a car, you know, I didn't have anything at this point. So, like, I would drop her off at work in the morning and I have her car for the day. And, you know, I ended up getting like, I ended up losing my job as a foreman. And I had a job working site development. so I still had to get a ride to work. And this guy, Jet Romack, he used to pick me up at the halfway house, but then when I moved in with her, I had to use her car. So we hit it off, man.

I mean, she was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. She supported me. Like, like I said, she learned English really fast. Like, we were still able to communicate very well early on. I think within a year, about a year's time, she was, like, fluent English. and so I was working doing site work what I'm just thinking a green card will do that to you or a marriage life and everybody said that too citizenship will do that everybody said that too and but I mean I know you're still together telling me seven years I'm not trying to be a dick

but you know that I mean that's what these girls think they're I mean you could think I living in a different country is something else like we are truly truly blessed to have it we have. Listen, every time I hear somebody fucking bitch about the United States, I think you have this fucking clue. And here's the thing from my perspective. It's like, I can't find an American girl that'll do what she'll do. Oh, absolutely.

Ultimately, like, I don't even know how to use my washing machine at my house. I don't know how to turn it on. She won't let me. I can't wash a dish. If I do, she washes it again because I didn't do it right. Like, there's, like, things that that culture has that I fell in love with that I couldn't find, you know, I'm not saying that it's not that way, right? There might be some girls out there that are that way.

I just... You know, what's funny is I always talk about guys going to prison. I'm like, the only two types of guys that go to prison and get 10 years and get out of prison and their wives are still there is if they're South American. Loyal. Yeah. Or that guy went in with $10 million and was able to keep them, you know, in the house. String them along, yeah. Well, keep...

No, I'm like, if you're married, and... And the woman doesn't have to leave that. She stays in the house. She raises a kid. Like, you can still, you can still support her while you're in prison. She'll wait 10 years. Maybe. I'm not saying she's not banging somebody.

Right. But when you get out, she's there. Or there's only two. It's that one. Or she's South American. Yeah. There's only two. And that South American chick will move out of the house.

Go living in one bedroom. Work a fucking job, doing nails for 10 years. Come to visit you every two fucking weeks. Put money on your books. get out and be there to pick up the game. I had to call her before we get back to there, but this girl was exactly what you're saying. Yeah. So we go, I'm almost a year into my probation. I'm like at 11 months when I'm with her. She, she, I end up going to, I was almost off my probation. I owed them like 500 bucks. I got my paycheck in my pocket that Friday night.

I'm supposed to go to probation. I call the probation. I say, hey, look, I got the check in my pocket. I can't make it there. But, Can I, you know, pay you next week? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no problem. This is a couple days before Christmas. I'm getting, at this point, I'm getting my son back, like, on the weekends, like with her and with him. Like, I'm allowed to hang out with him.

So grandma's letting him come and hang out with me. So we're going ice skating. We go down to West Palm Beach, go to Lake Worth. We're driving down there. Had fun on our way back. I pull in to get gas at the gas station in Jupiter, and there's a cop sitting there and didn't think nothing of it. I didn't do nothing wrong, you know.

Pump gas, pull out of the gas station, cop follows me, turns his lights on. You know, comes over to the side of the car, says you, Jonathan Parsons. I said, yeah, and he ran my tag while I was at the gas station. Pulls me to the back of the car. He says, hey, you're under arrest. You got a warrant for your arrest.

And I'm like, really? So, for what? She violated me at 11 months on a one-year probation sentence. Because you were- Because I couldn't pay the $500 that day. And then come to find out, more to it. So, you know, after I end up getting in there, the pastor who kicked me out of the program,

the program was part of my probation. So he wrote a letter to the probation officer as well. But what it says there is money. That's why. Yeah. So she felt like there was multiple violations here. That's why she violated me. But I talked to her on the phone.

Everything's great. You know, and they don't tell you that they don't. No. They say, swing by the, swing by real quick. Yeah. Sure. Come pay. Bring the 500 and we'll violate it.

you at the same time. But there's, listen, and I say that to say this too, because that system, man, like, there ain't no, like, white privilege. If you're caught in the system, you're caught in the system. Like, there's a bunch of men-hating women that are probation officers. I hate to say it, but, I mean, they're looking to... I had five years of fucking paper. I know exactly what you're talking about.

Nobody is trying to help you. No, no, no. It's not to... You might get one or two here and there, but every... I had, like, three different probation officers, and they were all, like, trying. It's not designed to help you. like that's absolutely not what's happened. And here's the other thing.

You've got to pay probation. They suspend your license. Like, how am I supposed to drive somewhere and go get a job and pay you without illegally doing it? And then I ended up in jail for driving on a suspended. It's just the system is definitely tainted. And is it worse? Maybe for people of color?

Yes. But there ain't no right privilege with it. You're in it just like everybody else. Anyway, so they violate me. I end up going to my son's bawling in the back seat where this is right. before Christmas, we're ice skating. My wife's, she's not my wife at the time. My girlfriend doesn't have a license.

So the cops like telling her, hey, just move the car over there a little bit. She's like, no, no, no, I'm not moving nothing. You know, like. Yeah, you're not getting me. And so my brother ended up coming to get them. I end up going to Gun Club Road in Palm Beach. I'm on a VOP, no bond. So they have to, I ended up spending Christmas in Gun Club in West Palm.

and they extradite me to Port St. Lucie to St. Louis County Jail. But truly am innocent at this point. I'm telling them this, they're like, yeah, you're right, you're sure, buddy, you're innocent. And end up back in Fort Pierce, I end up going to the spiritual dorm in County at Rock Road. I can't bond out, man.

I'm stuck there. I already know that even if I have a public lawyer, I'm still waiting a month before I can get a bond hearing. So I'm in there, and she's exactly what you said. you call me twice a day. I'll make sure you got $300 a week in there for canteen. Like she was just like, every visit she was there. And that's part of like the reason why I ended up wanting to put in a ring on it,

you know, because in American culture, you're like, no, I want to test drive the car before I buy it. And, you know, you don't think, like, I was with my son's mother for 10 years. I never wanted to put a marrier. It was like, that's just a piece of paper. Like, you know, it didn't mean anything to me. But the actions this woman was taken, like kind of moved me in that. direction. And so she's, you know, I'm calling her every day. She ends up getting the church to pay

for my lawyer. They, you know, got me a lawyer. They get me a bond hearing in like three weeks. Is this the same church that called and violated you? No, this is not the church, that church. I was going to a Brazilian church with her. Oh, okay. And these people didn't know me. Yeah. They didn't, most of them didn't speak English. But I went to church with her. I wore this translator app thing, and like where I could hear in English. And like they didn't know me from Adam, but they were like praying for me and, you know, paid for this lawyer to get me out.

And it was amazing, you know. And so I ended up getting out in three weeks instead of a month or two months, whatever it would have took if you had. But that three weeks I was in there, man, the opportunity that I got to spend that time in the spiritual dorm was something that changed my life forever. that was the time when I found God.

I knew about God my whole life. I knew, you know, I believed in God. I knew, didn't know him, though, know him. And so that's where, like, the Bible became part of my life, man. Like, before I was just reading it, now it was a live living word for me. Like, it came to life for me. It showed me that, you know, I didn't know about all those stories in the Bible. Like, my son kind of was like telling me, hey, did you hear about, you know, the Jonah?

and did you know about Noah's Ark? And like, I heard them when I was a kid, but I never actually read it and got to internalize it. So that was a time for me where I actually got to get rid of all the distractions. And it was probably one of the freest times of my life that I ever got to spend on this earth. And a foundation for me as well.

And like I said, the people from the church paying for my lawyer, like that was real for me. Nobody ever did anything like that for me. Even my own family, even at this point, they still, like I had a year almost clean and sober. Like, they were back in my life. life again. Like they cared, but they would never do anything like that. And so I was felt like I was indebted to them. And when I got out, we ended up going to her church, Brazilian church more often.

We were there every day. I was serving there. I was, you know, cleaning the toilets. They gave me a key. I'm like, you guys gave me a key to the church. And it was a super powerful part of my life because that was, you know, our relationship grew, me and my wife, because we were together all the time and and and you know it got to the point where uh well i like to say that everything was happy we lived happily ever after and that's the way it worked but i ended up getting getting drunk again right probably you know a few months after getting out and she was drinking too so like i think that might have been part of what was going on uh she's not an addict or alcoholic or anything but because of her drinking i was like oh yeah i'll have a beer you know and uh man it

It didn't take long before I was, you know, at the dope man again. And it was like some weekends, like I would come home. I would tell myself, I'm only going to get one. I'd be on the job side on a bulldozer on Friday. Man, that $500 paycheck would hit the direct deposit. And I'm like, yeah, one sounds like it would be a good idea. And I'd go to the dope man and wouldn't show up until Sunday back to the house. And all the money was gone.

And that was just, that was how I rolled. And like the first couple weeks, you know, would like just neatly like fold my clothes and stick them out by the road from the house and like right and then like the second earth like and i would weas like i tell people she's the first woman i couldn't manipulate because i would try like weasel my way back in she'd like all right like that third week boy scattered in the front yard like everything everywhere like tv laying on the ground broken she didn't care if it was broken like the little bit of stuff that i had in my life was like gone and and and i truly like went back to her that time and i was like man i just don't

want to live like this no more. And she's like, you can either have that life or you could have me, but she was completely done with me at that point. So I ended up, you know, I ended up moving into a halfway house. And here, here's the kicker, too, with that, that story is that she's, she pretty much gave up on me, right? But during that time period where I was using again, she had a, I came home, my son was there. He was there for the weekend where he was hanging out. and I was we got into it I was getting ready to leave I was like you know I'm tired of this like I don't want I'm gonna go get high you know and we're standing in the kitchen of this little one bedroom efficiency she pulls the kitchen knife out you know this big I'm standing there like man I pissed her off this time like she's getting ready to like I could feel the knife like penetrating my skin I thought she was getting ready to kill me and my son's there he's like freaking out like eyes big like he still tells the story to people that this day because he remembers it and and she goes past me goes outside and pops all four tires on my car she's like you ain't going nowhere and uh and then the next day she bought bought me four new tires

um and my son there i got videos like i was going to pull that up and because i've shared that story a few times of like me and my son putting new tires on the car like him's teaching them how to use a jack and stuff uh but to me like that was that you know that was pretty powerful for her to do that that and and um you know once i once i ended up leaving that last time she kicked me out um she uh she was done she's like i'm moving to massachusetts i want nothing to do with you no more and i'm in this halfway house just trying man i'm like man this is the best woman i ever had my life i got to get her back whatever i got to do and she's like screw you i'm done i'm leaving i'm moving i'm packing my stuff up moving to massachusetts and i'm like no this can't happen so i like did

everything in my power to just keep my shit together. Like, I remember I had money. Like, and, and I'm like, on my way to the dope man. I'm like, no. Like, I had, it was like the money to either get in a halfway house or the money to get high. And I went to the halfway house. And I'd say probably two, three weeks in, I'm trying every day. She's talking to me a little bit here and there, but it ain't good.

And I'd say about two, three weeks in, you know, she called. called me and she's like come to the house and you know we had we had sex or whatever and like oh so you're just using me now huh so and and and she's like she's like yeah you know what she's like if you want to come be back with me or if you want to get back with me you need to marry me and uh i'm like all right and i'm like thinking about i'm like you know that's not what america we don't just marry people just to marry i'm like i want to make sure we're going to be compatible we've been together like a little over a year at this point on and off what sounds like you're the you're the one that's not

Well, yeah. Is that the wrong with? It doesn't sound like anything wrong with her. At all, at all. And so, like, I remember going to the pastor of the church, the Brazilian pastor. And at this point, like, I don't got nothing, man. I don't got, barely got a bag full of clothes. You know, I do have a car.

I'm working, you know. And, but paying the bills where I'm at, like, is enough about, like, what I make, you know. And so I go to the pastor, I'm like, man, you know, she's telling me I got to marry her. and the only way I can stay with her is like well do you love her and I'm like yeah you know I love her I just never thought I had to marry someone to show him I love him and then like we get to the end of the conversation like even if I wanted to marry like I can't even afford it like I can't afford a ring I can't afford anything he's like oh well I'll buy I'll pay for the certificate it's like 85 bucks at the courthouse to go get the certificate like we had like 21 bucks me and my wife we put our change

together in each of our hands and we went to Walmart and she got an $11 ring and I got $20 ring. I got a silver ring and we went and got married at the courthouse and then she let me move back in with her. She loved me still. I know she did, you know, like, but you know, it's hard for her. She's, she just, I kept doing what I do to everybody. It's just leaving a path of destruction of everywhere that I went. You know, I think that was the best decision I ever made slowly little by little from there. Like, she was working cleaning houses for somebody like she came home crying one day and she's like yeah this lady was yelling at me i'm like why don't you start your own cleaning company like you don't need to work for somebody like so she started her business she was the first one to like kind of go on

her own i'm still working running a bulldozer she started her own company um and you know i helped her with like the stuff she needed you know the english portion of like doing right filling out paperwork and stuff helping her do it and uh you know a little by little for me like you know i i slowly wanted to move up from where I was at my job. I'm like, man, I don't want to run a bulldozer forever. I want to be a foreman. I want to be supervisor. I want to be, so I, like, year by year, like, just continued to grow, continued to move up. That was, you know, within four years, I was, I was a project manager superintendent for, it was the Bright Line Railroad Project. It was the six bills. It was one of the highest profile projects at the time. I think it comes Orlando now,

but we were working on the north north and south version from West Palm Beach to Vero 136 miles of railroad and I was like one of the top producing supervisors there was guys that were like 30 years superintendents for like this largest

civil construction company in the U.S. They gave me like the all the castaway people like the rejects of the felons and like that was my crew and we would triple the production of what these guys were spitting out in a day because we had like that family kind of atmosphere.

We would meet in the back of the truck in the beginning of the day and like just we knew each other. Like we had lunch or dinners together on the weekends. Like I would bring a grill in and we cook. And like we just vived and like I had 30 years superintendents calling me like, how did you put that much bass rock down in a day? And I'm like, just that's how we roll. You know, like.

And but that's the way my mindset always was. Like I always, you know, if I wanted something, I would get it. Like I would move up. And I truly. believe that God was with me through every step. Like he conditioned me from the time I was on the bulldozer. Like he taught me how to use GPS. Like I learned how to use an iPad.

The iPad I didn't use whenever I became a foreman. Then when I became a superintendent, I learned how to write emails. Not that I didn't, I was a paramedic, so I could document stuff well. I knew I could play the game. But this was a passion. This was my first passion was this type of work. So the fact that I could do it at a high level was important to me. And, you know, I ended up working my way up to,

Every position that I took after that was just a step up. So I ended up going from being the supervisor. They wanted me to travel with them. They wanted to put me on salary. But I was making hourly making more than my supervisor. Like, why would I want to go on salary, still work seven days a week and not get paid as much? So I stayed there and they wanted me to travel with them. I'm like, I'm good with it.

I want to stay in Florida. And so we finished the civil portion of that project. I did a little bit on the rail side. I learned a lot about like installing rail and building switches and stuff like that. And then I got a call to help this guy start his company backup. It was an old school guy named Steve Smith. He had built like half a Weston back in back in the days. Dan Marino was his neighbor.

And like he has like stories of, you know, all kinds of stuff. But he basically was getting his company started again. So it was me and this guy in an office. And, you know, he brought me into, you know, estimate work. So we ended up finding and outsourcing some of the estimating. and built this company from nothing. It was, like I said, me and him in an office, and within six months we had $18 million under contract.

Hiring people, I hired like 30 employees. I bought every piece of equipment, you know, that we had to start that thing up. We, you know, from the fuel tanks, you know, I strategically kind of put all this stuff together until we could get to the point where I could put a team in place. and he was just a scumbag dude scumbag person

it was I thought you were making I thought he was a decent guy No he was a great guy Like I remember hearing him talked Like everything he fed me Like he fed it to these other people too

And and I've said this before But I mean most people know the guy Know he's the same way So whatever he's you know He Like I'd be on the here On the other room

Like call him talking to new people He wants to hire Like yeah you know you're, we can be partners and we're going to do this and do that. And I'm like, he just said the same shit to me last week. Like, and then we, like, some of the job, he had started a job whenever I went in there to finish it. And he's like, hey, I want to get 10% of the profits. And I'm like, but you're negative on this one.

So does that mean that I owe you money or like what? So it just wasn't all like vibe. And then like, like, we're trying to get material for jobs and are like, yeah, we're never working for that guy again because he doesn't pay his bills. And I'm like, I'm fighting for this dude to just keep this thing rolling. Because of his past, like, you know, things where he screwed up. And it just wasn't working, man. And after the third time that he cussed me out, I was like, you know what? I'm looking for another job.

And, you know, this wasn't a job for me. I thought this was like my saving grace. He's going to be partners. He's going to hand the company down to me or he's getting ready to pay for me to be a general contractor. But that's the carrot that he dangled. 100%. And I realize that quick. Like, I'm not one of them, like, see my resume?

Like, yeah, I left every year. but every time I left, like, I went to a better spot, you know what I mean? Like, and then so I had the company we were building for at the time with the G.C. Arco is one of the largest national contractors in U.S., and I got an offer from them. Like, I sat down with their people, and this was like a life-changing package. I'm talking like month off a year for free, paid. They'll give you a week to go do missionary trips, you know, like they pay for a kid to go to college, like just crazy, you know, insurance.

And then, you know, I found I was scrolling on Facebook, and I saw, like, locally, it was like this alliance group company that he had bought. This guy bought, like, a mini excavator and a skid steer and started posting ads on Facebook. And, like, I had him up, and I'm like, yo, you know, I've been in this industry for a little while. Like, I think we, and I got a lot of connections. Maybe, you know, maybe I could come in and work with you. And so I go into this office and, like, it was right before Fourth of July. There was like a palette of fireworks in this guy's office. I'm talking from stacked four foot tall, a bunch of fireworks.

He comes in. He's wearing like a tank top with like neon palm trees on it and stuff. And, you know, I'm sitting there like we're having an interview. Doors open. Like just super like just laid back kind of atmosphere. And then like somebody comes in there. It was like I had a bubble gun like spraying bubbles in the office. And I'm like, I could I could do this.

Like this is my spot. Right. But the ARCO place, they gave me, they offered me, but they wanted me to work in Idaho for like three months before I came back to Florida. I'm like, I'm fucking Florida boy. I've never even seen snow before. Like, yeah, and at the time I'm splitting custody with my son's mother. My son's 11. Like, if I'm leave traveling work, like, this is the time of his life when he needs me.

Yeah. So I end up taking the position with Adam, took a pay cut. This was the Alliance group. and then he like I said land development was started through me and him Alliance land development I told him I said look

I can go find work bid work it's going to cost this much to bid every project but we can make some serious money bidding doing commercial work and he's like all right let's go make money and so I sat in that office probably about another six months of not no work coming in or anything

and we hit our first contract hit for three million that was almost four years ago July be four years that I've been with them. And first year we hit $15 million. After that first year, I went on a trip with my wife to Brazil. And, you know, I dropped the, I had a pickup truck that was a company truck or whatever, F-150.

And I went to, when I came back, I'm like, hey, you know, I'm going to come up and pick the truck up, you know, so I can go to work Monday. He's like, no, no, no, no, I'll take care of it. You know, he pulls up in a brand new, 2024 F450 platter limited, brand new, like, just best truck you can buy, right? And I'm like, holy shit. And, you know, basically he told me, he's like,

hey, we keep doing this, I want you to be a partner in the company. So he's like 50-50. Like, whatever we take, you get half, I get half. And so that is what it's been since that day. The first year we hit 15 million. I'd say up into this point we're somewhere about 60 million total

that we've had under contract and it's been a crazy ride for that portion of it from like I said eight years ago now coming out of the county jail and my wife's business is flourishing she's gotten

you know when I went into jail my credit was 300 I didn't know you could be that low I had no clue You almost have to make an effort to get hurt to be that low. It was bad. And so like to build my credit enough to be able to like have a homeowner, like in a short, you know, if I think we bought our house three years ago now, it was, there's no other way to explain

it, man, and God kind of working in my life and just placing certain people in my life, me being able to be aware sitting at tables like across on business deals and like kind of like leading the room in a way, like just the way that I carry in my life. myself and stuff and I attribute a lot of that to the street mentality man in the mindset and taking that same like kind of hustle attitude and on top of the intelligence and you know doing what you got to do to get where you got to get kind of deal not like walking all over people to get there but still just being this the sterner person in situations I think I think you got to be that way

especially in the construction industry say was Dana White told his his son He's, listen, it is nowadays, he's, if you're just half a fucking beast, you will fucking make millions. Because everybody out there is so soft. If you just fucking just put half the effort of a real soldier in there, you're going to just kick ass. That's it. I don't feel like we even fucking work all that hard. And, you know, we're doing great.

Yeah. But I look at everybody else and I think, the only other people I see working, like, like fucking just like dogs like just working the shit it's like Ian Bick you know Ian Bick Johnny Mitchell like like those guys and it's always like the top guy he's hustling yeah he just absolutely is yeah the all the other guys it's like you know they ask for advice and you give them advice and then you check their shit six months later and you're like fuck if you didn't fucking implement anything anything I said and you're posting every two or three weeks like what do you like you're not serious no I'm serious you're not serious you know

you know to say you're serious but you're not serious If you're going to do it, you got to do it. That's the way I've always been. Yeah. You know? It's been a ride, man. It's definitely been a ride. Like the, I'd say it was about a year ago.

West Watson was, I was on West Watson's coaching program. Oh my God. I paid $7,500 to go down there. And it wasn't, and listen, I mean, like, I remember, like telling myself, like, I remember watching one of his videos like, I could fucking do that. I could pretend. But no, but I don't have that. I could do it without being him.

Yeah, without the, the, like, that's the thing. Like, I could get on board with, like, the growth of the Instagram, like, the coaching stuff. Like, I could get on board with all that, but I can't get on board with him and who he was. Like, whenever I met him and actually sat down with a guy, great dude. When he first got out, he had a, he was way lower. He was more humble. I think he's there right now again. Yeah.

I think he's there because there's some videos that I've, Watch. Yeah. But on the phone, like, he just sounds like he used to sound. You know what I mean? Like, and sometimes they say that, get humble or get humiliated. And that's the one thing that if there's anything that I do on a daily basis is to remember where I came from, be just as just as humble as I can, even though I'm a fucking beast warrior, you know, person. Right.

Like, do you have to, like, what is it that Rogan said? is like I'd rather be a warrior in a garden and a gardener in a war. Yeah. So you still have to have that like mentality. Like if shit goes downhill, you got to be ready to do whatever you got to do to, you know. And I have that inside of me, but at the same time, like maintaining the humility is where I always want to be because I know that I'm one bad decision away from being right back where I was. Would I gain it all back quicker this time? Yes.

And that's the difference now. I think my mindset is, is it like I don't care about anything or what people think because I know. know that, you know, it's just, it's nothing. It's all hearsay. It's all, um, I could, if everything got taken from me today, physically, or, what is it, uh, materialistically, I'd be okay. You know, it's not that big a deal for me. I've lived to the lowest means. Like, my wife, when I first met her, she, she wouldn't even go to Starbucks. She's like, are you kidding me? Five dollars for a coffee? So I could buy a whole box of coffee and we can make it at home. And it would be better. Right. And so there's, no,

remembering where I came from always, like I always, you know, I talked to my wife, like, honey, you think I'm, you know, too, uh, not humble or, or I don't even know the word for it. Um, so yeah, a year ago I bought, I, I went to, to train with West Watts. Like I said, I couldn't get on board with the way that he did things, but there was, you know, you can learn something from anybody. Yeah. And it was the, it was the content creation. It was like, how to post, um, you know, it was like you said, man, if you give somebody advice and they don't take it, that's on them. So, you know, I really thought there was something here with the content creation thing. Like I did, I'd say probably four years ago, I was on, I was just a positive video every day

for six months. Just today I'm doing this. Like, I'm so grateful. You know, I was overdosed a year ago and dead and now I'm not. So, and then like I looked at my TikTok and I'm like, holy shit, I got 10,000 followers. And I was posting those same videos on YouTube. And then, like, obviously, it's hard to maintain that. So little by little, I just stopped, I got away from it. And then I would say, like, about a year ago, you know, I started, I opened up my social media. And not that I was not on it, but I wasn't posting all the time.

And I didn't have, like, a method to the madness. And I looked at my YouTube and like, holy shit, 25,000 views on every one of those videos. Like, maybe there's something here. So I jumped back into that, and I think that's what led me towards the, you know, with West Watson was like, you know, I got into a point where I was like 300 pounds. My wife was feeding me rice and beans every day. And, you know, I was real, like, sick. Snoring. Like, I was with her for five years at that point.

And she was like, I was waking up in the morning. She's sleeping on the couch. That's jazz. And I'm like, what did I do? Like, I felt like bad. And she's like, you didn't do anything. You just fucking snore so damn loud. and high blood pressure, high cholesterol,

just not a healthy person. But I was mind and body or mind and spirit was great. So the body had to come behind. I'll go back to that too. But my father's whole family, smoking-related illness or cholesterol, all of them were dead. And diabetes, all the bad things that you can have for health, moms and dad's side of the family had them.

So I didn't want to die early. So I was like, all right. So I went to the doctor. They're like, we're going to put you on this medicine, this medicine, this medicine, and you got to put a CPAP on. And I'm like, I left out of there that day. I was like, you know, fuck you. Or you could lose 100.

And I went and became a certified nutritionist. I became a certified personal trainer and a certified bodybuilder specialist. All at the same time, I was going through all these classes. Not because I wanted to do it for work. I'm making pretty good money doing what I do. I don't need to go train people at the gym. not downing that at all, but it's, I just wanted the knowledge. And, uh, and I got my shit together and I started eating right.

And I started going to the gym and training five days a week. And, uh, I don't snore anymore. My blood pressure is perfect. I give blood like, you know, every, whenever that I can, every three months or whatever. Obviously, peptides and testosterone replacement therapy, regulated, you know, with a doctor and, uh, has been a game changer. And like, there's, You know, even the sayings now that they're talking about these peptides,

they just released, they're legalized like six or eight of them. I don't, I didn't even read the full article, but there's, they're, you know, anti-aging effects. They're keeping people from having surgeries. Like Ronnie Coleman was walking with a walker, and this guy had stem cell therapy, and he's walking by himself now. And, you know, there's, it's proven that there's, and there's a reason why medicine didn't want us to know about these things, too.

So healthily got myself, you know, transformed my body too. You know, everything else was on board except for that. It was the last thing I did and just been on this crazy journey. And that's what pushed me into the coaching thing with Wes Watts. And not so much for like the fitness training, but like the empowerment coaching. Because I think you get to a certain point where in your life where people started like, man, this guy was smoking crack or hard five years ago. And look at them.

People are like, how'd you do it? What'd you do? Like, how'd you lose weight? How'd you lose 100 pounds? Like, so you get to a point where, like, you become, you have to teach. Some, so many people are asking you, you got to teach. So, and then my time is valuable. So now I have to, you got to pay me if you want to listen.

And I'm not saying that in an egotistical way, but if you pay, you're going to pay attention. And some people do pay, and they still don't pay attention. So, but. So what, so what happened? You call, you call Wes one day or you? So I was on, I was on. I was on Instagram. Of course I seen the dude. I'm like, man, I could be on that team. Like, it ain't nothing for me to be part of that. Like, that's me, right? And so, like, it was kind of like a goal of mine. And like I said, it was like a time period too where, like I was wanting to grow my social media platform. And that was one of the things that he had offered is like how to post on Instagram, like, how to grow your presence. And so that was something that was like kind of important for me. And why him? I don't know. I think I was at the point in time where I was in the fitness part of my. life where I was like yeah I could do the fitness training thing and get a whole bunch of you know

online fitness people and make 80k a month and it was real to me it seems achievable right and uh but so anyway yeah we we reached out to him we uh you know I paid for the elite program um 7500 500 bucks uh you know I think I paid like on the Amex part of it and then the other part he's like don't worry you can just give me the rest later and I was like I paid the rest later and and uh I went down to Miami to train. That was the other thing. It's like, oh, I'm going to be in Miami this week. You know, can I train with you guys?

And I think the day that I went down there to train, like Little Pump was there. Like, you know, there was some other famous guy. And there was a, he had a content guy there too. So he was filming it. And I'm like, oh, this is cool. And he's like, yeah, we'll get you on the YouTube. Like, you know, we'll just say a couple things at the end. You know, they mic me up.

and it was like, yeah, I'm, you know, moving on this program and stuff like that. That was part of it, too, was like learning how to speak on camera. And so, long story short, I went down there and trained with them. It was pretty cool, you know, it was a neat experience. But then I thought about it, like, who would want to watch, like, a bunch of dudes, like, curling together and, you know, on YouTube, and, like, it just didn't make sense. But I got the blueprint, basically, of what he gives to everybody for, Instagram posting. So how you're supposed to post every day, what type of content, lifestyle,

you know, the fitness content, posting your food, posting a book that you're reading every day. And I started implementing there and I did it every single day. Like I just realized the other day that I haven't stopped for over a year posting on Instagram. It's funny because you could have 50 guys pay for that program and then like half of them will start doing it. And then three months later they'll just, you've got, you're down to maybe five guys. still doing it. It's like you paid 7,500 bucks. Like what and they just, you can give people like the recipe and they just don't follow through. Like it's, I was the one that's, I'm still like, am I making 80K a month right now? No. I mean, and, you know, I think I've spent more than I've

made like I said, but it's slowly like conditioned me. Same thing, man, and just before. I'm conditioning myself for each step. Like the podcast thing was part of that program was like, hey, write 10 podcasts every month and become a guest. And like Clinton, uh, his, his, he was his content guy, Clinton, San Diego Clinton. And I think I learned more from him than I did from him. Because he was like taught me a bunch about Instagram. And so like, uh, I think, I remember going to another, uh, training where we were, they were like, yeah, we're going to go drink coffee afterwards.

I'm like, all right, I'll go. You know, I'm down here, Miami hanging out on a Saturday. And, uh, we go there and we're sitting at the table and then, and then like, he's like, he looks at me. He's like, shut the fuck up. And I'm like, what? Like, you know, what did I do? I didn't say another.

I'm just drinking coffee. It's like, you fucking talk too much. And it's like, I'll fucking take your bitch. And I'll fuck your bitch. And I'm like, just kept my mouth shut. I'm not going to fucking start a scene here in the middle of, you know, my downtown Miami, this beautiful coffee house or whatever. And I'm like, just thinking to myself, like, what the fuck?

Like, it's wrong with this guy. He can't keep his bitches. And, well, and it wasn't even about the whatever issue there. It was just like, like, I clearly, like, saw that this guy has something. wrong. Yeah. You know, either, you know, got hit in the head or he's, you know, too much trend or something cerebral going on. And because it was like, like that, like just flip the script. And we were all just hanging out talking, you know, had no issues. And, and, uh, after that day, like, I still, I went to another training after that. And like, even then, he's like, what the fuck are you doing here? And I'm like,

what do you mean? I'm coming to fucking work out. Like, and I brought my content guy with me. And, uh, it It was like, I'm like, I'm done, you know, after that. So, um, yeah, he's clearly got some mental problems. And I think that that's been, you know, I've talked to a couple other people out. The guys are great, like, when it comes to, like, the, the way that you're, like, I guess, positively impacting people, that's one thing. But, you know, it's the way, like, his approach was one of the things that kind of turned me off.

Yeah, his delivery. Yeah, his message, part of his message may be, okay. 90% of his message is probably very, I think is very positive. I'd go with 90%, but your delivery is so off-putting. Right. Like, I don't need someone to belittle me. And I certainly don't need to belittle somebody else to feel good about myself. 100%.

I don't need somebody to belittle me to try and motivate me. That doesn't motivate me at all. That makes me just think that mentally you've got some problems, bro. Like I, if that's, that's, but then there are people that apparently that's what's working for them. You know, it's like they have to be talked down to and talk to like they're a fucking animal in order to motivate them. But then that wasn't me. I had a dad. Like, you know, he raised me.

The problem is that mentally they've got some issues too that he's not capable of dealing with. Yeah. So. And this was like right around, you know, I guess whatever, right after he had his issue where he fought the guy at the gym. And so, you know. The monster. Yeah. The thing that Johnny Bravo calls.

the the seven foot monster he and like here i'm not here to talk shit about the guy like i'm just given my experience and i don't want to talk shit about anybody because you know some people they get that's how they get their fame or whatever and i don't want to take somebody else's downfall and try to make it as something that right benefit from i understand but this guy's fucking just this guy's just the ammunition he's throwing out there for everybody is just outrageous i mean he just it's it just but that's that's That's why you're going to, you get what you're going to get. Right.

That's what I'm saying. It's like he's brought all of this on himself. 100. And you don't have to. No. You didn't have to do this. You didn't have to, you were doing well. You could simply do well and remain humble and appreciative of the blessings that life has given you.

And instead, he's turned it in, he's become a maniac and he's turned it, he's turned everybody against him. and he's created this horrible situation for himself. And then the other thing is, like, you know, and you're abusing this chick and really every chick that comes of it. You know, anybody who... Well, if he did that to me, I can imagine, you know, how it is with other people, and that's, you know... But, I mean, here's the thing.

Like, if you're really this great, tough guy, good guy, aren't you supposed to be protecting weak people? Yeah. Not taking advantage of them, not abusing them, not manipulating them, not, you know. Well, there's a pattern there, right? Yeah. There's a pattern from, I guess, before even when he first got out with his wife, where there was some altercation or something that he didn't do.

Then there's the girl that left them that got out of there before maybe it was two, before she got was the one, you know, possibly getting beat on. And then. Is this Angie, you're thinking of? Yeah. Yeah. And then it's the new chick that. She was there, what, two months in the picture?

Yeah. And then he's kidnapping her and slapping her around and beating on her and whatever else is. And it's hard to like, because I, I, I didn't even want to be a part, like, even watching it, because I come from that past and that history where I know that as soon as the guy's drinking again, it's only a matter of time before. Just straight downhill. Yeah. And you could see the downfall. Like, the guy turned in, he was super skinny.

Like, I remember watching one video where he's like, look at the people that do laundry for me. And it was, they were doing laundry in his laundry room. And there was like hundreds of rolled up $100 bills that were in his pockets that got, you know, kicked out. I don't know if it's from the washer machine that rolled him up or if they were rolled up for another reason. but they got for someone to go from 250 to you know like a buck 90 yeah there's there's some extracurricular activity going on there and uh well i'll tell you what i learned a lot like i said everything that i got as far as growth strategy and like even the entry part of my my program came from you know the stuff i learned with him so the coaching calls were great i think more more so

the community of like everybody in the community and we connected with each other and talked to each other. So I learned that that's, I want to move in that direction myself with creating that, but, you know, positively. And not being, you know, the, you can learn something for anybody, right? Learn how you want to be. Learn how you don't want to be. Yeah. So you're going to, hopefully you can take away something. That was my, the beginning. Even if it's not how, even if the lesson is just don't behave like this person. That's what I mean. And, you know, I took the, that's where my, the people ask me, like, how did you start the podcast? Like, well,

from that coaching program, you know, I was, we were told to write 10 podcasts every month and to be a guest on it. You know, this is kind of my hobby, right? This is the passion that I have. And, but then evenings and, you know, balancing, making sure my wife has what she needs. And then I got time for my kids, my son. And with the other activity, I got, you know, Bible study once a week. So it's been tough. But, uh, you know, the fruit is definitely coming. That's for sure. Hey, you guys. I appreciate you watching. Do me a favor. Hit the subscribe button. Hit the bell so you get notified of videos just like this. Also, if you want to follow Johnny or get in touch with him, we are going to leave all of his social media links in the description box. Go there. Click on it.

Follow him, subscribe his YouTube channel, the whole thing. He's got, uh, Instagram, everything. So please do that. I really do appreciate you guys watching. Also, if you want to be a guest on the show, we're going to leave our link in the description box. Also, it's our website. You can go there, go to the be a guest page, fill out the application, leave a three-minute video, and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you very much. I really do appreciate it. See you.