James is serving 2 1/2 years for trafficking stolen property which is a BS charge. When we lived in AZ he was working at a pawn shop and the owner hired James before the background check came back. Well it came back that James was wanted in CA for VOPs. So the pawnshop claims James stole a gun, a ring and $100 in cash. The police reports contradict each other and the video tape shows the ring there and being sold to a customer later the same day is was suppossedly stolen. As for the gun James never took that his "friend" did. The videotapes showed that and they even show the "friend" trying to repawn the gun at a diff store owned by the same guy. The friend also pawned things he rented from Rent a Center. The friend got 3 years probation. Since James had a past he got sailed up the river. The DA knew he couldn't make the trafficking stolen property charges stick he came back with failure to register. James is a felon and has to register each time he moves. Well he didn't register when we moved to AZ cause of his warrants(he'd been running for 3 years when we met.) So the wonderful DA told him he'd drop the failure to register charges if he agreed to plead guilty to trafficking stolen property. The deal was for 2 1/2 and failure to register is an automatic 7-10. James agreed to accept the terms. So when he's done in AZ he gets to go to CA to take care of his VOPs. Right now we're trying to get papers filed that CA will have to come get him and sentence him and run his time concurrent with AZ. It's a slow process, but I have hope that it will get done before James is released in June 2009. This was a wonderful idea and I feel relieved to get it off my chest and not have to be judged for my decision to stay with him. It's horrible how many ignorant people out there judge you the moment you say your loved one is in prison.

Well, Scott owned a clubwear store and tanning salon and was doing very well with both stores financially. A buddy approached him to see if he wanted to sell small amounts of cocaine on the side to make an "extra buck." Scott took him up on it. According to Scott, the money was easy and the transaction was small. Well, he got caught and hired an attorney. The attorney kept the case in limbo with motions, etc. for 3 years. Finally, he took it to trial knowing that in the state of MA there is a mandatory minimum of 3 years for the charge plus an additional 2 for being near a school zone. He lost! They took him away and now he has served 2 1/2 years. He filed an appeal and it is set to be heard October 31st. His parents have spent over $45,000 in legal fees for his case. All we can do is pray at this point. I agree justjen, this felt good to get it out.

I also want to add that Scott had no prior record for anything. It all comes down to the mandatory minimum. In my opinion, mandos are absurd and do not allow for a fair sentencing. I agree that he should serve his time by all means, but for a first-time non-violent offender, 5 years is a very long time!

Thank you for posting this today. You will never know how much I needed to do this at this particular moment...it is a bad day.

December 26, 2006 my husband and I were awakened at 7 in the morning by a knock at the door. There were 6 men there: 3 FBI agents and 3 investigators from the county DA's office. They wanted to speak with my husband so he let them in. Long story short, he was being investigated for possession of child pornography. He admitted to me that it was true and he attempted suicide that night.

Fast forward 10 months later and he is being held in the county jail on $1.5 million bail. There was a lovely article in the local paper about it that included his mug shot which a tremendous number of my daughter's friends have seen (she is 14 and a freshman). My daughter is mortified and angry at her father. My son is so depressed that getting him out of bed, dressed, and to school every day is a battle. I have been a stay at home mom since they were born and so am currently unemployed. My husband's defense attorney (who is one of the best in the area) will wind up costing us at least $40,000, and that won't even get him off...we are basically paying this man to try and get the sentence reduced to the bare minimum.

Alex was a good husband and a good father...I may never know what possessed him to do something so incredibly stupid. What I do know is that I have lost friends over this, I have family members who will not speak to me now, and I have to start divesting of assets as soon as possible in order to allow this family to survive.

The courts don't seem to care that he was the sole provider of income to this family. The investigators and the FBI have admitted openly that they do not believe my husband to be a pedophile or a child predator but they appear more than willing to make an example of him. To be honest, neither myself nor my children believe that the authorities give a rat's ass about what happens to us.

wow-great idea--and i'll get back to ya' on this one!!! just re-grouping at the moment.........
blessings

on april 24 2006 11:20am i was sitting in my bedroom playing games on my computer i heard someone bang on the front door my father in law answered the door i step out of my room to see a man pointing a gun at me telling me to come outside i had 5 people asking me question all at once they wanted to know where dennis was and if my dogs will bite them well dennis was at work and one man sat next to me and asked if i know what was going on and hands me a warrent for them to take some things from us they took my computer a camra several disc and a cam corder said dennis was in possion of child pornography!!!!!!!!well i had no clue he was doing this they just told me to have dennis call them the next day well when i picked him up from work it was not a pretty sight and he came clean with me and started crying and telling me how sorry he was that i had to go thru with all the crap that had happen that day he called the guy and went to talk to the guy we never went thru any thing like this so we didnt think to get a lawyer before he talked to the guy any way in january they put a monitor on his ankle and in may he went into a detention center were his life was threaten every day and in july he went to prison in fort worth tx. and was sentance to 10 yrs 5 manditory so we are still fresh at this put he is worryed that i will leave him but i take my wedding vow seriose so i will stand by him alot of people look down on him for this crime but he never tryed to contact any kids all he did was look at pictures i still cant understand it but i love dennis any way thanks for letting me tell my story i hope no one will judge me for staying with him a few freind have turned on him but i told him his true freinds are still around

my stepdad is serving 5 years for V.A.T fraud.
him and his company, along with many of his friends companys used carousal fraud with mobile phones and inbessled something stupid like 4.2m pounds. (figures arent exact obviously but its something around that amount, not lower, definitly more lol). so he got found out and got put away for 5 years. hes served 2 years this may and may be out by then if his good behaviour and parole agrees. thats about it really.

My fiance Gretchen is serving 1-2 years for a dui.What makes it so hard was that alcohol wasn't involved she was on prescribed medication and she had a small trace of marjuana in her system and it was her third one in twelve years.We tried to fight it and had some charges dropped but they wouldn't dismiss the dui.The county where this took place has a real bad problem with drugs and dui's .I think that mandatory minimums stink for non-violent crimes.

my man is in for 2 x robbery, and burglary with a fire arm, 2x weapon enhancements. all the same incident but because there were 2 people on the premises he got done twice for everything. there are too many inconsistencies needless to say evidence which has never been submitted to court in his favor thanks to court appointed attorneys. thing will be changin when i get over to his country and am by his side.

Thanks. My son was arrested for exposing himself to a 9 yr old girl. This was his second arrest. The media was called and they said he was suspected of being part of a child porn ring. They took his computer and discs. Nothing on them because what he does is expose himself - nothing else. I'm not saying that's not bad enough but I don't understand how the media can get away with these lies and then when the truth comes out just ignore it. He was lead in story for two days and nothing when it turned out there was no porn. Judge set bail at 2 million because the courtroom was loaded with media people. Everything was dropped but he still gets the maximum for exposure to a child. What he did was wrong I agree. But I think he deserves some prison sentence and then mandatory counseling. If he doesn't get help he'll continue doing this because we have learned for a therapist that it is a compulsion which many times can be helped with intense therapy and medication but he won't get that in prison. After reading everyone's story I have to say that the criminal justice system cares nothing about rehabilitation and the rest of the lives who will be affected. Especially the lives of the children whose parents are arrested.

In 1999 Josh was convicted of Assult 3. He served 18 months in prison and then had 4 years probation. Well he got behind on his supervision fees, lost contact with his PO (partly his PO's fault as he didnt return Josh's calls) and when his PO was set for retirement almost 1 1/2 years ago he put a warrant out for his arrest. In the last 4+ years Josh hasnt gotten into trouble for anything. In fact the thing that got him arrested on the warrant was him riding a larger pocket motorcycle without a helmet so when they ran his name he had it.

I can totally understand him being punished but the judge had it at his discression with both his lawyer, ex-PO and DA all saying jail was not the best remedy but the judge threw him in for 19 more months. I am still hoping and praying (but keeping reality of the long haul in there too) that once he is through intake and keeps his nose clean that they will let him out much earlier. I think we all do that though hoping even knowing it may be futile.

Aaron first got into trouble a few years ago when he broke up with his girlfriend. He went into a severe depression over it and was hospitalized for the depression. She began calling him again and I guess he thought if he could talk to her in person, they might get back together. He had lived with her in her apt. for over a year, since they broke up alot of guys, his supposed friends had started hanging out over there, it was kind of their party spot. Aaron went over there and had a bat in the car incase any of the guys gave him trouble, he went in and the girl told him she didn't want to talk and to leave. He did without causing any problems but she called the cops and he was arrested and charged with a Breaking and Entering felony. I couldn't believe it. So that is why he was on probation. He also spent six months in the county jail. Shortly after returning home he drank a few beers while watching the hockey game, I was at work, he walked to the store to buy some cigarettes and the officer stopped at the store too and knew him , we live in a really small town, and said to him "lets go violate your probation" Aaron panicked and ran to the beach, not a smart idea, so he chased him, tazered him and took him to jail. I didn't bail him out, because I was a little mad at him for doing something so stupid and I got him into a rehab at the salvation army in Flint. He spent six months there. The next year things were going well. He was working, had a car, I finally felt like all the trouble was behind us. Then one night, shortly after he got laid off and was depressed about that, he was suppose to put in job applications and meet me at his brothers baseball game. He never showed up. I knew something was wrong. I kept calling his phone, no answer. He went into a bad area in town, and was drinking with some friends, who weren't really friends, and got a call from a girl who he really cared about. She wanted him to come and get here as she wasn't far from where he was. He got into his red jeep and drove up and down the road drunk, and beeping the horn at 1am. Not a good idea. Some of the neighbors came out, and like I said this is a very bad neighborhood and started attacking the car. They broke out the windows and were trying to pull him out of the car. He was scared and tried to get out of there and in the process ran into a man on the side of the road. Thanks God the man is fine and Aaron wasn't seriously hurt but now he is serving a prison sentence of 4 years and four months. They charged him at first with attempted murder saying that he did this on purpose, Aaron would never have hit someone on purpose. That was dropped but he still go assault with attempt to commit great bodily harm, less than murder. He was also charged with habitual third because that misdemeanor for drinking, they enhanced it to a felony for purposes of habitual. Our lawyer really stunk. Thanks for letting me share this.

Charlie has run from this charge for 8 years..a violation of probation on a DUI. I have only known him for a year and a half, but we started living together right from the start. Last year the law came after him but the local sheriff's office let him go after a few hours. But, this year, I accidently drove through a Canadian border and he was arrested. It hit me while driving home that day, as I had to leave him there, that this was real, and it looked like he would serve the whole 9 month sentence. It's sinking in now (the amount of time). The thought of his absence every day for that time period is the worst feeling I have ever felt. He's upset too, but both of us keep trying to look on the bright side which is that it will be behind him after this. I have never waited for anyone before. So, it's a very new experience. I'm finding that the things we enjoyed doing together, now, don't feel the same, and it bothers me, but, I know I have to keep going.

I am new to this site. My 26 yr. old son has alcohol related offenses. He was in an auto accident in 1998 and has been in and out of jail since 1999. This time though, he's mounted several charges in a short amount of time. My husband and I are sick over this. We worry about his safety and mostly about his future. Being behind bars is not going to help. It hasn't helped before. Depression is the issue. Once he gets out, he will realize he has dug himself an even deeper hole. I am so glad to have a serious place to express myself. Sometimes I feel numb.

My daughter Crystal just had her 25th birthday on Dec. 9th and she celebrated it in prison. She has been a girl gone wild ever since she moved out on her own at the age of 18. For some reason she took to the fast life of partying, drugs and criminal activities and just kept getting further into it. I tried to force her into rehab but that was only another waste of money and heartache. Anyway, fast forward to the present with history of in and out of jail with 3 felonies and several warrants for failure to appear in court, she is now serving a year in a women's prison for identity theft. She was pulled over for a traffic violation and when the cops realized she was wanted they tazered her and did a search of her car. They found credit card information for someone other than Crystal and payroll checks that were forged in her name. She was also high on meth, her drug of choice. I have mixed feelings about her being in prison because at first I was afraid for her but she has so many "friends" there that it has turned out to be kind of like camp for her. I also had hoped that she would get into some sort of rehab program but there aren't any offered to help her get healthy and mentally adjusted to live a decent life once she is out of prison. So I am worried. I am worried that she is still doing things in prison that she shouldn't be doing as well as my main fear is that she will go back to her old life when she is out. Prison hasn't sentenced my daughter, it has only sentenced me as a helpless mother.