The End of a Long Road of Crime

In May of 2013, I was 27-years-old and had just been laid off from a cushy job on Wall Street that I had worked at for a little over a year. I also was about a year into a full blown heroin addiction that drained me of time, energy, and especially money. I was broke and dope sick and not thinking right. After asking everyone I knew for money and coming up short, I decided to rob a small coffee shop on Broadway in West Harlem that was near my apartment. Not only did I rob the cashier at knifepoint, I hit the same spot two weeks later and did it again because it was so easy. I didn’t even realize I was committing armed robbery because I had never committed a (serious) crime before and had never been arrested save for a sealed and expunged DUI I got when I was 19-years-old.

I thought I was fine but in the first week of June, I was arrested and the detectives had a mountain of evidence against me. The jig was up. Now I had lost my job, apartment, fiance, family and my spirit. It sucked.

I quickly got shipped off to Rikers Island seeing as how I was unable to make $30,000 bail. I would end up spending a total of 18 months on Rikers between 2013 and 2014. It was hell. That place will break any man into pieces and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Thanks to a Legal Aid attorney named Raoul Zaltzberg, who actually gave a shit about my case, and extensive interviews with ADA Tiana Walton and Judge Farber in Manhattan Supreme Court, it was agreed that I was not a menace to society. That yes, I had fucked up royally, but deserved rehabilitation instead of 10 to 30 years upstate in a maximum security prison.

I was given a plea deal that called for 18 months of inpatient and outpatient treatment followed by five years probation. Considering that I was indicted on two counts of First Degree Robbery in Manhattan, this is as good as it gets. Once I completed the 18 months of treatment, the two counts would drop to Third Degree Robbery, a non-violent felony that carries significantly less time and repercussions if rearrested but a felony nonetheless.

Yesterday, Raoul, who is now a private attorney with his own practice (I was one of his first clients and remain loyal to him), Tiana and I walked into Judge Farber’s court and finalized everything. I had completed the 18 months of treatment despite a hiccup or two and would be starting probation. Five long years of being monitored by the state. It’s quite daunting if you think about it: even getting pulled over for a speeding ticket counts as "Police Contact" and can get you jammed up with your PO.

But I fought a long and hard road and lost everything in my life and then some. It's OK though. I've learn to become a better person and in a couple months, I'll be turning 30-years-old. While getting a decent job has been next to impossible, as has affordable housing, I am lucky enough to have found a woman who loves me for who I am and doesn't judge me despite my past mistakes and addiction. She is wonderful and nothing short of amazing. I have clothes on my back, gainful employment and even a car to get around South New Jersey and Philadelphia with thanks to my father, who bought it for me knowing that it would improve my chances of succeeding and rebuilding my life. It took me a long time to get over losing a woman I was supposed to marry and my many expensive material objects. I was young, successful, a published author, working in finance and living the dream in New York City. I'm no longer that person, but things happen for a reason and I am fine with all of this change. It's for the best.

2016 is clearly a year for milestones. I can't even describe how good it feels to finally close the books on this last chapter of my 20s and to move on to my 30s knowing I no longer have to check in with Judge Farber every 45-50 days and spend tons of money on programs and classes that are designed to be Medicaid profit machines. Like I said, five years of probation is a long time but it's nothing I can't handle. I have the tools, I have the support system in place and most importantly, I'm happy.

I didn’t think I would ever be happy again and didn’t deserve to be happy. I was wrong. Here’s to exploring the next chapter of my life and staying out of trouble.