Abandon My Sinking Ship

The day I was sentenced, the judge informed me that I would start my jail time immediately, and that frightened me most. My attorney had said the judge would give me a few days before I reported to prison, but that didn’t happen. I had packed all of my personal items and rented a storage unit a few weeks prior to my sentencing. My wife, Chanel, was in denial, and there were important family photos and antiques that I wanted to hold on to. My personal keepsakes. I didn’t want anything to happen to those items. Chanel thought the judge would allow her to keep the house because she didn’t have anything to do with the embezzlement. I also didn’t have any direct ties to taking the money, but there I was sitting in court with a very expensive attorney who was trying to keep me out of prison for the next sixty months.

I remember the cuffs being attached to my wrists after the sentencing. It was so surreal. Everything happened in slow motion. I could see and hear all the commotion and noise, but I couldn’t process what was taking place. My wife was crying and screaming, but I heard only the judge sentencing me to sixty months. I didn’t hear anything after that statement. My children did not attend. I thought it would be best to spare them the heartache, and I didn’t want the media taking pictures of them. It was hard enough when my name and picture were plastered on the front page of the newspaper. I did nothing wrong. I never took one penny of the money, but there I was on the front of the paper with a startled expression on my face. Not my best photograph. The headline read “Stolen Money and Stolen Investors’ Dreams.”