Son of a Vietnam vet father who killed a man in a barroom brawl when Scott was only six months old, Scott came into a violent world from the start. He grew up with multiple fathers, but one of them was a preacher, who introduced Scott to his faith. But he took a turn, went down the path of addiction and ended up in prison. Then came his defining moment: In his early 20's, he got his first real job with people who had a completely different lifestyle and provided him hope. Now he shares that hope...
Aug 14, 2019•48 min
This serial entrepreneur started at 19 buying into a nightclub. David Israel started a financial services company, Pawn Exchange, going from a single store to 44 stores with revenue exceeding $48 Million. An absolute freak set of circumstances left David spending $1.3 Million to defend himself from armed robbery in one of his own stores but still he ended up in prison. Not letting his entrepreneurial spirit be dampened, he noticed how popcorn was popular in the house and wrote a business plan fo...
Aug 01, 2019•50 min
Walking the straight and narrow until he was around 15, Jeff's parent's divorce took him off course. Drinking at an early age wasn't exactly good, but when he started using meth it got him down the path of crimes to support his habit and landed him in the house. He broke into pop machines and was in and out four times. That was enough. He got clean, set small goals and hit them one at a time. And with each success, his confidence grew. He took a mechanics class and started working as a mechanic....
Jul 24, 2019•44 min
An advocate for violent youth who committed crimes as juveniles, Trevor founded Oregon Youth Justice Project to support them and help them get an opportunity to turn around their lives. A native Oregonian, Trevor grew up in a rather isolated area. Drugs and alcohol were introduced around age 12, so he had a heck of a start on self-destruction. It happened at 14 with a car-jacking and subsequent death. It took another ten years to take responsibility for his actions, and during an inside-out clas...
Jul 24, 2019•48 min
One of Hollywood's most successful female stunt drivers, Georgia Durante was also the most photographed girl in the US at 17 years of age. In her book, "The Company She Keeps", Georgia talks about the other side of her life in upstate New York, including her rape at the hands of her brother-in-law, entanglement with organized crime, the birth of her daughter and a failed marriage before she turned 20. A repeat guest, Georgia has had her life story picked up as a screenplay and there is talk abou...
Jul 03, 2019•51 min
At the Columbia River Correctional Institution in Portland, Oregon, USA, Dave and Anna - previous guest, Episode # 49 - interview three Adults in Custody who have found their "insights" through Anna's program. The Insight Alliance's philosophy is that we need to live from the inside/out, not the outside/in, that our very thinking determines our environment. Only then can real transformation occur. Eve (no last names), a transgender female, came to the realization that everything will be OK, no m...
Jun 19, 2019•1 hr 2 min
Back again to tell us what's happened in his business since his last show, Sean and his crew at Portland Product Werks have had a great ride, befit with highs and lows. He specifically discourages first time entrepreneurs from entering into his clothes licensing business, as there are a million things that can go wrong. However, his company's licenses have been strong, particularly footwear with Pendleton and Dove Tail, manufacturers of women-specific construction wear. But there are always curv...
Jun 13, 2019•47 min
So great to have him back on the show as a guest, Todd Brown found his story talents by writing a short story in a prison class. The teacher was astounded at what he could say in few words and implored him to write more. He wrote a book, got it out to his wife and had a published novel while still in the box. However, when got out, he delivered newspapers at night, phone books in the day just to survive. But Amazon's KDP program changed that as it gave him a chance to launch his Dead series digi...
Jun 05, 2019•48 min
A disgruntled employee started a snowball effect that landed Teresa Hodge into years of trial and eventually a 70-month sentence in Federal prison. Frightened before going in because she had no idea of the people she was about to encounter, Teresa was "lucky" enough to self-surrender, which meant she was given some time to get her affairs in order and she could take herself to the prison. Not a pardon, but every little bit helps. After living a straight life before prison, she was amazed how muc...
Jun 05, 2019•48 min
Ever see the movie "The Game"? This guy's brother gives him a gift of basically kidnapping him and putting him through extreme, even dangerous situations as an out of this world thrill. That's basically Adam Thick's business. How'd he get there? Adam's youth wasn't all that terrible, but he was fascinated with get-rich-quick ideas and it spread from running craps games in middle school to the more lucrative activities of selling drugs and white collar crime. The shock of being arrested was enoug...
May 15, 2019•46 min
70 Million American adults have a criminal record! And when it comes to a job, that record can be a real hinderance. So Richard Bronson started his for profit company to have a "double bottom line" - making money and contributing to the social good. Richard was literally a Wolf on Wall Street and when he started up a company in Florida, he took those practices there, where they finally caught up with him and he ended up in Federal prison. After paying off all the damage, he still had a lot of mo...
May 09, 2019•49 min
Growing up with addiction all around him - family and surrounding friends - Tony Vezina followed a typical path. Partying made him feel good, so party he did until it got him in trouble. Being an "extremist" person, Tony used that tendency after he turned his life around. He got back on the educational track, eventually becoming student body president at Portland Community College. He was recruited to the 4D program and that extremist tendency has been 4D's blessing. Tony identifies with the you...
May 01, 2019•51 min
Talk about your bad love interests. Emily O'Brien went on a bad outing with guy she liked, supposedly a vacation where HE was going to bring back some drugs across the border, but not HER. Oh yeah. you can guess the ending of this story, but suffice it to say Emily had some time in prison to rethink her life. She had a great family for support and decided to honor them by turning things around. Her Canadian prison had an entrepreneurship course which she took and at a SuperBowl party, she notice...
May 01, 2019•48 min
As a youngster, Christian Torres always scored well on tests so he was told he should be a lawyer when he grew up, but he thought that would be boring. He needed more of a rush, so inline skating and other thrill activities took up his time. However, he got a scholarship to a prestigious high school and was actually looking to be a profiler in the FBI at one point. He had started at the Police Academy when debt began to overwhelm him, and in trying to make some easy money with a friend who was a...
Apr 18, 2019•48 min
Perry founded a textbook retail business with an online adjunct business. He's advocated for book donations to prisons and libraries for years. Chris was once a homeless teenager and a felon. He's now an attorney. Perry started with the gangs of DC and his first arrest was for an $8 robbery, not a brilliant start. But it gave him time to get his GED, become a trustee and editor of the paper. Chris had to become an attorney with his record. He not only was able to navigate that path, he wound up ...
Apr 10, 2019•53 min
Sometimes bad stuff happens in Tsunami-type proportions. Ryley Morgan headed to prison for the third time while pregnant. Her child was adopted out, her grandparents died while she as serving her sentence, then her father got cancer and she only had a few months with him after she got out. But that's what it took to make her determined to turn her life around. At Coffee Creek, a Wilsonville, Oregon based women's prison, she entered the very sought after hair design program. Intensive and long, s...
Apr 03, 2019•50 min
A nourishing environment for women to rebuild their lives and self-worth is what this grass roots organization is all about. Portland, Oregon born and raised Shannon Olive went through a familiar upbringing: Her father died when she was quite young, her mother simply couldn't handle it and she and her sister wound up in foster care. Although the foster family was loving, Shannon simply had to explore the wild side and it put her on a downhill road. Determined to take control of her life, she joi...
Apr 03, 2019•53 min
Taking Pole Dance out of the club and into the mainstream, Shannon co-founded Ecdysiast in 2008. She created an aerial pole school specializing in pole dance as we know today: a coming together of Chinese pole, dance, acro, gymnastics and erotic dance styles. Pole encompasses muscular strength, flexibility and coordination. Ecdysiast's program teaches the general public and is proud to be a safe and inclusive space for womxn, trans, men, POC, GNC and LBGTQ+ folks. The studio loudly advocates for...
Mar 21, 2019•54 min
Jeff Mould didn't have the typical "felon" upbringing. He had a great family, was privileged, did well in school and went to college. So far, so good. But then he went off the rails, helped launder some money and got caught. So he has worn the scarlet letter - "F" for Felon - since, and decided to do something to remove the stigma. Second Chance Jobs was created to match up employers who can look at ex-felons and gauge them for what's in their character, not on their record. Felony Inc Podcast w...
Mar 14, 2019•50 min
Prisons are a good thing? They keep us safe? That theory was debunked for Jessica Jackson when, at 22 years old, she found herself standing in a court room holding her two-month-old daughter and watching her husband hauled off for a drug charge. It was obvious to her that prison wasn't the place for him to kick his addiction and sort out his life, thus the long painful road to Cut 50 began. She got an education, a law degree and began defending those on death row. Cut 50 aims to cut the recidivi...
Mar 14, 2019•50 min
She only spent one night in prison, but Anna Debenham struggled with addiction and enough angst in her quest for peace of mind, that she related with those incarcerated and wanted to help. Therapy and volunteer work put her on the path of helping those in prison face and overcome their anger and get started living a life of happiness and control. She has had two very successful programs at Columbia River Institute and Coffee Creek, both located in Oregon. Felony Inc Podcast with your hosts Dave ...
Mar 14, 2019•54 min
Starting at one year of age, Jessica was called "Jester" by her Dad, because she was so funny. But after that, Dave wasn't around much and when he was, he and Jessica's Mom were into drug dealing and didn't always give her the most attentive care. Add to that brothers and sisters who were from other Dads, and you have a complex upbringing to say the least. It was staying with Gramma, Dave's Mom, that gave Jessica her first sense of what could be normal - that environment helped teach her accepta...
Mar 07, 2019•52 min
Growing up feeling like he wasn't "good enough", Kevin took the easy way out and blamed his parents for all his bad behavior. So stealing, selling drugs was a way to prove his lack of self worth. That landed him in prison and luckily he got in the PEP program, even though it was for the food and the hot woman teaching the class. But is showed him how to take his hustle and entrepreneurial spirit in a legitimate direction to make a living. He had a chauffeur job but got fired and used that as a c...
Mar 07, 2019•54 min
Starting with a Walkathon at Santiam Correctional Institute, George's big change began in prison. The walk was to draw attention to suicide, which had taken George's father. In prison, the suicide rate is particularly high. George was a student in SCI's Business In A Box program and had revenue from his business. He donated $100 to the walk and had an amazingly successful event. George went on to start an online, on demand freight company as a side hustle after his release, and took a full time ...
Mar 06, 2019•51 min
Dan Wise liked short cuts. Meaning when he saw something he wanted, he tried to get it without all the work. At a young age, he went from scam to scam, changing his identification until it caught up with him. Terrified of going to prison for the first time, Dan posted a video before his confinement saying exactly how he felt to prepare himself. To be outrageous, he went to a costume store, got a striped uniform, ball and chain and made a video of that. It backfired but he survived and learned a ...
Feb 27, 2019•54 min
A love affair with cars "drives" Brandon. He started driving at the age of 13, not legally of course. The fast paced life pointed him in a bad direction and he ended up in prison. After two years, he got his GED, signaling his determination to do things right once he was released. The Inmates to Entrepreneurs program was a big help and contributing factor in continuing his love affair with cars. Brandon realized detailing his beloved cars was a skill that needed to blend with technology in order...
Feb 27, 2019•53 min
Not having enough food in the house growing up was a tough start for Gerald Davis. This lack of sustenance made him love to go to his grandmother's house, because he got fed, and along the way, she taught him that cleanliness really WAS next to godliness. Gerald was a football player good enough to earn a college scholarship, but a pregnant girlfriend took him off the rails and started him down a bad path. Making lots of money selling crack was too much to pass up and led him to a prison sentenc...
Feb 27, 2019•59 min
Another entrepreneur who started a business on the wrong side of the law, got smart and began anew on the other side. Lawrence not only hustled before he went into prison, he hustled while in prison. Realizing it was a road to nowhere, when he got out he wanted to stay out. Instead, he geared all his efforts toward maximizing his entrepreneurial skills. He didn't want to go back to school, and wanted to do something that could generate revenue NOW, while also fitting with his spiritual reawakeni...
Feb 21, 2019•55 min
While growing up in Portland, an absent father affected Isaiah greatly, and an increasing presence of gangs made joining a gang an easy thing to do. These factors led to the predictably bad things that landed him in prison. Having missed out on an opportunity to be an athlete at a college level, Isaiah decided that taking care of the body, and having the discipline to do so was a way to stay on the straight & narrow. His non-profit organization, PowerfitKids, encourages these traits in today's y...
Feb 21, 2019•52 min
Scott went to prison for selling cocaine. When he got out, he took his sales skills and entrepreneurial tendencies and founded FitTech & Assembly, a company that services all the gym equipment out there. First year sales were around $30 grand, but the next year he had ramped to around a half million! That treadmill you run on at the gym? If you're in the Carolina/Virginia/DC area, chances are it works because of Scott's people. Felony Inc Podcast with your hosts Dave Dahl and Ladd Justesen We re...
Feb 21, 2019•56 min
