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Scammer Script Makes Millions | Call Center FBI Bust

Key Points

At 17, Devon got his 15-year-old girlfriend pregnant while still in high school
He dropped out of school to get his GED and make money for the baby
Started selling marijuana and pills, making $4,000-5,000 per week as a teenager
Developed an opiate addiction that progressed from pills to heroin
In 2013, robbed a drug dealer's apartment but the safe was empty
The drug dealer reported it to police and went on Fox News, leading to Devon being identified
Fled to Florida while wanted, worked at a call center scamming businesses by selling overpriced light bulbs
Was making $4,000-5,000 weekly at the scam call center before it was shut down by the SEC
Moved to Virginia mountains to hide, started dealing methamphetamine and running an escort operation
Arrested in 2015 with drugs in car, facing 147 years but pleaded to 4-35 years
Served 32 months in Virginia prison, then transported to Ohio for original robbery charges
Ohio charges were dropped after 6 months in county jail when victim had died
Released in 2018 with 31 years hanging over his head on parole
Relapsed after 60 days but faked a drug test using synthetic urine
Eventually went to rehab in 2018 and got clean
Had a son named Logan who is now 4 years old
Currently part-owner of a smoke shop called Higher Thoughts in Ohio
Most of his criminal associates are either dead or serving long federal sentences
Full Transcript

Language: en
You would cold call businesses and sell
them products without ever telling them
how much the product cost. A box of six
screw in light bulbs. They would charge
$7,000. We're at our desk one day. Then
the building becomes surrounded. I said,
"They're coming for me. They're coming
to get." When I was 17, I got a girl
pregnant and I was still in high school
and we didn't know what to do. We we
were losing our minds. Uh, I remember
her coming over to my house and her
telling me, "Devon, I think I'm late.
You know, we need to get a pregnancy
test. We really need to see if I'm
pregnant." And I'm just like, I'm a kid.
I'm like, "All right." So, we do it. Of
course, boom, she's pregnant. She
doesn't want to tell her mom. I'm about
to turn 18. So, I'm worried because
she's 15 and I'm about to be I'm still
17, but I'm getting ready to turn 18.
So, I'm worried about that. First person
we told was my mom. My mom was like,
"Oh, I I figured this was coming." like
she wasn't even surprised even like a
little bit,
Um we and then we talked to her like how
do we approach Jenny's mom and and tell
her because you know she's going to go
insane to tell her you know. So after
like we got coached through what to say.
We went to her mom and explained to her,
you know, she's pregnant. And um her mom
was like, "Well, as long as you get a
job, as long as you're going to be
around and be a father, like, you know,
we'll we'll let you be around and help
you and we're going to help you guys." I
remember her stepdad came to me, put his
arm around me, and was like, "You know,
you're going to be 18 in a couple
months. If I if I ever hear you mistreat
her or you're not here for this kid,
I'll make sure you're in jail for
statutory rape." That's what he told me.
like threatened me with that. It was
like, okay, like I I plan to be here. I
want to be a good father. Like, this is
what I plan to do. Like, but I I'll take
that into consideration. Like,
makes me think of the the um sorry, the
uh joke where the guy says his wife
comes downstairs one day.
And in the middle of the night, she
wakes up, he's not there. She goes
downstairs and he's he's sitting at the
dining room table uh staring into his
coffee cup and shaking his head and she
says, "What what's wrong, sweetie?
What's going on?" He goes, "You remember
when you were we first met and you you
got pregnant?" And she says, "Yeah,
yeah." And he said, and uh I was, you
know, you were 15 and I was 18. And he
said, "Your father came to me and he
said, if if you don't marry her, I'm
going to call the police and I'm going
to have you arrested for statutory and
you'll get 20 years." And he she goes,
"Oh yeah, I remember that." Because I'd
be getting out today.
That's funny. That's great.
That's your story?
No, it's definitely my story. But like I
mean I love this girl and I planned to
be with her for the rest of my life at
the time. Like and I never thought you
know what would happen happen. But so I
was a junior in high school. She was a
in eighth grade going to be a freshman.
Um I I dropped out and got my GED
because we needed money. I had a kid on
the way. I know how expensive kids are.
I had no car. I had no house. She was
still living at home. I was still living
with my grandparents. And without money,
you know, I was always like, "We need
money. We need money. We need money."
And and working at the time, it was like
$6 an hour was minimum wage back in
Like, I mean, it was just it was a joke
to try to get a job on the books. And
I had friends that were in the game
already. My my buddy Nick, who's passed
away, he started selling Bud at a young
age, like 13. You know, when I when I
got into it, I'm a little bit older. I'm
19, but he had been doing it his whole
life already. And he he had all the
connections and everything that we
needed in order to make money. So, the
only way I knew to get money was sign up
for community college and get these
student loans and get these grants. So,
that's what I did. I got on the
computer, filled out all the
information, and we got almost like
$8,700 back, I believe, is what it was.
And I used that money, and that's how I
started selling. But
yeah, you started and what what were you
buying it for? And what was like if
you're buying a pound for this much,
what are you selling it for?
So, we were getting them for 800 and
then selling them for 1,200. But I also
was breaking them down. Like I was
selling pounds. I was also selling
nickel bags,
Like I didn't turn down any money. I
would take all sales. And eventually
what happened was my grandfather um was
getting prescribed, you know, pills,
opiates, and 180 every month. I I knew
what those were worth. So I would trade
him just a very little bit amount of bud
and get his whole entire script, start
selling his script, and I was making
like 5x what the amount of bud I gave
him was worth. And I did that for like
almost a year. It wasn't even a year.
What are the pills worth?
They were what they worth. So at the
time they were worth about $5 a piece.
And your And you're
basically paying 50 cents a piece for
Yeah. Yeah.
So it was decent money. It wasn't like a
lot of money, but it it was extra money
and it helped. Well, what is it like a
you're making like a,000 2,000 a week?
Something like that.
Like an extra like thousand off the
pills, right?
Yeah. But the selling the bud, we were
making like four or five grand a week at
the time.
a ton of money for [&nbsp;__&nbsp;] for two
teenagers.
Yeah. For two teenagers, I bought her a
brand new Jeep, 2007 Jeep Cherokee. Um,
we were so the reason we were still at
her mom's house because she hadn't
turned 18 yet and her even though I had
money to get a place, her mother refused
to allow me to move Jenny out of that
house into a place of our own. She said
until she's 18, she's staying here, the
baby's staying here, and that's just how
it's going to be. So, you can either
move in here or or not, but you're not
taking her, okay,
to a house. So, I ended up moving in
with them. um moving in with Jenny and
my daughter Alina who was 18 now. Um
it's wild.
You'd be getting out in a couple years.
No, right.
Um it was going good. Um and then the
pills, man, I started taking a few. Um
you know, having a newborn baby and
being a teenager, like there was a lot
of stress, man. I was stressed out all
the time. Me and her started fighting
all the time now cuz we got this newborn
that's crying. We're up all night and
it's like what do you do? You know, I
pop a percoet to feel better.
And that's where it started. And then,
you know, I was at her mom's for,
you know, three years. We were there
three years. And within them three
years, the pill addiction turned into H
eventually. It just it progressed four a
day, six a day, 10 a day, then 30s, then
Well, what happened? Why did it go how
did it go from
so like the I was taking the 512. So at
one point I was taking 60 a day up to
upwards of 60 of them a day just to
basically be normal. I wasn't even like
getting super messed up off of him at
this point. And at that point, that's
when Nick, who was giving me, you know,
the butt and everything, he started, he
was doing opiates as well.
He introduced me to the 30s. That was
the next step. I started doing the 30s,
the little round ones.
Well, you had said um uh you had said
that you guys were also buying them from
correct? We were buying He was getting
Where are they getting their pills?
So, at the time,
were you doctor shopping yourself?
There was really only one doctor. His
name was Dr. Hall. He got busted in
2007. He was the doctor for like from
2002 to 2007. He was the doctor. You
could go to him and get any script you
needed or wanted. And Nick would just
send people in there with these MRIs or
with these with this fake paperwork and
then just get scripts of hundreds and
hundreds of pills.
And you guys buy buy them from them and
then you just resell them.
I mean, and we weren't giving them
hardly anything. I mean, less than 50
cents on the dollar uh forum. And I
mean, we were making so much money, but
I mean, when I look back at it, it's
like, man, that's where it all went
downhill for me when I started right
there. That's where it all, you know,
everything that happened to me in my
life, I look back and think, you know,
if I would have never took that percoet,
things would be different. But I mean
you I know you can't live like that but
you know
how did you go from prescription
painkillers to h like what's the leap
from that like?
So basically in 2007 he was indicted by
the feds and was the doctor was and sent
So when that happened there was like
still some on the streets but like
within 90 days I would say there was no
more pills on the streets at all. Now,
there was still your occasional
grandmother that could go to the doctor
and get a script of them, you know, like
you could still find that here and
there, but like they they started
cracking down like
um opiates started becoming a big thing
up north.
Did they have one of those uh the system
like in Florida at some point? I think
it was like 2007, 2008, whatever. Around
that time when all the pill mills were
everywhere and everybody was doctor
shopping, they came up with that the the
recording system where every time a
doctor gave you a script, it was
registered. So if you went to another
doctor to try and get a script
that you couldn't, they'd be like, "Oh,
no, no, you were Dr. Mills gave you
Oh, yeah. For sure. Yeah. So like
and then they had that there."
Yeah. No, for sure they did. And
I don't know because they they didn't do
have in Florida for a long time. They
didn't have it. the first things that
Everybody was pushing for it. That's why
pill mills were so big here.
I remember
because and people were coming from
other states cuz they we didn't have
that. I forget what they call it too. It
was called the registration or whatever
it was called that.
Yeah. Yeah.
Um but in and the do the
they didn't want to do it and then
finally they fin people so many people
were just dying that they finally said,
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So, you know, I woke up one day, I'm
sick, I'm opiate sick, pill sick, my
daughter's crying, I feel like crap, my
girlfriend's nagging at me, and I had a
buddy who said, "You want to come try
some age?" And it at the time, I I was
nervous and like a little bit of scared
to do it, but at the same time, like the
situation, how I felt, I didn't care.
went over there and I snorted that line
I loved it. I was like, "Oh my god."
Like, "You mean I can spend $20 and buy
this and feel like this?" Like this is
like a $500
pill high that I'm on right now that I
just spent 10 bucks on. Like
I I was like amazed. I I thought it was
Um, and
my Yeah, I started, you know, the H
progressed and then it went to the
needle eventually.
Are you selling H also or is it just
So, in 2010, Nick went to prison. He got
busted. Um, he got caught. I think it
was like 30 pounds of of Bud and was
sent away. I had like $16,000 saved,
which isn't like a lot, but that's what
I had saved in a shoe box. And
I told I told Jenny, I said, "I'm done.
I don't want to go to prison. I don't
want to end up like Nick. I want to be
here for my daughter." I said, "I'm
retired. I'm done." I said, "This is
it." I said, "We're going to take this
money and we're going to" And my thought
was, "We're just going to live on this
That money lasted until the end of
From in June, I said that to her. By the
end of August, we were flat broke.
Now Nick's gone. He's in prison. I'm
dopesick. I have no money. no more
money. Uh the student loan money's long
gone. Uh any connections I had are long
gone at this point. Uh so I started
robbing people.
How's how did that who who's
So at first it was just breaking into
random houses. I would go up, ring the
doorbell. If no one was there, no one
answered, I would just go around the
back and and break out a window. If
someone answered the door, I'd say,
"Hey, could I use your phone?" That was
my go-to. I did that for probably two
years. And then in 2013, so this is
three years later, um my cousin comes to
me and she's like, I know thisin dealer,
he's got $10,000 in his safe, an ounce
of in there, a bunch of jewelry. Like,
we can get this. We should go get this.
She's like, I got a plan. Mind you, I'm
homeless. I don't have anywhere really
to go. There's no money for drugs or
food or anything. Jenny's long gone. We
split up.
Did she go back to her parents?
She went back to her parents. wouldn't
let me see Elena. Um that's so that's
when all that she faded away and my
addiction took off. And when I went to
my cousins and we she came up a plan.
She's like this is what I'm going to do.
She said I'm going to call him. We're
going to go to his apartment. I'm going
to call him and tell him I want to buy
$100 worth when we see him leave. We're
going to go we're going to get out and
we're going to go in and we're gonna
we're gonna kick his door down and we're
gonna take the safe. We're gonna take
everything he's got. And I had nothing
to lose. I said, "Let's do it. Let's do
it. So, she calls him. Hey, I need a
$100 worth. Um, can you meet me at the
speedway? Yeah, of course. Okay. Five
minutes later, we see him. We watch him
come out. We watch him get in his car.
We watch him pull out of the driveway.
That time, we get out. We go in. She
breaks open. We're in an apartment
She's a gangster, bro. She's
Listen. Yeah, she is for sure. So, mind
mind you, I I'm not paying attention cuz
I'm dopesick. I I don't I don't care
about really anything. I really don't
care about living at this point. I'm so
bad off like mentally and I'm not paying
attention. There's cameras all over. I
have no mask on, no gloves on. So, we
break the She breaks open the apartment
locked door. We go to his door. I kick
his door in. We go in there. There is a
safe. I take the safe. We unplug his TV.
I take his TV, his laptop. He had
multiple gaming systems, a bunch of
jewelry, a bunch of bottles of pills. We
got all that. Took it out the back door.
I had Nick. No, I didn't have Nick was
with me. I had a friend with me. Drove
up. He came to the back. We went out
there and we loaded up the car and we
took off. We went back to my cousin's
house. Now, it took me like
6 hours to break into the safe. I've
never broken into a safe before. So I'm
like crowbar like hammer sledgehammer
hitting this safe trying to like get it
open. I finally break the safe after
about 5 hours of hitting it.
You watch a YouTube video in a YouTube
look up the power to break it.
You would think you would think I would
have but like a Home Depot safe kind of
thing where they bought it at Home
It probably was. It was a bigger one
though. One of those big ones from Home
So So what are you hitting it with?
You're just
sledgehammer. Oh first hammer. I'm
hitting it with a hammer. Then we go we
get a sledgehammer. I'm hitting it with
a sledgehammer. I finally break it. You
have to you have to peel. That's safe
peeling, by the way. It's a thin layer
of metal around it. And it's concrete in
between it. And then there's another
concrete. You actually have to take like
you can get a chisel and you can you can
chisel out and then you chisel out the
metal. Then you break out the concrete.
Then you have to chisel out the nut. It
still takes hours and hours.
Yeah. Yeah. But I was just thinking
hitting it with a with a you have to
make it deform it or something to try
and get the door.
Looks like he was able to break the door
eventually and able to get into it. So
six hours.
Where are you?
Please tell me something was in there.
Where are you banging on this safe at?
We're at my aunt's house which is her
mom and her mom is also an addict and
she knows what's going on and she don't
really care. So mind you, so after 6
hours we get in the safe. The safe is
empty. There's no money in there.
There's no drugs in there. There's no
jewelry in there.
And I look at my cousin and I'm like,
"Where where is everything you talk? I
seen it, Devin. I was just there
yesterday. I seen him put it all in the
safe." I'm shaking my head like I just
couldn't I just couldn't believe it. I
felt defeated. I felt defeated. Now, we
made a few thousand off the uh
electronics. I made another thousand off
the pills. So, I had a little bit of
money to survive. Not long, a week,
at the most. Usually drug dealers keep
things in the streets. They don't turn
to police. They don't turn to
authorities.
So the next day he called and reported
his house stolen, talked to the police,
also went on Fox News and did an
interview.
Holy [&nbsp;__&nbsp;]
Now, mind you, this guy is selling age
to kids, and he has a double life. He's
selling H to kids but pretending to have
like 30 years of sobriety and he's going
to AA and and and suckering people in to
buy his drugs. And it was just a sick
whole thing he was doing. He's on there.
He's like, "Yeah, I hope they uh catch
these guys. You know, I remember when I
was an addict and how hard it was for
me." He's like, "I hope they uh go to
jail and they turn their lives around."
He's like, "That's what I want to see
And I got a phone call from my mom. You
were just on Fox News. They're the
police are looking for you. Well, how do
they know it's you? Cuz of the
surveillance.
They don't at first. So, their
surveillance footage, they put my face
and my cousin's face up on the
surveillance footage. And it said two
Toledo burglary suspects are on the run
tonight. Here are their photos. If you
have any information on who they might
yeah, contact He knows anyway cuz she
called him. She's the one that called
him to get him out of the house. So, he
already knows she's involved.
They posted on the Toledo Police
Department Facebook and within minutes,
my baby mama's on there. That's Devin
Price. That's Deon Price for sure.
That's him. I know. I swear it. I was
like, "Wow." Like, you know what I mean?
But I guess what could I expect? But so,
listen, that's Listen, we interviewed a
guy the other day. He was giving his
wife money. His wife would get and
he was dating a he had a wife and he was
dating a stripper and he was robbing
banks to
support him.
Support them.
Yeah. And one day he cut he got like
$400,000 or something like that. And he
went went and gave his wife 200,000
where he'd been giving her money.
But this time it was where he was giving
her like 50,000.
70,000 something like that. This time it
was 250,000 in cash and he gave it to
her. It was all cash but $250,000.
And she was like, "Okay, okay." And like
he leaves and she called the FBI said,
"Listen, I don't know this dude. He just
gave me 250. He's robbing banks." And
Wow. Yeah. So then he uh Yeah.
So yeah, he got uh he got caught where
the Grand Canyon.
Yeah. He went on the run and then he
just uh he's like I don't know why I
just wanted to go to the Grand Canyon
and so he like gets to the Grand Canyon
and the FBI's there. Yeah.
Yeah. It was great. It's funny too cuz
they're like follow the cops are
following him and he's driving and when
he was telling me this the scene to um
Thelma and Louise I don't if you ever
saw that movie but they basically
they're robbing places and robbing banks
everything and they're driving around in
like a convertible and the cops are all
behind them and they're at the Grand
Canyon and they just punch it and just
go right off the edge.
That just
boom. That's that was in my mind and he
he was like I thought about it. I
thought about it. It was it was actually
the wife who set him up. He had a he had
some kids and the wife who told the cops
would call him to talk to his son on the
phone and that's how they were kind of
tracking him cuz he talking
your son that's I forgot that your son
want little Jimmy wants to talk to you
little Jimmy you know he's like oh put
him on the phone you know they're
tracking him the whole time.
that's how they got found him at the
Grand Canyon.
That's right. But, you know, like I've
been selling I had been selling drugs
and been in the streets at this point
for like five or six years and I just
never thought a drug dealer is going to
call the police, go on Fox News and give
an interview when you you know, you know
what he's doing. I just couldn't believe
it. I had a friend.
It's not like he said I'm selling drugs
or they got my they got my they got my
uh my pill stash, you know.
No, for sure. I know. But I just
And it sounds like he was just wanted he
just wanted you to get help.
He was doing it for you.
He was doing it for me. I want to help
these out. I care about I I care about
these people. That's why I have the
surveillance camera.
Okay. So, I have a friend that was
living in West Palm Beach and and Miami
at the time. He was running halfway
houses down here. 200, this was in 2013
going into 2014.
Around this time, uh, South Florida was
the recovery capital of the world. They
had halfway houses and recovery houses
popping up on every corner. There was
probably thousands.
He calls me. He's like, "Devon, if you
want to come down here, I can put you in
one of my houses. You can help me run
it. Uh, I can get you this job." At the
time, I'm not I don't know what the job
is. I can get you this job.
Does he know you're wanted? Yeah. Like,
he calls because he knows, "Hey, my
buddy Devin is wanted."
No, I called him.
Oh, okay. I was going to say,
I called him and and was like, "Vinnie,
this is what happened. This is what I
did. Can you help me?"
I'm wanted. Yeah.
Come on, Dad. I got a job for you.
Yeah. So the job though, once I found
out what the job is, so I I got went to
Detroit Metro that same day. I was on
the news that night. That morning I was
My mom took me to Detroit Metro and I
flew down to Florida with $20 in my
and a book bag of clothes. That's all I
had in my name.
What about your cousin? What'd she do?
She ended up getting picked up. It was
about a week later she got picked up. My
cousin ended up rolling on me. Um said
that I set it up. It was all me.
Uh, it was my idea. Um, she was even
willing to testify against me if it came
to that. And she ended up only getting
like I think it was six months in a rec
in a rehab.
Not one of your rehabs.
Not one of my rehabs, but she was six
months in like it's like a criminal
rehab in Toledo. It's like a instead of
sending you to prison, they send you
like a prison rehab it's called.
So, she ended up only having to do that.
Um, so I'm in Florida. I'm in Florida.
I'm down there three days. My first time
in Florida. I I know I'm wanted. I know
the Toledo police are looking for me. I
have an F1 robbery. Uh and uh they
considered it uh occupied dwelling
because of it being an apartment
complex. Even though he wasn't home,
other people were still home. So they
hit me with occupied dwelling robbery.
Because there were there were other
other apartments under the same roof.
Even though you didn't go into those
apartments.
Even I didn't go into those apartments.
That's crazy. That is that's ridiculous.
F1 robbery with the So, uh, I I knew I
was wanted. I knew they were going to
look for me. So, Vinnie says, "Uh, I'm
going to give you I'm gonna I'm going to
send you to this job interview Monday."
He said, "It's at a call center."
I said, "I've never done sales before in
my life. I've never done I said, but
I've done, you know, I've sold drugs my
whole life and have been on the phone
dealing with people, so I mean, I could
use those skills and maybe turn it into
a legal job." So, we'll see what
So, I go to this place. It's called It
was called Standard Industries LLC. Um,
it was a multi-million dollar company,
call center company where you would cold
call businesses and sell them products
without ever telling them how much the
product cost. So, I could call somebody
random that I've never met before. I
could sell them probably three or four
items without them even asking me how
much it costs and get them to buy these
How's that? with this script. They had
this script that was like a magic
script, man. Whoever wrote this script,
look, the owner had a private jet of
this company at the time. They had been
running, I think, 10 years at this
point. I memorized that script and got
so good at this job with talking to
these people on the phone. I would say,
"Hey, my name is Steve. You never use
your real name." "Hi, my name is Steve
from Standard Industries LLC. How you
doing today? Just wanted to call and
touch base with you. Haven't talked to
you in a while, man."
Get them to be be really friendly. Get
them to like you, right? Uh, open up to
them. Hey, I'm married. Are you married?
I just got married last week, man. You
got any advice for me?
Stuff like that. I would really get them
to open up to me. And then at the end,
I'd be like, um, by the way, uh, while I
do got you on the phone, is it all right
if I just put you down for a half a box
of the lights today? It's not much. I
know you told me you didn't really need
them, but if we just do the half a box
today, I can get you this and the free
sample. Usually, they say yes. Most of
the times they say yes. And if I ever
had got somebody that wanted to know
how much
how much.
So I'm sorry uh Matt, I don't have the
figures in front of me right now, but
listen, when the invoice gets out to
you, if you got any problems with the
money, I'm going to give you my personal
cell phone. If the invoice isn't
correct, you just call me personally and
I'll take care of it for you. Is that
I don't have I don't have my credit card
information in front of me either. How
about you go get the the price of of the
of the the lights and I'll go get my
credit card information.
So, what they were doing a box of six
screw in light bulbs. They would charge
$7,000 to these companies. Are you
then they had these
uh houses set up where they would harass
these businesses until they paid them
So they're so they're calling businesses
cold calling
cold calling businesses and
they're just how how do you know what
product you're selling them? Like
so we sell lights. We sell industrial
lighting T8s, T I learned about T8s and
T12s and T6s which are like screw in
light bulbs. So
we um target specific uh brands and
companies. Um, it's usually like garages
or like businesses that are like uh that
that outside businesses, construction.
Stuff like that. Landscaping businesses,
stuff where like they have garages or
they would use lights and stuff like
that. And we were really targeting
bluecollar
manager garage type guys that we could
and and become our become friends with
us and, you know, give it a buy.
Especially if you get like the
receptionist, the guy who's not paying
the bill, but he's like, "Oh, yeah,
yeah, or we already ordered them in the
past." And is that what you're saying?
is that they end up thinking they know
you? They've ordered them in the past.
Yeah. Okay.
I I tell them I I tell them that I'm I'm
going to send the catalog back out to
you. Is the address still the same? I
have their address. I'll read their
address out to them like I know it. Your
address is still 923 North, right? Yeah.
Okay. I just wanted to make sure. Just
double checking that's still your
address. Yeah. I get them to think they
know me
and that they've probably purchased your
product. probably purchased my product
before. I become friends with them and
then I push the product at the very end.
Okay. So, so every once in a while, so
somebody gives you gives you their
credit card information. Do you guys
build a credit card or do you send them
merchandise and then bill them and say
you receive the merchandise?
That's what it is. We don't even take
credit card information like COD.
Yeah. They basically would just send the
product. You receive the product. Now
you have to pay. If you don't pay, we're
going to sue you. were going to do. I
don't know what their tactics were to
make them pay, but
Okay, I know. I I So, I actually have
had a friend named Caesar that I met in
prison and he did. So, that makes more
sense than billing the credit cards cuz
here's what he would do. He'd buy stuff
from for $12, the ab roller for $12 from
China. And he he'd run ads and then he'd
sell them cood like, "Yeah, yeah, just
just call and order it. You can pay when
it gets there." And people would be
drunk at 2:00 in the morning. and they
call up and want the ab roller and it's
$250 and they mail it to them. They
don't really tell them on the phone how
much it is, you know, they're like, "Oh,
it's $49.
It's supposed to be $49." They think
it's $49 bucks. There's really like five
payments of $49. And then they just mail
them and say, "Oh, it's $250." And
they're like, "Oh, I'm not going to take
this." And they they don't accept it.
And so then he had a collections
department that then started hounding
them andounding them andounding them.
The difference was
for with Caesar, the people he was
targeting were illegals.
So these guys would start saying, "You
owe this much money. Oh, I'm not going
to pay that, man." And they'd say,
"Listen, bro. I got your address. You
we're going to file with the county.
We're going to get a warrant. We're
going to what?" And now they're starting
to think, "Oh, the cops might show up."
So then they wait 10 days. They call
them back. And then they say, you know,
we filed a warrant. We filed this with
and they'll mail paperwork to them. It
looks like a warrant's been filed. Like
they don't know what they're looking at,
And then 5 days after that, they call up
as like a police officer, like a like a
like, "Hey, you've got a warrant. It's
now $750." It keeps going up. It's $750.
The warrants's been filed. Such and
you know, um, when are you going to be
home so I can come pick you up or we're
going to need you to turn yourself in?
That kind of thing.
You know, they don't actually go out to
the house, but these guys are terrified.
They think that somebody from the the
Hillsboro County Sheriff showed up.
Crazy how they start paying. they'll pay
the [&nbsp;__&nbsp;] $750. Like, first of all, it
was a it was a $12 ab roller from China
that you're getting $750 bucks for or
$1,200 or 15 whatever they jack it up
to. And he's like, it doesn't really
matter cuz it's just one out of three of
them pay. And they think that they're
going to be they're going to be arrested
and deported for this, right?
He's like, we have like ICE, you know,
officers from pretending to be from ICE,
pretending to be Hillsboro County.
These guys would be [&nbsp;__&nbsp;] terrified.
They just pay. They [&nbsp;__&nbsp;] send the
money. Not all of them, but he said, "If
one out of three pays and it's $1,000,"
he's like, "I mean, I spent $12 for the
Damn right. So, it's crazy. So, in the
beginning of the script, we offer a free
hunting knife, a very exclusive, nice
state-of-the-art hunting knife. And once
I got them to agree to the hunting knife
and let me send it out to them,
I pretty much had them. So, I was
getting $20 an hour base pay and then
$300 every time I got a guy to say yes.
and I would get about 20 guys a week.
So, I went, it took me a little while.
Um, I didn't get my first 10 10 guys
until I was there for like three months.
Once I really got that script down and
knew how to like small talk these guys,
it was it was incredible. $4,000
paycheck, $5,000 paycheck every single
I'm on the run and this wanted like how
are you getting around? Do you have a
vehicle? You just hoping the cops don't
Do you have a fake ID? Are you just
hoping the cops don't you never get
stopped by the police?
I mean, I really I'm kind of just living
every day as like this is going to be my
last. You know what I mean? I
You're just waiting to get arrested
pretty much. I I I know it's going to
come eventually, but once I started
getting this job and started making this
money, I didn't want to go to jail. So,
I made sure never to drive. I always had
a driver.
I tried to just do things to to to stay
out of trouble. I but then I started I
started getting cocky and I started
posting on Facebook
Toledo police's Facebook. Haha. I posted
a picture of me on the beach. I said,
"Fuck you. Y'all ain't never going to
find me." And then I went on the one of
me in the video. I said, "That ain't
me." I said, "Y'all y'all foolish. That
ain't me." Just being stupid knowing
like they're going to tra they could
trace these. They could I mean, I don't
know how that works, but they're going
to find me. Yeah, I would I would think.
I started seeing articles
in on Google because I was googling my
name almost every day. I started seeing
articles in Northern Florida about my
I'm in South Florida at the time. So,
I'm thinking
at this time I'm thinking like, man,
they're getting close. They're either,
you know, someone's I mean, I'm posted.
I'm on the beach. I said I was in
California is what I was telling people,
but people knew I was in Florida,
So, I really didn't know how long this
was going to last. One day, we're at
work. This is now a year later, almost a
almost a full year later. Now, mind you,
I went to the NBA finals the year with
LeBron James and Dwayne Waver there. We
sat floor seats, $6,000 seats. Took a
BMW down from Miami from West Palm to
Miami, dropped top white BMW, wore all
So, you're spending your money wisely.
Yeah. I would get a $4,000 paycheck and
have it all gone by Monday
most of the time. designer clothes,
taking girl high-rise apartments, eating
at every fancy steakhouse in Florida. I
mean, I like I told you, I was living
every day like it was my last. So, I
didn't care. I didn't
Are Are you still addicted to H
at that time?
No. So, I was when I went down there, I
kicked on Vinnie's couch.
Five days on his couch. He wouldn't let
me. This was before the job interview.
So, I kicked H for five days and then
had a job interview the next day at this
place. That's how that's how it started.
And I couldn't believe how much money I
was making. So,
my morals started to get a little
affected. I'm in sobriety now and I'm
being and I'm sober. Uh, I had a guy
call me one day.
You know, I told you I gave out my
personal phone number to try to close.
So, it's really your personal phone
Number was really given out my I gave
out my actual personal phone number. A
guy called me. He said, "I've been a
foreman at this company for 17 years. I
just lost my job because I accepted your
order. My wife is going to leave me. I'm
going to lose everything. Can you do
anything to reverse this order?"
And I just hung up on him.
I I was like I didn't I I didn't know
what to think, man. And and that stuck
with me. It really bothered me. It
really bothered me that like I realized
like what we're doing is really
It's bad,
right? Um,
did you get any other calls from any
customers like, "Hey, like what the
[&nbsp;__&nbsp;] Like, what's these $7,000 lights?"
Oh, yeah. All the time they try to, but
I wouldn't give out my personal phone
number, but they would they would call
the office phone all the time, uh,
complaining, saying they were going to
call the police saying,
"So, you weren't always giving it out.
You would just, this would happen to be
This every once in a while when I would
close, I would give out the number.
Okay. you know, and I would so and then
the other times like they would come out
uh complaining. But so what happened? I
met this job for a year. Um we're at our
desk one day. Um then the building
becomes surrounded. The building is
completely surrounded. Black cars are
and I look I I think this is it. I
really believe I said they're going to
they're coming for me. They're coming to
get me. Next thing I know, 20 agents
come bursting through the door with
badges on, but they're not there for me.
They're there for the company,
This the SEC, the federal SEC.
So, they come in, they say, "Everybody
has to go." Um, they didn't arrest
anyone, but they just said, "Everyone
has to go." And they shut it down
immediately.
Leave everything.
Leave everything and just go.
It was crazy. I I was shaken up. I was
so scared. I was so nervous. I mean, I'm
thinking they're there for me. They're
when I find out they're not. But then I
find out I'm also losing my job cuz
It's like I had just just been living
this like high life kind of life and
then I just lost this job out the blue
after about 11 months with no money
Didn't save any money. Didn't think I
needed to. I thought I was really ready
to stay at Standard Industries for the
rest of my life if it would have been
possible. But
we see how that turned out.
So, I'm in Florida. I'm dating this
girl. I just lose this job.
I I I really feel like the police are
closing in on me. Seeing the article in
Northern Florida, I really just I I want
to leave Florida at this point. We I
lost my job. I really don't have that
much money at this point. So, she tells
me, she says, "I got some grandparents
that live in this small county town in
Marian, Virginia." She's like, "If we go
there and hide out," she said, "the
police will never get you. They'll never
find you." She said, "I swear it's up in
the mountains." I said, "Let's do it.
And nothing else to lose." I said,
"Let's do it." She had three little
All under the age of 10. We packed up
her entire Jeep of everything she owned
and everything I owned and the three
kids and drove 14 hours north from a
population of about 2 million in West
Palm Beach to a population of about a
thousand when we got to Marian Virginia
in these mountains.
So now we're in I mean we're in the
mountains.
What did grandparents say that they let
you guys move in?
Obviously they didn't know anything
about me being on the run. Yeah.
But yeah, they let us move in. Her she
called her grandparents and basically
said, "Hey, I want to get a fresh start.
I want to get out of Florida. I want to
get away from my mom. Could me and my
boyfriend come up there?"
They were like, "Sure, come on." So, we
move up there and we're living up there
and I'm trying to live semi-normal life.
She gets a good job working um for the
income tax company. She's doing income
and she's making good money. I'm
obviously not working at this time. I
can't get no job on the books. if I try
to get a job, the cops are going to find
me. Uh, so I'm taking care of her kids
while she's working. That's basically
what I started doing. I started playing
stepdaddy for a little while.
that was going all right until she met
she met a girl named Martha that worked
at the income tax place with her. And
this girl Martha's brother
was John, who's the big guy, the big
time drug dealer in the city. We don't
find that out at first.
You know, we're hanging out with Martha
and she's like, "You guys ever done
Ice." Now, at this point, I'm off of
everything. I haven't been on H in
probably 13 or 14 months. I haven't done
anything. And I said, "I've done it like
once or twice, but we were like so bored
in this town. We had been there six
months. We're so bored. There's nothing
to do in the mountains. I'm not an
outdoors person. I'm not a hunter. I
don't like going outside." Like, so
there was nothing to do. So we we ended
up turning into drugs and that's when I
did ice for like really like the first
second time in my life and I love that,
Wow. I had this speed rush off that
stuff, it was it was it was it was it
was crazy. And the more I started
hanging out with her, we started hanging
out with John, he started telling me he
had a bunch of people working for him.
And he was like, I I know your story. I
know you're uh on the run. He's like,
"You want to come work for me?" And I'm
like, "You know, doing what? What do you
got to do?" He's like, "You know,
there's going to be packages. I'm going
to need you to take certain places.
You're going to pick them up from one
location. You're going to take them to
the other location. That's all I need
you to do."
I said, "Yeah, of course."
Slowly ease them into it.
Slowly, little little bit. Just a little
I said, "Sure.
Just a tip.
Just a tip."
Like, "You'll pay me $500 to drive 10
Of course I'll do it. Why wouldn't I do
Six months later, you're in a dope house
with counting money with stacks of the
keys piled up and
I mean, it's
you're running it's New Jack City.
I mean, it became
I was just moving a couple of [&nbsp;__&nbsp;]
Yeah. So,
got and and honestly, getting a pound
like a pound is like a it's like a a
it's like a 10year mandatory minimum.
So, he was getting them. They looked
like cinder blocks. It looked like a
cinder block of real ice. Man, I
remember snorting a line of ice off a
cinder block of ice.
Wild stuff. Um, so I'm running these
packages. Um, I'm making a few thousand
dollars. Laney loses her job because she
spun out on ice 247. All she liked to do
is just sit in the bathroom. Spun out on
ice. So that I mean for
I mean that's really how that happened.
It went from moving packages to he uh I
found out he was getting pills, too. At
first, he didn't tell me. He was getting
a thousand Roxy 30s vacuum sealed from
his uncle in Las Vegas, also with four
pounds of ice through the mail every
That's a That's a lot of That's a lot of
That's That's That's a That's a lot of
time. That's a lot of time.
He's doing 30 right now in the feds. Oh,
jeez. John is
Yeah, he's doing 30.
I told you.
Everyone in my circle is in federal
prison other than me. Laney just got
out. She got 10 years. My ex got 10
years, too.
Oh my god.
Yeah. So,
moving the packages, I start to find out
about the pills. I of course I started
doing the pills,
Undoing the 30s, but we're selling a
bunch of ice, man. And, um, we were
making like tons of money. I was making
tons of money out there in the
mountains. On top of that, uh, we
started, at the time, Back Page was real
big in Toledo, but no one down there
knew what that was. And Backpage is an
esc was an escorting website where you
could post girls,
So Laney got Martha and two other girls
to start posting dates and because what
I came to find out was that within a 40
mile radius, there was no escorts.
So the second that I post these four
girls and posted the location of where
they were, the the phone didn't stop
ringing. It didn't stop ringing. And
then they started serving ice to the
clients, to the guys that were doing the
It really became out of control. Uh I'm
I was doing this all out of a
three-bedroom apartment.
You know, John would come and drop the
pack off to me and drop it all off to me
and it just became it just became crazy.
The whole thing became insane. But
so you're not living with her her
grandparents anymore. You guys have no
Yeah. So when she got the job at the tax
income tax place, we moved from the
little mountain town about 10 miles
south to Abington, Virginia, which was
like a little bigger. It's like 5k
people instead of 1k.
Still tiny. Super super tiny town. She
got end up getting a three-bedroom
apartment with her kids. Her kids were
there too while this Oh my god.
Kids are there too while this is all
going on. She ended up losing her kids.
not at this time.
Not at this time. But is she
How much? You said you were making a
bunch of money. Like what's what's a
bunch of money? Is that five or 10,000?
Probably not that much. Probably like
3,000 to 4,000 a week. Bought a new car.
10 $15,000 a month. That's still a ton
of money.
And mind you, I'm like 16 months on the
run at this point. I'm think I'm
invincible.
Yeah. Yeah.
I'm sure.
Literally think, you know, my cousin had
done dinner time and came home waiting
for me to get caught so she can, you
know, take the stand against me. But
that's another story.
Luckily, that never happened.
So, and you have no ID. You just have to
hope that the cops never pull you over.
Yeah. I have no driver's license. I have
so April 12th, 2015
at midnight, I decided, uh, John called
me. He said, "I need you to take a pack
from here to here. No problem." Routine
thing. Um,
I said it was about past midnight. I had
a tail light out. I didn't know.
That's horrible. I get pulled over and
this is pretty much the end, I think.
I got all I would say. So,
I have all these drugs in the car.
I'm wanted for a robbery in Toledo. So,
before they even like get up to the
window, I just like
I just like started crying really. I was
like I had been up probably 14 days. So,
he puts his flashlight on me. He puts
his flashlight on me and I looked crazy.
I mean, I was about 138 pounds.
I'm 210 today. I was 138 pounds then
when I got arrested.
Your eyes probably look like [&nbsp;__&nbsp;]
face sunken in eyes well
black wells, you know.
Dude, the there's a uh the picture of me
on Google. It's crazy of how I looked
like, oh my god,
they got to pull it up. They got to pull
it up.
It's crazy. And they found there was
like a bunch of They found a bunch of
ice. There was uh enough stuff to make a
Oh my god. Uh,
so they charged me.
This is not my car, officer.
So it was, so the car was registered to
Laney. The apartment was registered to
Laney. Luckily, I was able So at first,
when they first came to my window, I
said, "Officer, I don't have my ID." He
said, "What's your name?" I gave him my
What's your soul? Gave him my soul. All
right, I'll be right back.
Is that when the other car is pulled up?
So no. So as he's walking back to his
car, I hurry up, grab my cell phone out
of my pocket, call her, and say,
"Listen, I'm pulled over. get all the
drugs out of the house, get the kids out
of the house. Like, you got maybe 5 to
10 minutes most. I really need you to,
you know, clean the house up. And she
was able to. Thank God. Thank God I was
able to make that call. Cuz it wasn't 30
minutes after the stop, they kicked the
doors in.
So, did the did the other cop cars pull
up or did he come back and say, "Get out
of the car. There's a
He comes back. He says,
"This is a small town."
Like, I'm saying, you know what I'm
You'd be sitting there and all of a
sudden another cop car would pull up and
then there'd be another one and then
you'd be like, "Oh [&nbsp;__&nbsp;] there's five of
That's pretty much how it happened. And
it wasn't just it wasn't just the cop
cars though. Like the the day of the DEA
come, they taped the scene off. They
came out in hazmat suits
because of the ICE lab.
Yeah, cuz of the ice lab. And
it was a crazy thing to see, man. I felt
like, you ever seen Breaking Bad? I
swear it felt like
it's insane. Um, so they had me on the
side of the road in handcuffs.
I'm crying. They're they're tearing
apart the vehicle. I mean, I I don't
know what to think, man. I mean, I know
it's over.
Yeah. Yeah.
I know it's over.
Yeah. And they don't have this a big
deal there, too. They don't have this
kind of stuff at that in that little
Right. I don't realize how bad it is
there. So, Virginia is a Commonwealth
state. They kind of have different laws
than a lot of other states as far as
like when it comes to crime. like Ohio
is in a Commonwealth state. So, I'm I'm
thinking like, "All right, I'm gonna get
in a little bit of trouble, but I don't
realize how much trouble I'm actually in
until I get to the station." We get to
the station, they have me sit down in
front of this uh glass in front of a
lady. She sits down. She said, "You're
being indicted and charged six felony,
one counts, possession of precursors,
conspiracy of possession of precursors
with intent to distribute and
manufacture." And I broke down and and
just started crying. I'm like 6 F1. You
know, F1 F1 is the worst kind of felony
you can get.
I didn't know what to think. They put me
They take me They put me in the uh the
jail. And I remember that first night
I'm in this dorm and there's probably 50
bunk beds and it stinks. And my bunk
bed's right next to the toilets
and I'm on top and I start to get
dopesick and
god this is just worth the work being
sick and
I'm laying I'm laying on that bunk just
staring at the ceiling dopesick just
I just really I just think it's over. I
just think my life's over at that point.
And it's sad, man. And it was a that was
a tough hard time for me being 24, you
know, knowing I just caught a case, a
huge case while I'm facing another case
in another state. And it was
overwhelming. Very overwhelming. I was
able to see a judge the next day. They
gave me it was like a $100,000 bond. So
I was able to postpond. Are you serious?
I was able to postpond. So, did they not
know about the other warrant?
Apparently, at the time, they didn't.
So, I post they post a $10,000 bond for
me. I'm out seven days on the eighth day
pounding on the door. Boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom. Now, mind you, I think it's
Rena Center. We had They said they were
coming to repo a couch from us,
So, I'm like, damn, they're here.
They're trying to get the couch. I'm
like, go tell them we're not here. Or
not that we're not here, but go tell
them I'm not here. So she goes to the
door and she looks through and she just
sees two guys. She unlocks it.
Boom. Four US marshals come come through
the door. I had enough time. I had I had
like four eight balls of ice on my lap
because within that week of being bonded
out, I decided I was going to start
selling ice again.
Yeah. So I was able to hide I was able
to hide those under the bed.
Um and I came walking to the hallway and
they said, "Are you Devin Price?" Yes,
sir. Get on the ground, aka whatever in
my face. Get on the ground. You have a
warrant out of Toledo. That's what he
right? Yeah. So, the first time when
they gave him bond like if you've got
if you have a warrant in another
jurisdiction like they're not going to
give you bond here because they're going
to they're like you you still have to
deal with that like where you you might
get bond here and be able to go there or
something maybe like that. But if they
they should have never released me.
They shouldn't have released it.
They shouldn't release me.
But that happens. You know what I'm
saying? like these little tin especially
little tiny towns.
Wasted that money too on top of it. It
wasn't seven days. I could seven days
man I was out back in jail.
So now I go for the um I go in front of
a judge to for this Ohio warrant. It's a
what do they call it? A fugitive justice
Tells me that Ohio wants to come get
you, but we're not going to allow them
to come get you until your stuff in
Virginia is completely finished. That's
what the judge told me. So, okay. All
right. So, so what's that mean? Well, it
means you're going to have to get a
lawyer and you're going to have to see
what's going on with your charges.
So, we get a lawyer. My girlfriend and
my mom, they get a lawyer. It was like
not a real expensive lawyer. We paid
like 5K for a lawyer at the time. He
came to me. They pulled me and in and
said, he said I was facing 147 years.
Uh there's mandatory life on the
conspiracy.
And I'm thinking like what? Like what do
you mean? Like I I thought this was
going to be like a couple year thing. I
could I could go to rehab. Like what do
you mean? Like what do we like what are
we talking about? He said you realize
what you got pulled over with. And he's
like you're from out of town. You're not
from here. He's like he's like they'll
throw the book at you. He said I'm going
to tell you this now. He said if you go
to trial and you lose
you never get out.
They'll give you 25 years and think they
gave you a break
is what he told me. they'll give you 25
years and say, "We gave that kid a
And I I just didn't understand it at the
time until I, you know, I got into the
prison and I met guys that were in their
20s doing 80 years, 90 years, 107 years
in their 20s
and and this is Virginia.
I just
It's insane.
It's not Yeah. And these are not
Virginia is not a a wealthy state. It's
not like this is super poor, right? Like
it's I mean well it's it's a decent area
where we were.
Yeah. I'm saying in general the prison
prisons are are run by the state. Like
they're not going to dump money into the
if you're not doing you know you're not
well [&nbsp;__&nbsp;] You look at California
or you look at Florida like these are
states that have money and they're not
dumping any money in the [&nbsp;__&nbsp;]
You know what I'm saying? Like if
they're not, then what's a what's a
what's a state that's not that isn't a
wealthy state going to put they're
[&nbsp;__&nbsp;]
I'm surprised they're not running chain
gangs. You know,
in Virginia, I'm surprised, too. B like
Alabama then Louisiana still do the
chain gang. Yeah, it's crazy.
So, my lawyer says, I'm I'm going to go
talk to the prosecutor and I'm going to
see what I can work out for a plea what
the best type of plea is.
The DA did come, the DEA came and talked
to me. They wanted John. They said,
"Look, it wasn't the vehicle wasn't
registered to you. The apartment wasn't
registered to you. We really want John,
and we really want to get your
girlfriend, too."
Are you willing?
I hear you, bro.
Yeah. Are you Are you willing? Are you
willing? And I just looked at him. I was
like, "Are you out of your mind?" I
said, "No. Hell no."
Yeah. Boy, let me tell you something.
Boy, she's lucky she wasn't dating me.
I mean I mean,
sounds like she went anyway.
So did he. They both did because the
their oper the operation blew up after I
went away.
What? There you go.
They they made it 17 more months after
me and it went from a key a month to 10
a week or something crazy. It was insane
how big it became. But yeah, no, I
refused. I wouldn't snitch. I was not
going to rat on nobody. That's how I
grew up.
Uh I I just wasn't going to do it, you
Um you know, facing all them years
though, I'm not like it crossed my mind.
Not going to lie. I didn't even know
this guy but 6 months
crossed my mind. So I said, "Let's see
what type of plea we can get." The first
Did he rush forward to pay for your
I feel like he just made a decision
And I'm almost positive he started
banging my girlfriend once I was I'm
almost positive they were banging once I
I hear you, Mr. Prosecutor. I I never
liked that guy.
But uh so the lawyer comes back. He
says, uh, they're willing to work with
you. 7 and a half to 50 was the first
7 and a half to 50 years.
So, they're willing to work with you.
This is your first police. 7 and 12 to
And I'm like, no. I said I was like, if
that's the case, we might as well go to
trial. I was driving somebody else's
car. Like,
it's not my car.
It's not my car. It's not my
I barely even know this chick. She asked
me to pick up her car. I was on the run.
What was I going to do? I picked up the
car. I don't know what she's got in the
back of the [&nbsp;__&nbsp;] car. Are you telling
me that she was moving ice?
Oh my god, that was a mess, bro. I
thought she was just I thought she was I
thought maybe she's making wine or
something. I don't know. Maybe she she
like beer. She's I don't know what she's
right? But hey, maybe I should
You got to think faster.
Yeah, for sure you do. For sure you do.
So, I was uh
Well, what just listen just real quick?
Yeah. What were you thinking at
thinking? Because you're thinking I'll
get the low in seven and a half years.
Are you What are you thinking? I got to
do seven and a half years. Are you What
is Are you thinking [&nbsp;__&nbsp;] like that's a
[&nbsp;__&nbsp;] ton? Like
it's a ton of time. Not to mention I'm
facing 10 to 20 in Ohio still
and you're still on the bunk bed next to
the toilet. Like you're thinking
I got seven years of this.
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Right. These guys are Oh, it's no good.
You know, flipping crossed my mind a
bunch. I'm not going to lie. I did. But
I I I stuck to my guns. I'm glad I did.
It helped me in prison. and the fact
that I didn't snitch. Having that clean
paperwork, I I had I had I had an easy
ride in prison. So,
when the lawyer came back the fifth time
and seeing me, they went back to the
prosecutor five times. They came back
with four to 35
and I signed that.
Four to 35.
How much time do you So, what did you
get? Did you get four?
I ended up doing four. Yeah. How does it
work? Four to 35. What does that mean?
So, it's like a tale like how Michigan
does it. So, like let's say I'm I get in
prison and I start doing a bunch of bad
stuff and getting rid up all the time
and it could just build and build and
Oh, I was thinking you were thinking I
was thinking it's like I go to jail, I
get five or I'm sorry, I get four, I get
out in four
and then I'm on probation for like I
can't get in trouble again or they can
throw me back in jail.
Yeah. No, it's
You know, every state's different, you
No, for sure. Virginia. I just couldn't
believe how strict they were and how it
was it was time.
Yeah. And while I was on parole, how
crazy, you know, the the just Well, how
long did you do?
So, I ended up doing 32 months. Two and
a half years. I ended up doing two and a
half years after the four years. I had
made uh I did all the classes in there.
I did u I got good time and then
Virginia does have like an 85%.
So, I did 33 months and came home. And
do they combine this with the thing in
Ohio to?
No. So you still got to go there.
So what happened? I filed an interstate
compact while at the county jail.
Interstate compact makes Ohio puts them
on the hot seat. They get 180 days to
prosecute me or they have to drop all
So I filed that on the 179 days in. I'm
on the yard. To's not coming. I'm about
to beat this. I can't believe this. Like
I'm so happy.
The next day, the 180th day, the Toledo
County Sheriff's Office shows up to the
prison and pick me up.
Oh my god, bro.
180th day.
You look at his face just thinking about
it. He's like,
woke up that morning happy. I'm like I
was like, today's day 180. I was like, I
I win. I was like And then it wasn't
like it was 1:00 in the afternoon. Deon
come down.
And then I seen the sheriff's, the Lucas
County Sheriff's Office. We're here to
transport you back to Toledo. I'm just
with my head down like
didn't know what to think. I I never
been transported anywhere before. So,
you know, they chain my they chain my
legs and they chain my hands and they
chain me around my waist like this and
put me in the back of a van. And it was
like a 10-hour drive to Toledo.
And it's just you?
Just me in the back of this van with
these two officers. They made me pee in
a bottle. Uh, they did they stopped at
McDonald's and bought me a double
cheeseburger on the way back. That was
all I had. I got to eat. But it was
horrible being chained like that. Like
it was so it was horrible.
The double cheeseburger is pretty good
Double cheeseburger was great. I'm not
even going to lie.
Three and a half years.
Yeah. I'm not going to lie. The double
cheeseburger was great. But just knowing
like I'm still facing all this time,
man. I was just so bummed. Like and then
not to mention going from in being in
prison where I have my TV in my cell and
I can go outside on the yard to going
back to the county jail where you're in
this tiny pod with 11 people where you
don't get to go outside and there's no
TVs and there's no real commissary and
these guys with the [&nbsp;__&nbsp;] TV colby I'm
telling you right now I've never just
kills me these they they have TV like
we had cable TV in oursel in Virginia
that's [&nbsp;__&nbsp;] insane
I a
that's like 30% of your time just got
knocked off when I got an MP3 3 player.
I used to say, but 20% of my time just
got knocked off from that's how that's
how it felt having an MP3 player. It was
just you could put it in, you could
escape to have a TV. That was just an
Yeah, for sure.
I I We didn't have a TV. I was in
federal prison. There's no [&nbsp;__&nbsp;] TVs
in federal prison.
Yeah. Not in your cell, huh?
No, no, no. Yeah, there's in the in like
the big TV room,
right? Right. But yeah, not in your
cell. Yeah, we had them in our cell. It
was nice. JP5 player. I had about a
thousand songs on it.
Good email people
and rubbing in it. Prison was great for
Seriously, I I created a there's a
website called Write a Prisoner
where there's these desperate women out
there that want to talk to thugs and bad
guys and guys in prison. So, I had my
mom making me a profile. Looks it looks
like a Facebook has a picture of me, how
much time I've been down, how much time
I'm doing, and how much time I still got
left. When she posted that, we were on
lockdown. We had a week lockdown. When I
came out and got on the JP, I had 48
emails from 48 different women.
bro. That's that's the that's like the
the cook and the big girl.
Oh my god, it was great.
What do What do some of those emails
Hi, my name is Oh. Hi, my name is
Chelsea. I'm a dentist. I live in North
Carolina. I just seen your profile. I
think you're really handsome. If you'd
like to talk or want to communicate,
reach out. Those were the general ones.
Um, I had one say that I think you we
were uh related. I think uh you're my
longlost sibling or something. I had
some wild ones, too, like like that. So,
I uh ended up I was dating this real big
girl out of Chicago.
Told you
from Chicago.
We had a I had a buddy named named Ellis
Oh man. He listen he's upset with me
because remember the the the story I
told about Cook and the TV in TV room
that we did a short or we did a yes like
a short or Tik Tok
and I and I say Ellis Cook and he's like
[&nbsp;__&nbsp;] had to you stole my whole
my whole you said my whole [&nbsp;__&nbsp;] name
you know so and I talk I do this whole
thing they made a short well I didn't
tell you this he texts me and says I got
people [&nbsp;__&nbsp;] reaching out to me right
now telling me about you just talked
about me on a [&nbsp;__&nbsp;] podcast or
something. I'm like I was just instead
of like the the face with the emojis and
the big eyes and he's like, "What the
[&nbsp;__&nbsp;] bro?" And and I was like, "Oh, um
I" He's like, "Yeah, why'd you have to
[&nbsp;__&nbsp;] tell that story?" Anyway, I got
another Ellis Cook story.
My other Ellis Cook story is that he had
he started writing this girl, Big Girl.
He just I only know her. She because he
called her Big Girl. That was the same
Big Girl. Yeah. Who? Oh, no. No. Big
Girl's coming to see me. Big Girl's
putting money on his books. Big Girl's
coming to see him. Big girl answers his
phones, his phone call, emails, does
stuff for him on the outside. Can you
order me a magazine subscription? Oh,
yeah. Of course, baby. Comes to see him.
And when she first comes to see him and
he told me, he's like, I she's he told
all of us. She's like, she's a big.
She's a big, bro. And I was like, how
big? He's like, I don't know, man. I'm
not sure. I haven't seen her in a long
time. And there's always pictures of her
face and, you know, from here up. And so
he goes to he goes to visit and when he
comes back we're like he comes in and
we're we're all like how big was she?
And he goes
oh my god.
He said I couldn't even He said if she
lost 40 lbs I still not sure I could
touch my hands.
Oh my god.
She's a big girl, bro. She's a big girl.
And I'm like, it was just like
I used to sell time
to other inmates,
15minute intervals for $10, and she
would get on the phone and start moaning
and playing with herself and making
noises for inmates.
What is going on? Insane. It's insane.
Her I had a dentist from North Carolina.
Those were the main two. And then I had
a girl from Toledo. I I ended up leaving
with like 5K on my books.
Nice. from hustling and and
just women sending money all the time.
It was great. That website's great for
anybody locked up like
horrible for these women though. They
all they all think that you're getting
out. You're going to move to where they
are and you're going to have a
relationship
usually. So the girl found out when my
release date was. She left her husband
and kids behind, left Chicago, caught a
Greyhound bus to Ohio, then found out
who my mom was, called my mom, said,
"I'm coming to Toledo. I want to be with
Devon. I said, "You're not coming here.
I don't even know who the you are."
Like, "What do you mean you're not
coming here?" So, this girl ended up
getting stuck in Cincinnati.
Her husband came back and got her,
picked her back up, back home. Like,
come on, baby. Come back. I'm not going
to meet you or you're not coming to meet
me. It was crazy. That was crazy.
But you're telling them that they're Of
course I'm of course. Of course. I love
you, baby.
Oh my god.
Yeah. You know, the prison hustle, man.
The prison hustle.
He's not even throwing in there like, "I
feel bad. I feel bad."
Hey, they reached out to me.
They obviously wanted to be treated and
I talked to like a certain way. You know
what I mean? That's how I felt.
And and there multiple women like this.
Yeah. Multiple women. So, I get to
Toledo. I'm in the county jail.
Um we hire we have a family lawyer that
I've used I use for other criminal
cases. He comes and sees me. He says,
"You're going to have an arraignment."
But he's like, "I want to let you know
something." He said, "The victim on your
case, that guy, he said he died. He had
a heart attack nine months ago."
I said, "Why? Why am I here?"
Yeah. I said, "So, what do you mean?"
He's like, "Well, the thing is," he's
like, "The state wants to pick it up and
prosecute you
for a while. Who's coming to testify?"
Yeah. Right. I said, "So, let's I said,
"All right, let's go." So, it ended up
taking seven months of going to court
over and over. They had me on video
going in his apartment, but not coming
out because I went through a back
So, I couldn't know. I could have been
there buying drugs. I could have been
there doing anything. No one would have
ever They don't know what I was there
for, right? It was the was the defense
we were going to use because I was going
to take it to trial if they were going
to end up prosecuting me.
And I'm assuming there's no incentive
for your your cousin to testify at this
No, cuz you Yeah, she's already gone to
Well, he's done and she's already done
her prison time. So, it's not they
didn't come to her her and say, "Can you
can you come in?" And she'd be like,
"The [&nbsp;__&nbsp;] I already did. I'm done with
I don't believe she would have.
Did you talk to your cousin at all
during this time? I never locked up. I
was locked up. I never found out if he
talked to I doubt they they ever spoke.
I know he had sent two guys over to my
aunts one time um and broke in to look
for his stuff.
No, no. I I think he he just meant like
did the did the police ever go to her
and try and get her to say to say, "Hey,
we got Devon. We need you to cuz they
could have used her
right as to testify at the trial." Yeah.
No, I don't know if they probably could
have. I don't know if they did, though.
I never found out if they did. Me and
her don't speak today, so I I don't
really know. So, but six months going
back and forth to court,
uh, arraignments and and then we all got
we all the way through it to a pre-trial
where I thought the state was going to
go to trial. We were going to go to
trial, which I was ready for. I I was
ready for it. Um, my lawyer was like,
"Look, worst case scenario, you get five
years, we get it ran concurrent with
your current with your current
situation, and you'll only have to do
like two years because you'll your time
will run concurrent. You'll do three in
Virginia, you'll come to Ohio, you'll do
two years, you'll be home within in
within five.
And I was on board with that, right? I
was really I was really on board with
But luckily, that didn't have to happen.
6 months later, the state decided to
drop all charges.
And they sent me back
and they dragged you anyway.
They dragged me six months in that
county. Our county sucks. I mean, I
mean, all county jails suck, but
ours really sucks.
It's so dirty, ran down, like it's
so what what year was that?
That was in 2017.
Geez, this really dragged out, right?
2017. I mean, all of these things. I
mean, it could have been a lot worse,
No, for sure.
But still, so they dragged you. Yeah,
that's what they, you know, like like
Zach, like even if they know they're not
going to prosecute, that's fine. We'll
drag it. We'll just make sure you do a
year in the in the county jail, then
we'll drop it the or get you signed for
a misdemeanor or something, you know, at
the last minute.
At the last second,
right? I mean, we're gonna get they're
gonna it's it's so they're really gonna
get their time out of you even if
there's no benefit. I I don't really
Sometimes there's not even like what's
the benefit for you to do this,
to drag this out.
There really isn't.
And I've already done I just did like
three or four years.
You know what I'm saying? Like I just
got out of prison, right? Like what is
it? What's the problem? I'm already
being dragged. I just did this. Anyway,
no, for sure.
So, there was Can I go back? Can I tell
a story from
Yeah, go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, in
this wasn't the first time I really had
got in trouble. In in 2013, prior to in
2012, about in 2012, prior to me
breaking into the drug dealer's house,
me and my buddy Nick, we got in a
high-speed chase with the police. He
stole a work van, a big white work van,
had two big ladders on top of it. Came
and picked me up and said, "Devon, I
need you to pawn these ladders. I'll buy
you dope."
Okay. So, we get to the big Buffalo pawn
shop. We pawn these ladders. We get a
$100 bill. As we're pulling out, they
already knew. The cops had seen us
coming in. Um, and they hit the lights
on us. And Nick hits the gas. We're
going 90 miles an hour in this big white
van. We only get about a mile down the
road and he runs it into um a trailer.
Runs it right into a trailer. We get
out. We take off running. It's the
middle of winter. It's February 2011 and
February of 2012. It's the middle of
winter. We're take off running. I I I
jump into a lake that's not frozen. I'm
soaking wet, lose my shoes, lose my
coat. I'm in a t-shirt and sweatpants.
And we get deep into the woods and mind.
So, we basically get away from the cops,
but I'm like fro freezer burnt, frozen
at this time, and I'm going to I feel
like I'm going to die out here if I
don't get help. So, we ended up just
giving up. We came out of the woods. We
walked out of the woods with our hands
up and they ended up arresting us and
charging us with um receiving stolen
property of a motor vehicle and fleeing
and looting a police officer um was two
felonies. I ended up pleading to one
misdemeanor and got probation,
but I was on probation two days and I
decided to party a new and drop dirty.
So then they locked me up for a year.
And I did a year in the county jail
striker. It's uh the northwestern Ohio
County Jail where they send all like the
little counties. I live in a big city.
They send all the little counties there.
So, they sent me there for a year.
It was like the first time I did any
real time, but I I ended up doing all 11
months there. And then when I came home,
I really tried to change, but that's
when I relapsed probably a week after
coming home. And that's when we robbed
the drug dealer, broke the drug dealer's
house. Well, so now you you're But now
you're out
and what do you do when you get out?
Like where you don't have any money? You
when I get out of prison or when I got
out that time?
No, no, no, not then. I'm saying when
you when they the state dropped the
charges on the burglary. So they sent me
back to the Virginia prison. They
transported me back.
Okay. So I go back to the Virginia
prison. I had one year left before I go
to the parole board. I was at this point
I'm I'm ecstatic, man. I'm I'm like, I
might actually come home after thinking,
you know, two and a half years prior
that I'd never see the outside again.
Hey, now I might actually come home and
have another chance at life. So, the
year goes good. I work it out. I get
through it. I work in the kitchen. I was
working 5 days a week in the kitchen
talking to these girls on the side. The
year went flew by. So, I I finish the
year. I go in front of the parole board
with no writeups, no fights, no
infractions, and they tell me, "Well,
where are you going to go when you come
home?" My options are pretty limited.
It's either a halfway house in Virginia
or a halfway house in Ohio. But in order
to go back to Ohio, I have to file
another interstate compact to see if
they'll allow me to come there on
probation after everything that had
happened. We filed the paperwork and
Ohio does accept me. I do go back 2018,
February 12th, 2018, I was released out
of prison and my mom picked me up and I
went back. I met with the parole officer
within a couple of days and she was very
strict to me. Um, one of the hardest
like POS I've ever had. She's like, I'm
going to tell you this. She's like, you
still have 31 years over your head. She
said, you come in here with a dirty
urine, you're doing five years. if you
catch another case, you're doing year
you're doing 10 years. She was just like
letting me know up front,
I'm not playing.
Don't mess up. And for a while, I didn't
for 60 days. I didn't
um What did you do? You got a job. You
Yeah, I got a job selling cars. I became
a car salesman,
right? Um, I was able to, even with my
record at this point having all the
felonies, I was able to get a job, a
decent job selling cars and I liked it.
I was back doing sales and I like doing
sales. I've been doing sales my whole
life and it was it was a good job. But I
met this girl through she bought a car
off me. Her name was Ashley and I
relapsed with her after 60 days being
out of prison. And
I almost got sent back. Um, I got very
lucky. I had strap fake pee to my inner
thigh time with a heating pad and I
burnt the hell out of my leg. My leg was
burning up. Um, I sit down in front of
my PO. I'm all strung out. She's like,
"Devon." She pulls handcuffs out of her
desk and she drops them on the table.
God. She says, "Devon, I'm going to give
you one opportunity to come clean with
Are you on drugs right now?" I said,
"No, Jamie. I'm not on drugs. I just
don't have money for food. I don't got
food stamps yet and I haven't been able
to eat. So then the next thing that
comes out of her desk is a cup slammed
down on her desk. All right, go pee for
me then. Luckily, when you're on parole
in Ohio, they you pee privately in a
room. There's no one watching you. So
when I went in there, they put a cup
through a through a window
and I was able to like undo my pants,
get the fake pee off my leg, dump it in
the bottle, put it there. I didn't
really know if this was going to work,
but I it was my only shot. and I put it
in there. I close the lid and then I and
then I come back out. She's like, "Stay
in here in this hallway." She goes back
in to check the test and my first
thought was to run,
I'm like, "Man, I might I should I need
to take off and just go because But she
comes out and she's like, "You're
clean." She's like, she came out with a
flyer in her hand, too. Devon, you're
clean. There's nothing in your system.
Here's a flyer. Uh some food banks and
some ways you can get some food so
you're not looking you know, so crazy.
After that, I made a decision that I
didn't want to go back to prison. So, I
I went to rehab probably two months
Did she know you went to rehab?
Yeah. So, the how that how that happened
is I end up doing the podcast telling my
life story when I came home from prison
to this uh and this Canadian podcast
and um I re I had relapsed, you know,
right around that time too. And after
the incident where I took it uh off my
thigh to put it in to do it, I had to
drop again. Probably a month later, I
had to drop again. This time I called
her and was honest with her. I didn't
tell her in person, but I called her. I
said, "Jamie, I relapsed. I'm dirty. I
don't want to go back to jail. What are
my options?" She said, "I want you in
detox tomorrow morning or you're going
back to prison." And I was. I packed my
bag and got myself to detox. I I just at
that point made a decision. And I didn't
want to go back to prison, man. I 30
years over my head. I have been through
so much over the last 5 years from being
on the run and everything I went through
that I just finally decided that I
needed to stop. I needed to stop. Um I
did go to treatment. So this is 2018.
Treatment went very treatment went
great. After treatment 2018, I met the
mother of my son Logan. He's he just
turned four a few days ago. It's my son.
We met I met her in rehab. You know,
they say, you know, don't date chicks in
rehab, but that was like the first thing
I did was get into a relationship with
this chick.
We ended up staying together for 4
years. Um, during that time, she
had a lot of things going on. Um, we
relapsed together before we had our son.
I mean, that's what ended up that's when
we ended up breaking up. Um, but then we
found out she was pregnant and we ended
up getting back together. But that only
held till he was like six months and
then we broke up again. But uh 2020
during COVID is when
I started to work for a guy who was
doing so during CO they had PPP loans.
He was uh he found a way a glitch in
their system where you could sign these
PPP loans 30k at a time, 50k at a time,
different businesses, different names.
And he ended up uh his name was
Terrence. He's in federal prison now,
but he ended up uh getting like $8
million. And I went to work for him. He
opened up a smoke shop. Opened up five
smoke shops actually. Two in the mall,
three in the city. Every time he'd open
one, he get 100K from the government.
It was insane how it worked.
It didn't take 100,000 to open a smoke
No, it doesn't.
But it was insane how it worked. We were
I was making I wasn't back to making
like drug dealer money, but we were
making like really good money working
for him and then he ended up getting
indicted by the feds in 2021
and got nine years. Uh, President Oh,
Joel Joe Biden talked about him
personally on a in a speech saying that
he was the biggest PPP scam loan artist
in the United States. He would be the
guy to interview when he comes home.
But yeah, he got nine years and um the
smoke shop he had, he had four or five
of them. They all closed. They still
have one location, but it's ran by
someone completely different now. Um so
during that time, my friend Nick also
uh owned a smoke shop, Higher Thoughts,
and I had been speaking with him while I
was still working for Terrence.
Um, and basically
when Terrence went away and everything
happened, um, I first I started to go
work for Nick parttime. I went to Hire
Thoughts part time. This was like two
years ago with and in these in these
past two years I went from part-time to
GM or part-time to manager to GM to part
So, it's three of us.
Um, we all own the smoke shop. We all do
all the dail uh Nick and Buck and me and
we do everything there. the three of us
do. I mean, they're like my brothers. I
can trust them. They can trust me now.
And it's just great to have people that
rely on me, trust me with their
business, our business. It's amazing.
It's a great feeling.
And how And how long's it been?
Since what?
No. That you've owned that owned it
Uh just recently, like six months ago,
he gave me a portion of the business.
I've been there two years now. Two and a
half years. I was going to say your dad
went from this to this part to manager
to he gave me partial ownership. Like
it's not nothing big, you know. He's
still majority owner.
But I I make really good money and I I
help him and I love my job. I love what
I do. But I just became legal in Ohio
recreational.
We're not a dispensary, but the THCA
flower is almost the same thing. And
we're allowed to uh sell that legally.
And the business is good. Business is
I really look back on everything that
I've done and where I've came from and
you know I'm just all my friends are
dead or in prison. The whole crew I I
ran with John got 30 years. Laney got 10
years. The the mom, the dad, they all
got 10 years in the feds. Terren is in
prison for 10 years. all all my you know
and I'm out here doing right and
supporting the business, helping with
our business and you know life is great,
man. Life is great today. 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. Share the video. Also, if you
want to contact uh Devon for any reason,
we're going to leave his social media
links in the description. We're also
going to leave the uh the Facebook page
for Higher Thoughts, which is the smoke
shop he he partially owns. Once again,
thank you very much. I appreciate you
watching. See you.
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