Night Out Ends In Attempted MURDER Charges | Frank Benton
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It's Ian Bick, and we are back with another episode of Locked In with Ian Bick. On today's episode, we have Frank Benton, who goes to prison after a night at the bar goes terribly wrong. In this episode, we dive into the actions that led up to this event.

how he gets sentenced to over five years in a Pennsylvania state prison, and what he's able to do to overcome it and turn his life around. Make sure you guys sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Also, guys, if you could take a second and please, please, please leave us a like, a comment, a subscribe, a share, and also a review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Podcasts to help us continue to boost our platform.

Thank you guys for tuning in the show. Thank you for all the support and enjoy my episode and interview with Frank Benton. Frank, welcome to the show, man. Thanks for coming out here. You're coming from where? Philadelphia? Philadelphia, yeah. And you slid in on my Instagram DMs. I'm not looking for like a relationship right now. You came to be on the show. What kind of, I'm curious, what prompted you to want to come out here today and share your story for the first time ever?

So there's a few things that like intrigued me about what you do. First of all, being in prison is a part of my life since I was in prison before. Obviously, you interview people that were in prison. Just like seeing what you're doing, like it seems like you're adding value and giving insight to people.

people that haven't went through this or people that don't know about prison. So I feel like I can add something to that, even if it was like before, during, or after prison. And also just to see like the podcast world, because that's something that I do want to

uh do going forward eventually at some point once i get some free time yeah i wanted to open up with that today because i want people to know that are listening to our show as we're gaining you know a lot of viewers that they can come on the show they can reach out if they go to ianbick.com they could fill out the interview request form if you're listening to this if you're watching this and

they could come on and get interviewed and share their story. Everyone has a story and it has the ability to change people's lives. So that's why we're here today to get your full story. Let's take it from the top. Where are you from exactly? Where did you grow up and what's your childhood like? So I'm from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

I'm born and raised until my teen years in Kensington. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the area, but Kensington is one of the roughest areas in the city. Luckily, in my early teens, my mom got me out of that environment. She moved us in a little nicer neighborhood porch when in Fishtown after, which isn't Beverly Hills, but it is in Kensington. I mean, it's a neighboring neighborhood, but

Yeah, growing up in Kensington, it was rough. You know, uncle was involved in illegal activities, gun shots on the corner every other night, family history of drugs, just like that inner city life, you know. My mom had eight kids, six of her own. She was raising my aunt's two boys, so it was eight of us.

Worked as a waitress, bartender, never like a real career path. No father in my life until my teens. I had a stepdad that stuck around. But by that time, I was kind of set in my ways and you're not my boss, you're not my dad type of, you know. So getting going to school, just doing the legal stuff, you know what I mean? Ditching school,

selling drugs, smoking weed, partying, not really, you know, no motivation, no goals, no real destination to like nothing to do with my life, honestly, like no purpose. Did you know your dad at all? Yeah. So my dad left when I was very young, probably like not even one years old. But his mom, which is my grandmom and his sister, my godmother, his aunt stayed in my life. He moved to Florida.

So when I was like 10 years old, they like paid for me to go down to Florida to visit him for a week. And I didn't see him in 10 years. I didn't know him. So two days into this week trip, I was sent back. I don't know this guy. And what did he do? Did he do something for work? Like, was he was he like a criminal in any way? I don't necessarily him and my mom. I hear multiple stories about their relationship talks, you know, toxic and it didn't work out.

I think he had an alcohol problem and he had responsibilities that he fled from.

I talked to him more recently, and it's just I don't think he's all there in the head at this point anyway. But I don't have no ill will against him. You know, my mom might have did something to him, and I don't know the full story. So, yeah, I met him once, and then, you know, more recently I met him a few more times. But don't hold no grudge against him. Now that you're older now and you're able to reflect back on it, do you think not having that father figure helped lead you down the path you're going to take that we're about to hear about?

Absolutely. But him being a father figure, not sure if it would have made a difference, if that makes sense. So if it was a man that, you know, had values and morals in my life and, you know, was a decent and, you know, loving, caring person, then yes. But if it was him and I don't know exactly how he would have been, but probably not because of the environment.

And out of the eight kids in your family, where do you fit in? Are you the oldest, youngest, middle? So I have an older sister and then I'm the second oldest and I'm the oldest boy. And did you feel like the responsibility to like be that father figure as the oldest boy to everyone? That was always on my shoulders because so...

My next stepdad, after my dad fled or left, was my sister and my two brothers' dad. And he ended up passing away when they were young. So he was in my life for a couple of years and then he ended up passing away. And then my mom didn't get in another relationship until my stepdad came along, which was years and years later. So that time period of like no consistent father figure happened.

It's just like, I'm the oldest boy in the house. So yeah, it was kind of like, and they look up to me, all the younger siblings look up to me. So it was, yeah, I had that responsibility. I felt like. That's a big responsibility at that age to kind of like assume that. Yeah, but it's like when you're young and you're like tough from the city of Philly, you're like, I'll take that on. You're like, yeah.

you know, it's something that you endure. You want to be the big brother. You want to be the man of the house. You gives you a sense of power, right? Yeah. Now eight kids and your mom's is working as, as a waitress and a bartender. What's like the financial system? Like the financial system is people living with us, helping with the bills. Um,

My mom on welfare getting Social Security because of, you know, my other stepfather passed away. So she was getting, you know, the money from him passing away per month that was helping with the bills. So she always made it happen. I'll tell you, like, we never went without, always had food, Christmases, stuff like that. But it was never like...

Now that I grew and I learned a lot more, it wasn't ever like the family white picket fence, you know? Do you have more appreciation for your mother now, though, knowing like what she was able to provide with how little you guys had? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

you take it for granted when you're younger and you want, they got the new Jordans I got, you're hand-me-down Reebok Classics. Yeah. But, you know, as you go, she gave me what she had and then, you know, I appreciate it now. Yeah. I mean, I reflect back on my childhood lately, like when I have more time to think and talk to people and it just, it's like that stuff I definitely took for granted and how much we had and everything compared to what others have. And it's like,

the things that you think are not monumental or big at that age are so much bigger as you get older and you realize that it's kind of like scary and like surreal to think about. Now in middle school and high school, do you get bullied at all? Or what's like your social status? Are you popular or are you not popular? Are we talking like middle school, high school? Yeah, middle school, high school, those elementary years.

I'm going to say like popular, but I wouldn't get... And I was like right in the middle, I guess you could say. Like I didn't get bullied. I was like, got along with everybody. I didn't have the best of the stuff, so I wasn't really popular. But the town's poor anyways, so it's not like you were really standing out. It's not a wealthy town. Well, if you're from the inner city, right? It's like the things that make you...

I feel like you come for money, your sneakers, the newest video game I have, you know, we got, my dad got us tickets to the Sixers game or you're doing more stuff or your dad has a nice car dropping you off at school. Like I didn't have any of those things, but 50%, 80% of the people didn't. So it was like I was in, you know, middle of the rung normal. When do you say it starts to turn? Like when do you start bucking out against the system, becoming like that bad kid? So I was always bad growing up, not bad like...

I was always like defiant. I was always, uh, I got diagnosed with like ADHD and all that stuff when you're a kid. Um, a little rebellious sometimes, but you know, still respectful to elders and still like trying to be sneaky and get away with it and play the innocent role. Um, never a full fledged maniac and then out of like childhood placement or nothing like that. Um, but yeah,

I would say like 15, 16, 17. Like as you get into that age of like you're creating an image for yourself as a young adult, smoking weed or hustling or staying out past curfew, cutting school, like –

I'll say around like 15, 16, 17 really. Is that because of the people you were with and growing up with or is that just something you started doing on your own? I would say the people you're around it's just like you got groups of people you got the kids that stay in school and do good then you got like the kids that just stay in school and they don't get involved in no BS but they do what they have to do to pass and graduate then you got like the kids underneath of that tier probably the

Violent, trying to prove a point, trying to make money, selling, hustling. Then you got just the kids that are just blatantly no respect for law or, you know, any rules or anything. I wasn't that, but I was like right teetering, you know, between being an okay, decent kid and breaking the law still. And how's your relationship with your mom throughout high school? I was a mama's boy.

Growing up, like I was her oldest boy. I was mama's boy. We had a very good relationship. She gave me anything I wanted if it was possible with me having. She would let me stay home from school sometimes. I don't feel good or you need me here. And, you know, she's juggling eight different kids. So it's hard for her. And if she says no, I would probably do what I want to do anyway. So she made it instead of me acting like a maniac in the house, all right, stay here and do this, this, and this while you're home. Yeah.

And what about the relationship with the rest of your siblings? Like as you start to maybe get into trouble a little bit, is that, are you moving away from being like that father type figure? Um, it's, it's, I'm starting to lead poorly by example because they start seeing what I'm doing and they start thinking they can get away with it. That's a whole lot of kids now getting into trouble. Your poor mother. Yeah. Yeah. It was, uh,

So the younger ones weren't like really at that age where they were leaving the house yet. But, you know, I have a brother that's two years younger than me. And then my other little brother's four years younger than me. And then my cousin's like three years younger than me. That's the one of the, that my mom brought in. Now towards the end of high school, does anything like traumatic happen to you at all? So towards the end of high school, um,

There was no end to high school. I dropped out. You dropped out. Yeah, I dropped out in 10th grade. So I passed 9th, went to 10th, failed 10th, tried again. And that was, I just threw in the towel right there. Why? You just didn't care? You weren't, what was it?

You weren't going to help? In the back of my head. So in the back of my head, I got hit by a car when I was like 12 years old. Oh, wow. And I had a lawsuit coming. So I had a lawsuit for, it was, my mom's telling me it's for all this money. Here it's for like $20,000. Now $20,000 when you're 18, I'm like, I'm going to start a business. I don't need school. I'm going to do this, this and that. I get the money and drop out of school. You got to keep all the money.

Yes. Yeah. At 18. Yes. So it was 20,000. Everyone thought I would have got like half a million dollars, but it was 20,000. But from 17 until like, you know, I still always maintain some sort of job, whether it was like a short order cook or if I was working at my grandma was working at the restaurant, I was a dishwasher. So I was still like making money a little bit.

So a little bit of weed and... So you had somewhat of a work ethic. Yeah, I had somewhat of a work ethic. And then when the money came, it's like, well, this can just enhance the legal stuff that I'm doing.

And so that 20,000 went down really quick. I gave my uncle happy as the way I gave my mom money for my uncle's funeral. I gave my mom money. It turned into like 10 really quick. And then, you know, I bought a car and some clothes. Next thing you know, I'm down to like a couple thousand bucks. But I have this image of that I have money. But you're balling out. Exactly. Yeah. And do you think getting that money was a negative impact on you in the long run?

Um, you can say that, but I like to see the positive in everything. Um, but yeah, it was a negative impact because what it did is it gave me an ego, um,

It gave me the appearance of having money. So you attract more people, the wrong kind of people, probably, whether it be females or people that are hustling and think they could do business with you because you got money. So yeah, it was definitely a negative. So you blow through this money. What happens next? Are you committing more crime? Are you working? What are you doing? So that's still, I'm teetering with working and petty sales of, you know, I don't want to incriminate myself, but petty sales and stuff like that. Um,

But I just like keep living the egotistical lifestyle of going to the bar, wearing fresh clothes, going to like, you know, going out places, feeling like I'm the man. It was it really made me feel like I was someone I wasn't. And I embraced it because growing up, I didn't have any of that stuff. So yeah.

It gave me a feeling of like self-worth because I never had that growing up. Yeah. So how does this lead to you eventually getting like shot?

So, you know, I'm in the streets, I'm doing stuff I'm not supposed to be doing, obviously. My brother also, now I was 22 when I got shot or 21 or 22. So my brother's two years younger than me. He's kind of following in my footsteps, right? He asked me to go somewhere with him. It's like one o'clock in the morning, almost 1230. I'm like, bro, I really don't want to go with you. Like it's too, like it's nothing good out there at this time. It's like, oh, I'm going to go by myself then. It's my little brother. I can't let him go by himself.

So I give him a ride there. Something, you know, transaction happens and he comes over running screaming, oh, they got the money, they got the money. And you're just sitting in the car waiting for him. Until he runs over. Now I think something happened. I got to jump out. That's my brother. And you don't know what he's there for? Like, did you know he was doing anything? Yeah, I know he wasn't supposed to be there. Okay. So he comes over, they got the money, they got the money. Who the fuck took your money, Phil? So I'm running. I chase the dude. The guy turns around and he,

Shot once, boom. Pulls out a gun, just shoots you. But we were like... He was already probably like 30 feet in front of me, maybe 40 feet in front of me. So he was a little distance away. Yeah, he turned around because I'm chasing him. And the bullet hits you right away? Yeah, one shot hit me in my hip. What's that feeling like to get shot? Like you didn't expect that at all. The last thing you expected was this guy to pull the gun on you. So...

I was surprised, but it wasn't like this could never happen to me living in the city of Philadelphia.

So my leg gave out on me. I'm running, my leg gave out. That's how I know I got hit. It didn't hurt, but my leg just gave out on me. It was like the adrenaline rush. Yeah, so I'm scooting myself to the curb and I'm like, you know, calling ambulance.

The ambulance never comes and they throw me in the back of the car. And I just remember laying in the back and just seeing red lights. They're blowing red lights, taking me to the hospital. I'm just seeing like red lights fly by me. It was my ex-girlfriend and my brother in the car. They drove me to the hospital. Are you bleeding a lot? Like what's the situation? So they had to...

cut my left leg open. And so they hit a main artery and then it bounced and hit like a piece of my intestine. So I had to get a colostomy bag and they had to cut each side of my leg to relieve the pressure from the blood building up because since it hit a main artery, my blood had nowhere to flow. They're giving me blood inside of the ambulance, but

it's not going anywhere but to my leg so my legs like this fat they had to cut it open um nerve damage uh are you aware of what's going on while this is happening or this is all afterwards no this is i wake up probably two days in the hospital they said i had like six surgeries um and you almost died yeah yeah what's that feeling like to for the doctors to say hey you almost died like do you have any recollection of that at all

You would think that like, I'm doing something wrong that I almost died from. And it was just like the normal. It's like, ah, wrong place, wrong time. It really was. I mean, this isn't one of those situations where we hear that you were dealing like drugs and you got caught up in something gone wrong and in that situation and you got shot because of it. This is just literally, it was literally wrong place, wrong time. Yeah.

it was my brother was in the illegal activity so i knew what it was going into it yeah but i mean even still you weren't like directly involved in it you didn't plan to be there that night no i did not and you also shouldn't have to like it's crazy to think that i could be in one city sleeping peacefully not ever having to worry about getting shot and someone that's the same age as me could be living in an entirely different city always worried and that's just like the normal to say oh that's

that bullets are flying and stuff and that's normal. That's crazy. Yeah. I think the chances increase when the things you, when you're doing the things you're involved in. So although I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, it was still, I feel like it was my karma for being involved in that lifestyle in general.

like if my brother wasn't involved in it I was never involved in it I would never be there if I'd you know had a career path or was in school or college I wouldn't have been there you know so did it take you years to figure out that reflection now or did you know that at the time no it took me years so it took you a while to what do you think about like karma and that concept and stuff I don't believe in karma is like a direct thing like

if, you know, I run this red light, I'm going to get hit right after. I don't think, I think like just after, you know, in a period of time, something's going to catch up to you, whether it's good or bad. It's like inputs and outputs, right? It's more like a thought in a way. Yeah. Yeah. So if,

What do you your input is going to be your output is going to be reflected by that. So if I'm doing negative, doing negative, doing negative, negative is going to come back to me. If I'm being positive, being positive, being positive, positive should come back to me. It don't always happen, but.

usually nine times out of 10, it'll start catching up to you. Yeah. Now, when you wake up, are you thinking, man, I got to get out of this lifestyle. I don't want any, I don't want to do anything bad. Like I want to get in the straight and arrow or are you having an entirely different, you know, thought process? Nope. Believe it or not, it didn't affect the way I was thinking. Still, I was 22 years old and I,

I just continued to doing the same stuff that I was doing after I healed and recovered. Why do you think that was? Like, how do you almost die from illegal activity? Like being somewhat involved in it. It's not illegal. But like, no, it's like, it's interesting to reflect on, you know, how do you almost die and wake up and go back to doing that? That's like the people that have an overdose and go back and do the drug after. What do you think that logic is behind that?

I didn't hurt enough to learn my lesson, I guess. Um, I,

The burn didn't, you know, if you touch a hot stove, it burns. You're not going to touch it again. It didn't burn bad enough, I guess. And I guess different levels of pain affect people. Like I'm a big believer in you have to go through pain and experience pain in order to make the meaningful changes. But each person has a different level of that pain. Like you could get pricked by a thorn bush and, you know,

You won't go past that same route for someone but another person can get pricked by that thorn bush a thousand times and keep going You know past that same route. Yeah, I guess people have different thresholds for pain um physical mental whatever but yeah for me it was um Business as usual back to my bullshit. Yeah And and so what is the bullshit? What do you get into? Does it get worse from what you were doing before? um, I probably No, it was the same man. It was uh

Working here and there, hustling on the side. Is your mom like having a conversation with you at all saying, hey, you know, you almost died? To not dig into that, it's the normal to her too. She grew up in that. So my grandmom, my mom is like an image of my grandmom. And that was how she grew up. And that was the normal for her. And then, you know, for me, it's like, you know, her brothers might have been into that or so it's kind of like just the normal thing.

Did you like see a therapist after this or anything? Was there any like mental health treatment? Physical therapist. No mental. No. You probably have like so much bottled up in your mind at that point too. Like, are you processing your thoughts? Well, like, so they prescribe me narcotics, right? I get, you know, they prescribe me the Percocets and I start doing them, getting rid of them. I'm, you know, still going to the bar. I'm working on the side. I'm dealing with different females. And it's just like a bunch of distractions of negativity. Yeah. And just, you know,

No real direction yet. No real purpose yet. You didn't have purpose in your life. Yeah. 22 years old, just kind of like lost. And that's a dangerous spot to be in. It's a horrible spot to be in. And that's kind of why I'm on this podcast too. Do you think that if you finished high school, this wouldn't have happened? I don't, if I would have had goals, purpose and guidance, I probably wouldn't need to finish high school because I didn't finish high school now, you know? Yeah. And we'll get into my story afterwards, but yeah.

Yeah, I think guidance, purpose, and motivation. And really just like you kind of need like that image of and the possibility of who you can be. Without that, it's just I'm doing what everyone else is doing and where I'm accepted at. But I mean, it's tough at that age too because you're not supposed to have it all figured out. No. You know, like people don't have it. I'm just figuring out now what I'm supposed to be doing in my life. I just turned 28, you know? So it takes years and years, I think,

What we need as young individuals is the direction, just like someone there to keep us on track. And maybe in your case, it was not having the father there to do that or someone, the friend group, or just it was a product of your environment. I guess there's so many different ways to look at it and divest from it.

Well, I'm sure you probably heard this on your podcast a bunch of times. Your brain isn't fully developed. Like, you know, people get back jail time from their brain not being fully developed until you're 25 years old. So I was 22 years old. I'm still childish. You know, I'm still no real regards to the repercussions of my actions. And even after you get some repercussions, it's like,

Yeah, that's it. Yeah. No, I mean, that's just like my situation. Like I kept pushing and pushing and pushing like the court and stuff. Like I'll say all the time, I only went to prison because it was like my own fault going out of state to gamble against like my bond violations. I didn't have to do that, but I just kept pushing the boundaries. Yeah.

and it makes you think when you actually hit rock bottom, that's when you're going to make the change. You're putting your toe on that line, and then the line goes a little more, and then keep putting your toe on it, then you got your whole foot on it, and yeah, you push your limits. And by the time you push it, then you realize it's too late. Oh, yeah. So you keep going down this path. How do you get prison time? Where does it really go wrong? So I got locked up for...

uh, uh, fight down to Wildwood. And I actually wasn't a part of the fight, but I was there. They had, they got me for like fleeing a crime scene. Did like a day and a half in there. It felt like a lifetime at the time. When someone coming to get me out of here. Um, then I had a DUI. Did I, did, you know, I fought the DUI. I'm thinking like, I got money. I got a lawyer. Um,

Clearly smoking weed when I got pulled over. They had my blood and I still fought the DUI thinking, I got all this money for a lawyer. Lost and had to do a weekend in jail. Then I get a...

the crime that I went away for, I had two assaults. One they tried to charge me with an attempted murder with a deadly weapon and then the other one was just aggravated assault. - Now you say attempted murder, what happened? Like what went down? - So it was a situation with somebody that grew up in the same neighborhood as me and it was basically over a female. - It all starts with the female.

I'm going to tell you this right now. Crime nine times out of 10 is over a female, whether it's you're getting money, trying to impress a female, whether it's a crime of passion, whether

Nine times out of 10, it's probably over a female. Now, this is your girlfriend or his girlfriend? It was his ex-girlfriend. She told me, but... And you're seeing her? Not seeing her like that, but I've seen her. And you're friends with this guy? No. Okay. So this is, it really, I don't know. It didn't, it wasn't too big of a deal that the girl was involved. Yeah, to me. But to him, it was a different story. Yeah.

So we had an incident at a bar and, you know, they showed up and... Are you guys drunk? Yeah. And why are you like, you're carrying a knife or a weapon, I'm assuming? Yeah. And why did you have that on you at a bar? Oh, no. So the first incident was he came up on me with all his buddies and, you know, had a scuffle and it was over. But I thought another time I run into him a couple months later and...

I seen him outside a different place. And as I'm walking in, you know, I'm thinking that it's over with. I'm not a person to really...

initiate. I'm more of like in my head, I'm like, I'm more like I defend myself. I'm not going to initiate. I'm probably think I'm pretty big and got these tattoos and I'm mean, but I'm really not X anyone, you know? I mean, that's like me. I get that all the time. Yeah. I'm like, try to be the nicest person. I try to like defuse the situation before, you know, anything. Started swinging. The guy, see the guy started swinging on me. I did not have the knife on me. I really don't even know where it came from. This is still all over the girl.

like that's yeah it's the same situation i didn't do anything afterwards no it's like a scene from a movie man like that like the the bully like jumps the other guy for seeing the girlfriend or this and that so a big free-for-all broke out um you're by yourself or you know i had some friends with me um he had some friends with him and then a big free-for-all broke out and how old are you at the time

24, 25. And the free-for-all happens and someone ends up getting hurt. Yeah, two people end up getting hurt. The ambulance come. I flee the scene. And yeah, for a couple of days, I was away. Did you know what was happening? Like, did you know you hurt someone? What did you know? I didn't. So it was, I was no excuse at all. I take full accountability for my actions. I was really intoxicated and black, pretty much blacked out. I remember bits and pieces from the night.

So I went to my sister's house. She lives in Jersey. And then I hear people saying like, they're injured really bad. The cops are looking for you. But no one went to my address at the time. So I'm like, nothing happened. Now I had... So you didn't even remember when they're telling you that the cops are looking for you, you don't think anything by it, that you did anything? Yeah, I know that we got into a scuffle and, you know, there was people that were injured. I injured people. I know that. Yeah.

But I didn't know that these guys were pressing charges on me because I feel like I didn't initiate it. You figured they wouldn't have told or anything because they kind of provoked it. Yeah, I'm not going to put the blame on them 100% saying they provoked it, but I didn't go there to start. It was coincidental that I ended up in the same spot they were. It wasn't premeditated or nothing like that. No.

And what happens next once you find out the cops are looking for you? So this is how I found out. Remember I told you I had the thing in Jersey and Wildwood. I go there to pay fines because it was like a five-day period. I go there to pay fines. They let me pay my fines and walk out. I'm in a courthouse. Oh, nothing. I'm fine. They ain't looking for me. They would have got me right here. They got me. So I'm like, God, I'm going back home.

So I go back to Philly and the same day I get back is the same day they come banging on the door. Coincidentally, it's funny because I'm thinking it's all over with. I'm not going to jail. Maybe they didn't. They aren't looking for me. So yeah, they come and they say, we want to take you down for questioning.

Okay, it's like neighborhood cops that know me. So it wasn't like a SWAT team busting down your door? No, it was like two cop cars. So you're not thinking it's too serious at this point? Yeah, I didn't know. I thought it was just like they're questioning me because someone got her beat up. And they're neighborhood cops that know me from just seeing me around and probably gripped me up before and they know my family, stuff like that. So I'm like...

What am I going down there like you're just getting questioned i'm like, okay I get down there and there's no question i'm being charged. No, they tried they booked you right away Yeah, didn't didn't talk to no detectives nothing just so why didn't they just arrest you at your house? They put me in cuffs Oh, they did put you in cuffs But they probably said it had to like Not see if I would like make a run or try to get away. Did you get a lawyer at all right away? Yeah, so I did get a lawyer. Um

When I'm in there, so this is, I'm thinking two people got hurt, you know, an assault charge. So I'm in the getting my charges read to me to get my bail granted. Now, mind you, I'm on probation for an assault before. So they say, you know, you have a case on this date, this date, this date, this time, this person aggravated assault, your bail is $25,000. So I'm like, okay, 10%, $2,500. Okay.

You have another charge. I'm like, you know, this person at this time, this date, attempted murder, 250,000. At the same incident, right? At the same time, in front of the same screen, in front of the same judge. And I'm like, yeah, I'm not making this. So why is one attempted murder and the other one just assault? The injuries were more severe.

And there was no, did they have like corroborating witnesses like to say that you intentionally did that? Because that's one of the, you know. Yeah. So there was two people that got injured and then there was a few witnesses. And how bad are their injuries reading from this report? Seriously bodily injury. And this is the first time you know it's serious. Yeah. This is when I know like I've really hurt these people. What's going through your head?

Are you feeling bad? So it's selfishly, I'm like, I don't care about them at the time because it's like my life. You're like everything gets zoomed in on you and your situation. Yeah, you're focused on yourself. Yeah, I'm focused on like, first off, is everyone okay? Like, are they going to survive? Okay. But this is already like a week later. This is like a week later. So I knew that they like were okay. But I didn't know the extent of the injury. So I'm like, are they...

Say hypothetically, right? In my head, I'm thinking like, what if someone got to get a plug pulled on them? They're on a machine. And then I'm charged for murder. You know what I mean? So at the time, I didn't know what was going on with them. I haven't spoke to them. Didn't have anyone reach out to them. Didn't have no communication with them. Now I'm charged for attempted murder and aggravated assault with a quarter million dollar bail on probation with...

Yeah. And you get out on bail? No. No, so you're held on bail? I get a detainer on me. My bail was $250,000, $275,000 altogether and 10%, so like $30,000. But even if I made that, I wouldn't have got the bail because a detainer was dropped on me. What's your first conversation with your mother like after this happens? Oh.

Give me a lawyer. And is she like mad? Is she sad? Is she crying? I guess people were trying to justify knowing the situation. They were like, you know, I wasn't in the wrong or there has to be a reason Frank acted like that or whatever. I mean, it's something I always think about is like things like this situations, like when someone's drunk at a bar and situations like this happen, like,

accidentally or it's like it's based on the environment like if you think about the people that go and drunk drive like just if you don't do that think about what

could like couldn't happen or what doesn't need to happen in that moment if you don't drink and drive or if you don't, you know, put yourself in an environment like that because this could have, your situation could have been avoided. Absolutely, yeah. And even just like maybe not even seeing if you saw those people at the bar maybe walking away, like the influence of drugs and alcohol has a big effect and we hear that in a lot of these stories that we interview people that usually plays effect in their crime.

Yeah. Whether they're battling addiction or just like in the moment, alcohol. Like I know like when I drink, I'm very hesitant about drinking too much, like at a public spot. Do you still drink? Me? I mean, I'll drink occasionally socially. I've never been like addicted or an alcoholic or anything, but it's like, it's, I,

I'm very like aware. I got to make sure who I'm around because I don't like being out of that headspace I like to be in control right it's it's recklessly drinking and I mean recklessly in the sense of like who you're around what you're consuming and Then also just being conscious and doing it to enjoy yourself and not be an asshole has this situation Made you rethink drinking? I don't drink you don't all because of this not all I

basically because you know we'll get into the story of why i don't do things i don't do and do things i do do because i don't see no i told you output and input i don't see that the output being positive that's my input and do you think that was based though from this incident it could yeah if i wasn't drunk i wouldn't be at the bar when it happened now you get charged no bail you talk to your mom you get a lawyer how much time are you facing

So the first deal they offered me was 10 to 20 years. That's a long time. Long time. And with the possibilities of losing it being 20 or more, if I fight the case. You went to trial? Yeah, and lose. Are you thinking a self-defense claim at all here? My lawyer was. I kind of was. But in Philadelphia, it's very, very hard to get a self-defense case. Is the evidence overwhelming against you? It's...

They have witnesses. They didn't have no weapon. They didn't have no camera or nothing like that. So it was like witnesses hearsay. Obviously the victims and their testimonies, even though the victims kind of... One said that they don't know me. The other one said it wasn't me, honestly. Oh, one did say that? The one said it wasn't me. I don't know him. And then the other one said, I don't know him. So the case doesn't sound too strong. It wasn't... I don't think it was. But, you know, the witnesses...

It was like three of them. So what do you end up doing? How does the legal process play out? So...

I'm in court. I mean, I'm in CFCF, which is Philadelphia's county jail, for two years fighting my case. Two years? 26 months. Not even sentenced, and you're in for two years. Not even sentenced, no. Do you think that's like to sweat you out? Like, what do you think that experience is? Witnesses weren't coming to court, so they were giving me three-month court dates. So first, my pretrial was pretty long.

getting people to come to court then they finally got someone to come to court after like six months um then my trial was like three to six month dates after that so you know three must be tried as opposed to cases you want to get thrown out if they don't have evidence and people aren't showing up and it got to the last must be tried and witnesses came but yeah 26 months in the county in Philadelphia county isn't it crazy that you could just be held

in prison before even being found guilty. Like I understand certain situations like terrorism or someone kills someone like, you know, like that that person is guilty of that. But a situation like yours, it seems like there was a gray area that there could have been a self-defense claim. And for you to sit down

in prison that whole time. I don't know. Like I saw a lot of people that were like in prison fighting their cases where it could have went the other way and they could have been found not guilty. Well, there's cases that people sit in prison and they were actually guilty, right? Yeah. That happens and lawsuits get made and

Yeah. It's just that the system is so flawed. They get paid too. The more people they keep in there, the more money they make. They have to keep themselves occupied. And I think like that's, it's also the worst feeling when you're in prison, not knowing your out date. Like you could be there for who knows how long. That was every night going to sleep in there. And I don't know if I'm going home on this next court date or if I'm not going to be home for 20 years. It's the feeling of not knowing. That's the scariest.

If I would, if I say my maximum on this is five years, I probably would have felt a little better. I know the minimum I'm getting this, the maximum I'm getting this. If your maximum can be 40 years, if they wanted to run both of these cases separately and charge me the most time each, now I'm looking at 20 to 40, 20 to 40, 40 to 80. Yeah. If they want to run it consecutive. Yeah. I mean, I sat in county or holding for only 30 days before sentencing and that was just like...

it's mentally draining because you just don't know. You don't know when you're going home. At least once you get your date, whether it's however much time, then you have your answer. So I can't picture the guys that get like life and then you're like, you're never leaving this spot. Like that's scary. Acceptance is key in that situation. So do you end up getting a deal? Do they offer you a good deal later on? Yeah.

The lowest the deal will come down to was a three to 10. I mean, I'm sorry, a six to 20. So three to 10 and then a three to 10. And what does that mean? So a three to 10 for this case, a three to 10 for this case, but they're running it a consecutive. So three after my three years, I got to do three more. So six years of 20 years will be my total sentence. Now, what are the chances if you take that deal? What are the chances you get out at the six?

It depends on your behavior and all, but my lawyer, I had paid my lawyer some good money, thanks to my family and friends, paid the lawyer. He said, we're not taking it. He said, we're going to take it to trial. So with the thought of them not showing up anyway, plus my lawyer being confident, I took it to trial. But I went ahead with the judge rather than picking a jury, because with the jury, they can hold you to maximum on each count

So you did a trial by judge? Yes. Really? Yeah. What's that like to go by a trial by judge? You're putting your faith in one person's hands, and hopefully they're hearing your side of the story. They're going more by the law and the facts rather than maybe a jury that could be a loose cannon. Yeah, and regardless, the system's flawed, right? My lawyer has a relationship with this judge. So if I do lose, he's like, you're going to get the same thing anyway.

He said, well, what do you got to lose? Oh, so they wouldn't throw the book at you if you lost? With a judge, no. Really? Yeah, certain judges might, but... He was confident in this judge. Yeah. So you're putting your fate, though, and your attorney heavily. And I used my attorney before, and...

He had success. He had success, and I know other people that had used him, and I just, like, I told him I would have took a deal. Like, let's get it. He didn't want to. I'm like, if I'm telling you and I don't make out, then just tell me now. Like, I'd rather just get this over with. I already had two years in accounting. I'll take a 5 to 10. I'll take a 6 to 12. But I already got this time in. I don't want to...

go to trial and lose and then get 20 to 40. After seeing all the evidence and everything, did you know that you did it? Whether you remembered it or not, did you finally come to terms that you were the one that committed those crimes? Yeah. Yeah. I accepted that. And you know,

you know it's the proof's the proof yeah so was there an air there was there time before you actually saw the evidence that you were like there's no way this could be me because you were so drunk and didn't remember no i i knew what i was capable of doing with the mentality i had at the time did you have any like traumatic flashbacks at all while you were like sleeping in prison

No. Your mind didn't like wander or anything? No. Yeah. Your mind wanders. Right. But it wasn't like flashbacks of anything. It was like flashbacks of good memories, not being in prison. It wasn't like, you know, about getting shot or about committing a crime or about, it was just flashbacks of, you know, the things you love and care about. Cause you don't have that anymore. So you go to trial by judge. What happens? Um,

Witnesses come to court. Victim come. One of the victims come. Victim says, he don't know me. He don't know what happened. You know, the witnesses, you know, they say that their testimony, they spoke their testimony that they originally signed on. And the judge knew the case, right? She's seen evidence. She, I got found guilty. How long was this trial? So I got found guilty.

She dropped the attempted murder. Oh, you got the attempted murder. Yeah. Which was probably a big one. That was, yeah. And then she found me guilty of assault. Okay. So that was a win in itself. That was a win, but you still don't know. So now I got to come back in a couple months to get sentenced. How long was the trial though? A day. That's it. And she had her decision. Yeah. So do you, do you get the feeling that she had her answer going into it before the trial was even actually underway? Do you think she knew? No.

probably like a percentage but she needed to hear you know she probably wanted to hear and see and talk yeah because i feel like the judges know a lot of the evidence and that's why it's interesting when like you're seeing jury trials because the judge probably has an opinion knows what the answer is if this person's guilty or not and the jury could have a totally different perspective of it yeah um

I think the judge, she knows the right questions to ask, right? She's digging through to see, like, what's legitimate here? What's somebody just telling a drunk testimony? Yeah. So after you lose, what's that feeling like? You lose a trial and you're going back to county. Yeah, I go back to the county, waiting to get sentenced. How's your mental health? I'm optimistic at the time because I talked to my lawyer plenty of times. I got support, family and friends support, obviously.

anticipating on going upstate. Just don't know how long, right? So then we get sentenced two months later and...

She gives me, she's reading off my charges and telling me the time for each charge. So you're trying to sit there figuring out what it adds up to. Yeah, I'm counting in my head, like, and then she's like, that's this case. And then she's reading off the same charges because it was the same for the other case. And she's like, you're getting this much time for this, this much. And I'm like, it's adding up, right? And she's like, all running concurrent. So with the running concurrent, the maximum, the minimum and the maximum is the same.

So if it's a five to 10, two to four, you're only going to get the big numbers that are in that. Yeah. So what did it end up being all added up to? Five and a half to 11. Which wasn't, it was better than you expected going in. It could have been worse. It could have been worse. Yeah. Was your mom at sentencing? Yeah. So I had a probably 20 people in the courtroom. And what was their reaction once you actually got sentenced?

so before i got sentenced the judge asked me if um you know i had anything to say yeah did you speak at your sentencing yeah i spoke in my sentencing yeah and how was it was it meaningful like what you said or do you think you were just saying it just to save yourself no it was um it's it's embarrassing right you like let your family down um and you're all like in a jumpsuit chain no they brought me clothes up they want me to change clothes a change of clothes up um

So it's embarrassing to your family, right? And you got your people. Like, my grandmother never seen me since, like, the 12-year-old boy that was innocent. Like, them years from 12 to 18 or 20, I'm, like, not around her. She didn't see me develop into this person I was. So it's, like, kind of like, you know, you, uh...

Take accountability. And that's what I did. I said, you know, I let my family down. I let the community down and I apologize for my actions. And now I'm going to do the best I can to become a better person coming out of this other side. So I think she was lenient. She mentioned that when she sentenced me, like, I see you got family here. You took accountability. Do you think you meant it at the time?

I did. I did. Because when no one, when I lost my case, no one, I wouldn't know when I was going to go upstate, not knowing for how long I wrote, like, you know, my action plan right there. Like you're in your thoughts. Yeah. I wrote my mom. I said, look, it's going to be a different outcome when I come home. You wanted to change. This was like the, finally the situation. This was the wake up call.

I'm never going to get this time back. What can I do to make it as positive and productive as possible? Do you ever think that, like, had you had that realization earlier, like after the shooting, that your life would be totally different? Yeah, I mean, you know, I've been home three and a half years now, and...

I feel like I'm doing very well for, you know, that small amount of time I've been home. If I would have been, never went away and from 22 to 35, what I am now, 12 years, 13 years, would have been, you know, where I'm going to be at when I'm now going to be 45. Yeah, I mean, I think about all the times I did shit repeatedly and it didn't process and it could have saved me so much like heartbreak, so much trauma, so much everything if I just like learned it the first time. But it takes, you know, like we were talking earlier, it takes so many times

different things and different trial and error and that's just like when you keep going through relationships and you're going through businesses and everything like that you have to keep failing for something to finally stick and it sucks but that's what makes us who we are to sum it up it's like when you get a shitty outcome it's you probably did something shitty to get the outcome um

Just do the right thing. If you do the right thing, you don't have to worry about the outcome. I mean, life happens to everyone. You're going to get, you know, someone might hit you in a car and an accident happens or someone might steal money from you walking down the street, whatever. Like that stuff's going to happen. That's why I say karma is like, you know. Yeah.

But if you nine times out of 10, you do the right thing, goods are going to come back to you. Yeah. In some way, shape or form. And you also can't live your life scared that the bad's going to happen. Because you're unattractive. Law of attraction. I don't know if you ever read up on that, but yeah, if you think about it, it's going to come. Yeah. No, you got to manifest that. Right. You know, like that's how I am very much now. Like I'm very persistent and consistent and just very focused. Don't control. Yeah. I think for the first time, like growing up and even the last 10 years, like I've always heard like,

you know, you keep putting in the work, success is eventually going to come. A lot of these famous entrepreneurs, they say, no, there's no one out there that works ridiculously hard and doesn't see success. And when you're working hard and you don't see it, it's kind of discouraging. But then recently, like when I start to see everything coming together, I was like, wow, they were right. If you're consistent and persistent and you continue on that journey, something good is going to happen. You get what you put into it. Yeah, absolutely. Um,

So it's whatever you want is out there for you. It's two things that come into play. How hard are you willing to work till you get it? And how patient can you be until you get it? After that, it's just like, put the work and wait, put the work and wait. Yeah, patience is everything. I'm learning patience daily. I'm probably one of the most impatient people because it's always got to be like now, now, now, now. And that's what got me into trouble because I wanted to be successful and I wanted to do all these big things.

now now now now so that's something i'm learning and working through and you know we get better each day so you get sentenced you're hauled back and you eventually go to the spot that you're going to serve the rest of your time yeah well you go through like the the

the processes of it, you know, intake. And then you go to another place where they're doing like your mental health evaluation, stuff like that. And it's like a jail, a jail, and then you get to your home jail. Now the home jail you're at, what type of prison is it? Low, medium, max? So I'm in a maximum security prison in Pennsylvania. Because of your charges? There's people in

For all different stuff there. I think they try to separate like Philadelphia is so populated in Pennsylvania with inmates that they try to disperse them rather than have a bunch of Philly guys and a couple, you know, Pittsburgh or Erie guys in the jail. They try to distribute the guys as evenly as possible. And then you also have race. That's another thing. They don't want to make like all white jail and a couple like because, you know, the gang stuff's real in there and the people running PACs.

So how old are you when you get to this jail? 27 or 28. But going into it, you're probably a lot more confident because you've already been in the county for two years. Yeah, it was like I had got dug in into being in prison by that time. And do you have the tattoos you have now going into this prison?

Like, do you look the way you look now? Yeah, yeah. And do you think that helped you too? Like, if you were tattoo-less, not really muscular, like a young white kid, do you think you would have had a harder time? No, because like, the thing is with PA jails, it's,

You know, you got people that might try to mess with you if you're skinny, scrawny, white kid, but it's like whatever you want, whatever you're into is up there for you. So if you're a person that mind your business, does your programs, works out, no one's going to mess with you. If you're someone that gambles or gets into drugs or gets in it like you're going, you got what you know what's coming to you.

Yeah, like I was talking to someone on the pod. You got people that try to be boys and all, but there's other people that are more seasoned in prison that ain't going to let somebody just pick on somebody. Yeah, no one just gets stabbed randomly in prison. It's always provoked. Right. So what type of person are you in prison?

Are you the protector? Are you the person, you know? I stuck to myself, you know, being in the county. I learned how to play card games, play chess. So I was occupying my time at first with that kind of stuff. Started really working out when I got up there. I didn't work out in the county. Can you describe working out in prison? What's that like? So you got a yard with some weights, a lot of work.

weight pits they're all machines they don't give you free weights up there um pull up bars you just got like you find your little niche of like your goals of like all right this guy wants to be big i'm gonna go work out with him this guy just looks like he's real cut up i want to be and you go over you just start talking like it's politics right you're like yo what's going on where you from and you know you just find people that have

similar interests as you whether it's sports whether it's music and uh you kind of like get people that you socialize with in there same thing like you would on on the streets but um there are people you probably work out with you know one day you do that workout routine the next day you come up with chores and what's like a typical workout routine um for me i was doing a lot of cardio a little bit of weights i wanted to be in shape i didn't want to go and get all big i'm already like tall and i was like a little heavier from being in the county eating a lot

So when I went up there, I wanted to just be like, you know, cut up, but be in shape, be ready to like handle something. If it happened, I didn't want to be like out of breath quick. So I did like a lot of cardio, calisthenics, pull-ups, push-ups, dips. And do you think that had like a really good effect on your body? Like they say the body weights are the best types of workout. I still do it to this day. Yeah. I incorporate my warmup now it's pull-ups, push-ups, chin-ups and dips. Okay.

every time that's all you really need in squats you want to get your legs involved but and it's a it's a great workout like i've seen so much you know definition in my arms and my back just from doing those things and it's just like it's a great pump and you leave that for granted too like when you you don't need much exactly do you see any prison fights are you involved in any prison fights no i'm not involved in any prison fights i'm like really like

Staying out of the way my whole mindset when I got positive and productive I only want to be involved in it if it's positive and productive It got to the point to where I will catch myself playing too many games of chess. It's not positive or productive I'm gonna read a book. That's crazy how much your mindset has changed. I was like laser focused on being better What types of books are you reading? So I was reading um, like think and grow rich Um rich dad poor dad like all entrepreneurs self-help john maxwell um What else uh

Who moved my cheese? Did that really help to like develop your mind? Yeah. Yeah. At first it was like I was reading the past time, but then I was reading and then I realized how much I didn't know. So you go in there, you think like, you know it all. And then I'm like going to school. I got my diploma in there.

And there was just some small little things. I'm like, how didn't I know that? How did I know that? And then I started like, I get the book, the itch, like what else don't I know? Now I'm just reading and trying to learn everything I could because what else am I going to do besides work on my body in there?

Try to work on relationships with your family, but then what? Yeah. Did you have money in prison or did you need a prison hustle? No, I had friends and family looking out for me. I actually saved up some money while I was in there. I was there upstate for probably three and a half years. So every time I would get a J-Pay, which is an electronic payment they would send, I would get the J-Pay. I was putting half or more away in savings because I had that

I had a plan set for when I came home to start my own business. Yeah. And did you have any type of restitution or anything? Yeah, I'm still paying it. It's a large amount or how does that work? Yeah, it's a couple thousand and I'm paying it monthly. Monthly. Yeah. And they were taking it out in there. They were taking like 20% of my J-Pays and I was still saving 50% of my J-Pays. That's for like- I learned how to live off of like a little bit of money. Yeah. Because the county food was trashed. Yeah, what's the food like? The state food's a little bit better. What was the food like?

It was like stuff you see in the movies, right? They had some food, some good food sometimes, but it's like it's not home food. Like set days have separate set items. Right, yeah, like they would do like a monthly meal schedule, and some weeks it's like I'll probably eat two things on this whole thing. Sometimes you're like, oh, I'll eat a couple things, and, you know, you go back, you make your chi-chis, you make, you know, you got your peanuts, you got your protein, you got your fish. I was like eating off a commissary meal,

when I needed to and then eating the trees when I'm what was your favorite uh food that they served at the chow hall I can't say favorite none none they nothing stood out at all do you guys have like a pizza day at all yeah they had like alias pizza yeah like they that's like the frozen pizza that they put on that wasn't terrible what about commissary what's your favorite commissary dish

I liked the yellowfin tuna. It tastes really good. Baby clams. The spicy yellowfin tuna with the sauce, yeah, and the pack. Those things are good. And I worked out a lot too, so I was like a lot of fish, mackerel, tuna. And now back to like the fight aspect. I know you didn't fight, but did you see anything bad? Yeah, I'd seen...

People get stabbed on the face walking down. So it's not like the movies, right? It's not like every day it's wild, but people, you know, you see people get locked in a sock. You see CEOs get, you know, beat on it. You're there for a thousand days. You're going to have 50 days where something pops off. And what happens when something pops off?

Depending on the situation, if it's with a weapon, if it's a CO assault, if it's you get locked down for a day, two days, a week, until they search the whole jail. And how do prison lockdowns work in these scenarios? So you're locked down. They usually water lockdown. So if it's locked down, the COs don't have...

much to do besides come and look in your cell so now they're going cell to cell they're searching throwing your stuff around you're not supposed to have two of these you're taking this out of your cell um they use it as like time downtime to search cells uh you might get out for a shower one that so if you're locked in like four days you might get two showers out of that four days you might get all four depending on how they're running the jail what's the longest you're locked down for

I think two weeks. Two weeks. It's stuck in the cell all day. Two weeks. It was back in 2018. It was when they started, they were getting fentanyl in the mail or something. They shut the whole state down. Do you know Colin Wright? Yeah.

no oh he was in pa prisons and he was there at the time you guys might have even been in the same prison uh because this happened to him they shut the shut the mail down they locked them up all pa prisons they shut down for that wow that's two weeks like you weren't allowed to get on the phone nothing can't plug your tablet up to download anything can't you guys had tablets in prison yeah we had tablets how does how does it having a tablet work what is that um

So you buy credits for it. You can send out emails, but you can only send it out if it's hooked up to the machine. You can download music, download games. Is it like an iPad? What does it look like? It's like an iPad. It's like an iPad with no internet. What kind of games are on it? Tetris.

like Tetris, maybe like a race car game. I didn't play too many games on it. I was just using it for like communication and some music when I worked out. And are there movies on it? No. No movies. So it's just games and emailing, but you have to plug it in. To load it up. Yeah. So if you go to download a game, you got to plug it in, let it sit on until that game's done downloading. So you have to charge it or you do all your writing at night and then you go plug it in and it sends out. Yep. How much do these tablets cost? Oh,

I think like $150, $200. Are guys finding a way to like hack around it? Like I know in the feds we had these MP3 players and you could get it like jailbroken by someone that would make it so you could have different types of music or whatever. No, I haven't seen, I didn't see that. I haven't seen people jailbreak them to get like internet or nothing. Um,

It was crazy with the tablets because you'd be locked in and they would let like you're sliding your tablet under your door to go get your messages because it's like it's like a dopamine goes off. If you get like a DM in your inbox or if you get like notifications or likes, it's like it's a dopamine release when you see that. It's the same thing like reflecting back now in a prison, like when you get your tablet plugged in and then you got like three messages, you're like, oh, shit, people are, you know, hitting me up. Yeah. So people are like, yo, go plug my tablet in for me. I'm locked in or whatever.

yo, go open my cell, grab my tablet. I want to put it on because it's like a line to get in to plug your tablet up. Yeah, I can imagine. That's how it was like on the computers because we had the computers to email and there's always a delayed response. Did you have internet? No internet. It's just like a, well, I guess there's internet on the computer but all you could do is doing the email. You have to pay per word or whatever per the email and you can download music. The music's like

two bucks a song, three bucks a song, but you send the emails and people get the notification on through an app. And it always, it's like a delayed response time too. Do they censor those emails you guys are writing? I think they read them and all that. Now, did you have a good relationship with your family while you're in prison? Yeah. Um, so they, I expected more from them. That's, and that's what like, and even friends, like I expected more from some of my friends and my family. And that's what really like, uh,

made me take responsibility and accountability for my situation because like I'm relying on them or depending on them or expecting them to answer or send money or whatever when really like it's my fault that I'm here how am I if I was never here I wouldn't have to rely on them or depend on them so like it drew me back to being like

Don't make no more bad decisions. When you go to prison, you find out who your true friends are. Like those ones that stick by you throughout the whole thing and don't just come back around when things are better afterwards. That's when you know those are your lifelong friends. I had a bunch, man. I did. I was blessed to have a bunch of good friends in my corner there. What do you think was the hardest thing about being away when you were in prison on a mindset perspective? The hardest thing from a mindset perspective was probably...

Feeling like I'm wasting my life when I could have been out here taking action to take my life in a better direction. And it was frustrating because I had all these ideas and all this knowledge and I wasn't able to execute anything. Now, what about from a physical perspective? I mean, females? Do you think that crossed your mind a lot? How do you go through that? What was your...

way to solve that um so you you know you call girls you write them but they get boyfriends or they don't write back or you become more of like a burden or a duty to keep up with do you ever like think about past flings and stuff like i remember i used to find myself like no i'm saying like i would i would just think about like past hookups and anything to keep you going to like have that connection you have to bring yourself to a place where that happens yeah because it's like you're

your body needs that you need that intimacy with a female I mean I do anyway and like you don't have it and you just you

you remember times when you had it all you have is your memories so you were going back you digging into memories like oh i remember this that yeah i remember waking up to having like some fucking wet dreams because i'm thinking of memories from like past girlfriends and stuff because it's just like such a drought in there especially the first couple months when you're trying to figure out like how the fuck do you jerk off in prison because i first get there and i'm like i can't

I can't do it. I'm always in the top bunk. Like I'm not going to just be like, whack it off on the top bunk. I'm not gonna, you know, I was too nervous to go to the bathroom stall. And sometimes the CEOs would like search under, cause if inmates had contraband phones. So I remember like the first time I like got off in prison was like a wet dream. And I get up and like the, the, the, the sheets are a little wet. And like my,

boxers are wet and I have to climb off awkwardly in the middle of the night to like clean myself up. It was super like embarrassing. I remember when I was in the county and I was...

you know, didn't jerk off, didn't have sex. And I was like, I'm going home. I like in my house. I'm not touching myself. I'm going home. I'll get some pussy when I go home. That didn't last long. No. As soon as it made a piss preacher, I was like, okay, this is done. Yeah. I bet you I felt good afterwards though. Like that. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So,

What year do you get out of prison? And after how long did you serve? 20, so I made my minimum in 2019. I did five and a half years. I got out on my minimum. That was including the county jail time. Yep. Okay. So you did five and a half, you get out, good behavior. This is 2019, you get out. What was life like when you get out? Is it hard? What is the hardest adjustment? So I get out. I had my home plan was to my sister's house. My younger sister,

she's probably the only one with a stable house in the city i think at the time and i go to her basement she had like a room in the basement for me and i started staying there this is your younger sister my younger sister so yeah it was very like now the roles have reversed they're taking care of you yeah and it was like uh was that humbling yeah it's like discouraging when you have all these dreams and aspirations and you go to your sister's basement at the end of the night right um so

So on the phone, I had multiple people. I got a job for you when you come home. I got a job for you. If this don't work out, I got a job for you. So I had a buddy in, you know, different trades and different jobs not come through for me. Like I would not hire right now. And so it was like all these unfulfilled promises and which I understood, like it's not their job to get me a job. But it causes some anger and frustration. So I jumped right on Craigslist and I look for like some side work. Yeah. And yeah,

What are like challenges about being on probation too during while you're fining for work? Did you think it helped you? It was parole and my parole officer was really cool. I actually reached out to him recently because he was on my parole officer for like my first six months and then he got switched out and you know, I told him all my plans and he probably heard it all before and then you know, I showed him like everything I'm doing. He's like, wow, Frank, I'm proud of you. But he...

He was just like, you know, we can help you. We got resources. If you can't find a job, you can't, you know, get any steady work. Like, just don't go back to anything negative. But it was about like a month and then I secured like a full time job. What was your first job? My first full time job was a painting job that my buddy had got me. And I didn't speak to him really the whole time I was away. And, you know, if the old me would have been in my feelings and been like, you ain't talk to me when I was away. Don't try to talk to me now. He reached out to me to see how I was.

I seen how, you know, how he was doing and he said, you know, we're hiring if you're looking to work. I said, hell yeah. Are your friends like trying to ask awkward questions? Like, I feel like our friends when we get out of prison, they're so curious. Even now, I've like been out for years now. People are curious. They want to know stuff. Are they asking you stuff and do you feel a little awkward? I think, I think,

where I come from, it's, you can go and ask five people that's around you. So you don't need to hear from me. But they ask, you know, they're hearing it from me and being on the phone with them or they ask me like, you know, about just coming home, not like actually being in there because I was talking to them while I was in there. But they probably ask like, you know, how's it like coming home? What do you know? How's your mindset? What are you doing? What about like some challenges of having, you know, a felony assault on your record? Was that...

disheartening at all? Did that cause problems? On my way up here, I was looking for an Airbnb because I'm staying in New York for the night and that was pretty challenging because it said that I'm not allowed on the website anymore because I have an assault case. How did they background track you? I put my credit card in

So I got tens of thousands of dollars in credit cards and I got denied to go on to the website because of my charges. That is crazy. Yeah. I mean, I didn't have any problem. They let me on the Airbnb, but you know what's weird about my case? I took a screenshot of it. I'm going to put it on my story. So yeah, you're not the first that has said that. I know Josh said that too, but what's weird about my case is like when I get background checked, like when I was working for someone and stuff like that or an apartment,

The federal stuff doesn't come up. It just says like federal sex offender registry, nothing. And then it's state charges from like when I own the nightclub and stuff. So I don't know if that's like a loophole in the system or whatever it is. I think it might've been because it was a violent crime. That that's affected you. Yeah, that's what I think. How does that make you feel when that happens? Knowing that you're a changed person now and that's still gonna...

hold over you? I had thoughts of coming here on the way up because I don't want, like, I hate that my health, my past can be held against me. Mind you, I have a pain company and I have 15 plus employees that are relying on me. So, you know, that's challenging to even get on this platform and be open. And, you know, people looking at me in a different way than they probably know me today and having questions and,

And I just don't want it to affect other people. Like you can look at me all you want, but don't look at my family and my friends or my employees a certain way because it's like they are who they are. I am who I am. And I'm not even the same person I was. So yeah, it's still discouraging that you could get looked at a certain way because of it.

How has that affected like dating? It was a tough to date. Is it tough to date now? Like what? No, I have a girlfriend right now. We've been together two and a half years. Does she ask about anything? She knows our, we're, she knows my whole case. She knows everything. She knows to encourage me to come here today. Um,

um she's very supportive yeah when you got out was there like a certain aroma to you because you're like that bad boy with the tattoos like i know how people thought of me and i can use that as a strength yeah so were you able to use that but you attract you attract like trashy girls though like they might might look hot or something but they're a lot like they're not all trashy but no no no some good girls like the bad guys yeah or they're emotionally damaged yeah and

Yeah, you got that aura to you. You got that glow to you. And yeah, I use it to my advantage. But I didn't go out looking for girls too much.

But you've got a sweet side to you. You definitely have like a sweet side. Thank you. I appreciate that. You could tell. I'm charming. Yeah, you're charming. Like you're clean cut. Like if someone looked at you and knew you went to prison, I'm going to have a different opinion for you knowing that and then talking to you afterwards. Yeah, so when I started my business, Stephen, and we can go back down that route, but when I started my business, that's one of the things that helped me back. Knowing that I have a criminal background, knowing I have all these tattoos, knowing I have a history of, you know,

not being a positive person, that it's like people aren't going to trust me giving me thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars with their projects because it's like my own self-beliefs. Did you think you used that as a motivator though? Um...

I just knew when we were talking about the hard work and patience thing, I'm just going to keep working. And if it doesn't work, I'll just keep working. So how do you go from working for your friend's paint company to now owning your own paint company? And this is just in a few years' time. Now you have a successful business. Yeah. Against all odds, how did you pull that off and find the headspace to do that? So I was working. So I had a game plan when I came home.

It was save all my money from working a regular job and then work in another job to pay my bills, pay for gas, food, and get by. So I was saving all my paychecks from the company I was working at, and then I was delivering food on the side for a hoagie shop.

So all the paychecks got saved for a year. All the money from the hoagie shop was nieces and nephews, birthday parties, clothes, gas, food. That was my get by money. And then the savings was for to eventually start a business, which was either going to be the painting company or it was going to be a renovation company, some type of home remodeling and or real estate.

So, you know, the year went by. We got hit with COVID in 2020. That was I was home 2019 September. Six months later, we get hit with COVID. The hoagie place shuts down. Construction got paused for like a month. I'm still working on the side, but there's no second stream of income now. I started painting on the side. I'm not going to say I'm the most popular person, but I know a lot of people in my neighborhood, a lot of people, you know, use my services and it just got to where I

a tip to where the time spent at a painting for someone else rather than myself just didn't make sense anymore.

I was fortunate enough to have my buddy that had his own painting business before and his brother start taking on the work while I was still working a regular job. And it got to the point to where we were getting so busy, I had to quit my job and go and help these guys out and bring this vision to life all the way. What kept you grounded to stay on course? Like it takes a lot of discipline to say, hey, I'm gonna work this second job, even though I missed all these years of my life and I could go out partying, doing this, doing that.

How did you stay disciplined to say, this is my goal and I know what it takes to get to that level? I believed in myself. I believed in the vision. I was so hungry and I wanted better for myself so bad from coming from nothing. So if you're born poor, it's not your fault, right? If you die poor, that's your fault.

So I was doing everything in my capabilities of trying to become successful. That's it. It was just pure will and desire of wanting better. And was there outside forces that motivated you too? Like people saying that you couldn't do it or those times where your past catches up to you with the felony, like you're talking about the Airbnb situation being banned from there. Do you use that as a driver too? Yeah, so you have, people have this,

predetermined image of you from your past life and they try to get you to be involved in things you were involved in before or they're like laughing at you when you start a business because they think like you know you're not going to go anywhere so it's yeah that does like the hating and outside noise is like fuel and my mom has great intentions but I remember when I quit my job

I told her I want to be an entrepreneur. I'll quit my job. And she turned around and left. She's like, you don't even know what entrepreneur is, Frank. I said, all right, mom, we'll see. And I bring it up to her to this day. And she's like, well, motivated you, didn't it? I'm like, yeah, it did. And, you know, multiple businesses later and the whole business venture later, here I am. And, you know, the people with stories in past like ours, literally, if they can dig deep and find

the motivation, you literally have unlimited motivation because we've been through so much shit. Like you literally have a mound and that fire can't be extinguished. Like once it's lit and you use that, you just keep adding to it. Exactly. Like I have so much motivation because of how bad I failed. Like every rejection, every heartbreak, every, every dollar I lost

That's motivating as fuck. Even like when I was like overweight and chubby and I look at all those pictures on Google that Google won't take down, but I look at those and it's like, holy shit. Like I can't ever get lazy because I don't want to be that person again. I don't want to be the person I was yesterday. Like I,

I know a lot of people hate on like some of these social media guys on YouTube that are very polarizing, that say certain things that people may or may not agree with. But there are some people where it's like, you know, some of the best motivation is when you get heartbroken or broken up with when you get experience failure or anything like that, because you use that to do better. You need that though, right? Because of the heartbreaks, the failure, the being poor, that is...

motivation to get to the next level, but it's also a part of going to the next level. People run into them obstacles and they stop. I'm not stopping. Like that's just one thing. Like I am not stopping. There's nothing that's going to stop me. I know that there's going to be another level. How do I get to the other level? And a lot of things that people don't realize is when you're, you be a decent human being, right? That's first and foremost, be a decent human being, add value to other people. And you can only put so much stuff on your plate

If you want to be successful, but you want to go to the bar every night, or if you want to invest in a real estate, but you don't want to save your money because you want to buy the nicest shoes and the nicest cars, well, you can only put so much on your plate to take you in the next direction. So swipe off all that stuff off your plate that's not going to take you there. Add the stuff that is going to take you there. And that's pretty much it. And just keep your head down and work hard. You got to be the hardest working and work for the longest to be successful. Yeah, I love that, man. What's your relationship like with your mom and your family now?

It's good. You know, I've seen strides in all my siblings since I've been home, whether it's, you know, getting a house, getting their license back, getting clean, sober, working on their credit. Like there's these things that I've learned that I didn't learn before since I've been away, whether it's bank accounts, whether it's credit, whether it's business that I try to instill in them because it goes back to being like the father figure to the older brother.

And I do it to my friends and I do it to anyone that I'm around. I'm just like, if I'm not soaking off of you, I want you to soak off of me because I'm giving out everything I know. Yeah. Now let's rewind for a second. If you could go back,

in time and maybe sit in the car next to your old self before he started drinking at the bar that night, what would you say? Would you tell him don't drink or would you tell him to keep going down that path because it's going to get you to where you need to be in life? Knowing the outcome. Knowing everything, knowing the success, knowing the failure, knowing prison, knowing every heartbreak, every piece. This is the thing. This is the thing with that.

I regret what I did. I do. I sincerely regret it. Who wants to hurt another person, right? But I don't regret going through what I went through because I wouldn't have been this person today. I wouldn't have had this much time to work on myself. I wouldn't have had enough time to reflect. I wouldn't have been able to become the person I am today without going through that experience. And it's

unfortunate that someone got hurt and family members of their you know probably felt pain and stuff like that too and that's the worst part about everything but i wouldn't have changed my situation after that point are there guys that you've been in prison with that don't have the positive outcome that you've been able to experience that are here now or at home now or still in there that are still on maybe if they've gotten out that you stay in touch with and went back

Like, how does that make you feel when you see those cases? Because not everyone can pull it together. Yeah, it's the temptations. It's the distractions. They can't give it up. They're just like, they're not self-aware, I think, to say like, this isn't going to be positive outcome. And they don't like, they have no self-awareness. I have seen people come home and be

just as successful as me or more. I've seen people that's in there that got their, they're starting to get their life together that I still talk to on the phone and I encourage them and I send them pictures and I show them that there's possibilities out here when you get out here if you do the right thing. Yeah. What do you think your message is? Like your underlying purpose, the reason that it caused you to drive yourself out here and share your story with the world to all these viewers, all the people listening? Really that your past doesn't determine your future. So like,

I basically, if you talk to me 10 years ago and talk to me now, you're going to be talking to two different people. Vocabulary, mindset, thoughts, it's going to be two different people. So you're going to have to reinvent yourself. It's possible to reinvent yourself and change.

you know, if you just do the right thing and if you stay away from the negativity that there can be like, look, you don't have to be uber successful. You don't have to be a multimillionaire. Like there's a chance to live a good life if you just do the right thing. Um, and, uh, change is possible. Like that's my overall message is change is possible. If I can do it, if I can make something out of nothing than anyone can, cause I didn't have any like help. I

I had help, but I didn't have like, I didn't have a rich uncle. I didn't have my mom or dad wasn't an entrepreneur and gave me this mindset. I didn't have like anything to catapult me above anyone else besides hard work and learning. Absolutely. Well said, Frank. This has been a great conversation, man. Thanks for having me, man. Yeah. Thanks for making the drive out here. You know, keep staying humble, staying the hardest worker in the room. And, you know, we're excited to see where you go from here.

And, you know, thank you for sharing your story because it's definitely going to have a positive impact on a lot of people. Yeah, thanks for having me on, man, and catch up with me again sometime. Awesome.