- Drugs
- Faith
I was born on March 5, 1980. I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. I was the second of three boys in my family. My father’s name is Rafael. He was born and raised in Bogotá, Columbia. My mother is Penny she was born and raised in Costa Rica. Andrew is the oldest in our family, I am three years younger than Andrew and Joshua is the youngest in our family. Joshua is five years younger than I am. Andrew has always been the most outgoing one out of the three of us. I, on the other hand, was always the most quiet in our family. In kindergarten, I didn’t say a word for six weeks (literally). My kindergarten teacher called my mom to see if I could speak. Growing up it always seemed that I was in my older brother’s shadow. Everyone compared me to him and most everyone expected me to be like him. He was a straight ‘A’ student, so I was the one that got the bad grades. He was the popular one in school, so I was the one that had very few friends and didn’t fit in. He was the one that was part of the student body in school, so I was the one that didn’t want to have anything to do with school. As you can imagine, Andrew and I did not get along at all.
Both of my parents came from very poor backgrounds, yet both of them have very strong work ethics. My parent’s marriage was very rough because my father was physically abusive to my mother, my older brother and myself. In 1988, my mother decided to divorce my father and he left the house. I was 8 years old, Andrew was 11 years old and Joshua was 3 years old at the time. My father drug out the divorce process for 3 1⁄2 years and the divorce was finalized when I was 11 years old. At that time, I was glad that my father was out of the picture but I was emotionally broken because I knew a son was supposed to have his father with him.
Each of us in our family dealt with the divorce in a different way. I decided to deal with my emotions through anger, rebellion and violence. At age 11, I started smoking cigarettes. At 11 years old, I also started experimenting with petty shoplifting. At 13, I was introduced to weed and started smoking. By this time, the petty shoplifting had accelerated to burglaries, breaking and entering, and breaking into cars and stealing stereo equipment and other things like that. Fighting was almost a weekly thing. I fought anyone over the smallest little things. I was a very angry kid. At 14, I was introduced to a gang down in Atlanta. I joined the gang and through that association I started stealing more and selling those things I stole for money. I also started to deal drugs like weed, cocaine and acid.
My mom saw this violence and life of crime and tried her best to help me. She tried to get me to see a counselor, but I would not talk to him. I literally sat in his office for 45 minutes without saying a word. As a single mom with three boys she had to work like crazy and she did her best to intervene in my life but I wouldn’t have it. I also had some friends that tried to deter me from the stuff I was doing but I wouldn’t listen. I continued on this path for several years before it all caught up with me.
On May 8 of 1996, two friends of mine and I committed an armed robbery in Marietta, Georgia. The two guys I was with were arrested the very same night that we committed the crime. One of them snitched on me and I was arrested on May 9, 1996. At 16 years old, I knew that I was a minor and in my mind the worst that they could give me was 180 days of boot camp. I figured that I was going to get a slap on the hand and be sent home. I figured that I was going to get away with it. The lead detective on our case informed me that they were charging us as adults and were seeking a 20-year sentence for us with a minimum of 10 years served before the possibility of parole.
Obviously, my mother was a wreck, my family was a wreck and my father was very disappointed in me and angry. As I thought about my life of crime, it became painfully evident to me just how reckless I was and how much pain I was causing my family, my mother in particular. At that time, I also realized just how many victims I had left in the wake of my violence. Looking around my jail cell at the Cobb County youth detention center in cell room number 8, I realized exactly where that life of crime had led me. At that point, I realized that I had done nothing good in my life and that I could not make it on my own. The weight of the idea of spending 20 years in prison crushed me.
I think if a psychiatrist had analyzed me at that point on that very day he probably would have said I had a mental or emotional breakdown. In that cell room I snapped. The reality of what I had done for the last five years came crashing down on me mentally and I couldn’t take it. But at that moment of despair, God brought to remembrance of the truth of his gospel that many of my friends and other family members had tried to discuss with me before. I realized that it wasn’t just that my life needed a new direction. At that moment, I realized that I needed Christ as my savior. I clearly remember praying to receive Jesus as my personal savior and I also remember praying that He would not get me out of prison. I told Him (God) that I realized I had done many things wrong and that I deserved to do as much time as He wanted me to do whether that was 2 months or 20 years. I just prayed that He would take me through it. I became a follower of Christ on May 11 of 1996.
I ended up receiving a plea bargain of robbery with a seven-year sentence. I agreed to the seven-year sentence and was prepared for it. At that time, I was sent from the Cobb County youth detention center to a state prison. It was a maximum-security prison, which has now been converted into a women’s prison because of the extreme violence that was present there throughout the 1990s. God was faithful to protect me throughout my time in prison. I had plenty of time to read and study the Bible and to rethink my perspective on life and the things that are important. My family was also very supportive of me. Any opportunity for visitation, my mother was there and both of my brothers came as frequently as they could. The funny thing was that I never heard from any of the guys who called themselves my friends. Yet the people that I abused the most were the ones who sent me cards, wrote me letters, sent me money, and came to visit even though the prison was over two hours away from my home.
I was released after 3 1⁄2 years of prison time on November 9th of 1999. God’s faithfulness to me has not changed since that time. He has always allowed me to have a job where I could work hard and apply myself. My family and I now have a very strong relationship. I don’t think I would have done as well as I did when I got out without their support. I also went back to school several years after I was released from prison. I ran my own company for five years, I was a youth pastor for three years, and went to bible college. I got married in 2003 and saw my first child born in 2007 and my second child in 2010. I now work at a company that helps people that are being released from prison and people that have had prior drug addictions to find work, counseling and accountability for their lives. I also speak at local FCA groups in various high schools in my area and at various church events throughout the year. It is very rewarding to be able to help others who are in the same situation that my family was in years ago.
I don’t mention these accomplishments to brag about myself, I say those things to demonstrate God’s faithfulness to me. I also mention those things because I know that I am nothing special and that anyone in a tough situation who turns to Christ can turn his life around and make the right decisions. It has been almost 13 years since I was released from prison and my answer is still the same to those people who ask me how my life was turned around. The answer is Christ and it will always be Christ. It hasn’t been easy but then again life isn’t meant to be easy. But Christ is always faithful. I pray that God may use this to be a blessing to someone who needs it.
Conrad