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hey it's your boy Mike The Situation
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Santino welcome to statute of
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limitations it's the ultimate lineup
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it's Cooks this is not my fault that I
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stole this car it's conmen this is my
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chance I can be rich for life it's w to
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be King Pins we all made together
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$500,000 and queen pins it was basically
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a lounge of
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criminals these are stories of the
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nonviolent lucky punks and Robin hoods
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that Dodge the law I could have gone to
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prison not jail prison because here's
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the situation baby it's only a matter of
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time before the statute of limitations
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is up and technically you might walk
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away scotf free but don't take her from
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me guys I'm obviously no lawyer this is
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statute of
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limitations what's up it's your boy Mike
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The Situation Santino welcome to the
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show where we find folks who Once Upon a
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Time committed a crime this episode we
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have a military man who took the term
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high seas a little too literal and a
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dude whose job made feel like Christmas
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every day when he played a little game
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called one for you and one for me we go
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now to the high seas like the wicked
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high and a guy who spent 20 years
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smuggling drugs across the world but he
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sailed past the police long enough to
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get away with it all meet John my name
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is John and I smuggle drugs for 20 years
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while I was in the US Merchant Marine
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and I smuggled marijuana I smuggled h
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ashes and I smuggle cocaine and I never
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got
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caught in 1980 I joined the Merchant
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Marine when you're on a boat it gets
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rough you get
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seasick but marijuana the THC relieves
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the nausea and so there's a joke that's
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why they call it the high seas and my
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first foreign trip was to portter Prince
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Haiti and that's the first time I was
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involved in drug
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smuggling first thing you do when you
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get to foreign Port is you find a good
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cab driver he took us somewhere near
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pter Prince and there was no street
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lights or anything like that we gave him
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some money and he took off and a little
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while later he came back and he had a
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few ounces of weed it was good stuff we
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brought it back to the boat and so
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wherever we went we would score weed
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just for the
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seasickness I never smuggled for cartels
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it everything was for personal use
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anyway I started getting trips to like
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the Mediterranean to Africa one of those
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trips we uh went to abigan and the Ivory
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Coast three other guys they went to
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score weed in Aban and they got set up
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and uh they got busted the company had
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to pay a ton of money money to get them
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out and of course these guys were all
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Academy graduates and they lost their
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licenses and
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everything I learned one thing when I
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first started working if you hang out
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with Americans when you're in a foreign
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Port they're just going to get you in
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trouble they're going to get drunk
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they're going to do some stupid you can
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get screwed over by
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association like one time we went to
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Morocco and uh that was probably the
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first trip where I kind of led the
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adventure to go score as soon as the
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ship hit the dock we're on the beach
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it's like 6:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning
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we got us a great cab driver first he
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takes us to a coffee shop and he takes
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the money and he leaves and while he was
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gone a police officer walked in so my
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two friends they're like freaked out we
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get back in the cab and he actually
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hadn't got anything but he knew where he
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was going to go and so he took us to an
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area and then of course he got out came
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back a little while later and we had
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several ounces of hashish my friends are
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afraid to touch it right cuz they're
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they think they're going to get busted
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by even touching it and I'm just like
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give me that basically I had the balls
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to do it you know a lot of people they
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want to get high but they don't have the
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balls you're lucky that you had someone
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like me who did so I was sticking in the
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pocket of my jacket and so we go back on
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board the ship we had to smuggle it out
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of Morocco you got to put it somewhere
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where the Customs agents can't find it
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the best place for that is a chain
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locker and so what we do is we take 35
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mm film bottles and we stuff it full of
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the hash and then hide it behind the
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angle iron so it's got a horrible odor
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already they just raised the a hatch
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look down in there okay looks great and
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if they bring a dog aboard the ship you
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sprinkle pepper in different locations
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on board the ship and when that dog gets
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a snoot full of pepper that dog ain't
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worth a damn the rest of the day you
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know you're in
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business you could have smuggled pounds
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kilos but of course we never did that
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because if you're smuggling large
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amounts that's how people get busted and
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once I became a licensed officer I was
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kind of like the Kingpin you would say
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it was like in ' 85 I got married for
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the first time and we had a baby and you
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know once you have family and you have
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other people that can be affected by
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your actions you know you think twice
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about it but I ain't going to lie I'd
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gotten away with it every single time
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for so long I still continue to do it
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when I started smuggling cocaine the
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first place was out of Japan and I flew
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back to Hawaii I noticed when I was
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wearing the uniform when I went through
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customs they didn't even give me a
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second look they see me wave me through
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I'd put my bag on the
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conveyor they'd let it go through and
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I'd walk down the other end pick it up
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and so I was like
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wow I bet I could freaking smuggle Coke
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like this in my bag of course of course
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I'm only going to start with a small
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amount like a few grams that went
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through no problem and so then once you
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get that through you get a little
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Boulder you may get a couple ounces and
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then that works and then you end up with
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a whole key the most ever smuggle Like
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Cocaine was uh like a kilo like this
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much something like
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that when I was in Rio de Janeiro I flew
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back off of that trip I brought a key
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back with me there uh Panama well Panama
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you could it was so easy to get there
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they didn't have hash in Panama it's
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just cocaine and weed and you just keep
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it on board the ship on a trip back from
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the Mediterranean we got some hashes and
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we're going into New York and of course
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in New York they're going to bring dogs
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on you know that so you've already gone
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around with your pepper you got your
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stuff all stashed in the locker and
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everything I didn't think about it I I
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was using a 3/8 in brass spitting that
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you get from the engine room and using
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that to smoke the hash in I had taken
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the uh pipe and I'd stuck it in my
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pocket so Customs came on you know and
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I'm out doing my thing they're doing
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their thing searching and checking
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everybody so they can go ashore and
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leave and stuff like that anyway then it
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comes my turn so they take me in my
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stateroom I'm wearing these a red
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welder's gloves I knew they were going
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to ask me to empty my pockets but when
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they got in there they're raising the
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matresses and looking in the drawers and
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stuff like that
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so my hand brushes my pocket and I
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realized oh my God I got this freaking
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pipe in my damn pocket and so they
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weren't paying attention to me so I took
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it out and I couldn't move because it
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the room was small and I couldn't go
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anywhere without getting their attention
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so I just stuffed it in the uh in the
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glove anyway they looked around and they
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didn't see anything and so they were all
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happy and and so they're like okay we're
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done and so we all get up and we start
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to walk out and one of them reaches over
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and picks up that welder's glove and he
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holds it up and the pipe comes rolling
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out I I was shaking my boots cuz I
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thought I was
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screwed oh ship that's right guys
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another pun by the situation but the
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gloves are off the heat is on and Jon's
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standing there with the authorities
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holding his pipe he thinks he's screwed
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I think he's screwed but what he doesn't
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know is someone's about to bail him out
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find out how John escapes his sticky
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situation on statute of
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limitations
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next we are back with more statute of
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limitations where my man
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John he's in deep trouble while trying
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to smuggle drugs on board a ship some
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incriminating evidence lands right at
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the custom agent's feet so how's this
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budding Pablo Escobar survived to tell
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his story he's got an unlikely Ally in
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high places watch this so Customs came
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on you know and I'm out doing my thing
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they're doing their thing sech in and
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one of them reaches over and picks up
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that welder's glove and the pipe comes
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rolling
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out I was shaking my boots cuz I thought
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I I thought I was screwed we still had a
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bunch of hash on board down in the chain
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Locker so you know I the last thing I
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wanted was these guys to have a reason
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to start checking other things they were
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like hey what's this I don't know I've
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never seen it before where did this come
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from and I'm like dude I I don't know
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anything about it and they're like n
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this something's wrong here we're going
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to the captain about this and we all go
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to the captain uh Captain look what we
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found in his State
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room and so the captain says so what
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it's a 3/8 in brass spitting we got a
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hundred of them in the engine room if
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you want another one go get one and
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they're like well no uh it has a screen
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in it and we can see something's been
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burnt on that screen and the captain's
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like huh
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do youall have anything else or or is
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this it and they're like well no that we
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just found that he's like okay well
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great he goes I'm busy right now and so
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uh y'all get your asses off my ship he
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goes I don't have time for this B they
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left the boat and I got off scott free
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and that was the closest uh I'd ever
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come to uh getting caught I did 20 years
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in the mercher Marine uh I retired and
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uh and I would never ever smuggle drugs
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again that's something I did when I was
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young and now I'm old I just ain't got
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to do it anymore you know they have
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their shows like Locked Up Abroad and
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and I Almost Got Away With It And I've
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always watched those and I'm like what
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in the hell were they going to do
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someone who actually got away with it
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for 20 years and that was me and
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actually finally found the
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show yo big props to John for riding the
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ship and getting his life together he
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avoided jail time and served up a whale
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of a tail baby wo now that's fire now
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it's about to get personal this is a
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story of a Cali dude who started as a
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personal shopper and became a secret
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seller of stolen stuff it could have
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landed him in prison but maybe he sold
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his soul to the devil because he's here
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to share his secret meet
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Chris
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hi my name is Chris and in 2012 I stole
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a lot from a billionaire family that I
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was a personal shopper
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for in La at that time my parents they
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scrapped up all the money they could
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middle class family and they sent me to
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this school that was really expensive
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and I was just surrounded by really rich
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kids so clearly I didn't have nearly as
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much money as they did but I had had my
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own style I could go to Vintage shops I
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go to pawn shops there's a lot more work
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but I needed a job after school and a
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friend of a friend hooked me up with
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this gig working for this billionaire
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family where I would buy all their stuff
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so the dad was a Real Estate Mogul he
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was flying around the world all the time
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never home neglected the wife neglected
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the two kids the wife just she didn't
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know what to do at the time she just
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bought a bunch of stuff and ate a lot of
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brunch the kids same thing handbags
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jewelry clothes the whole nine your
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typical
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influencers they need therapy
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man so one time I bought the wife this
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handbag she really liked and she went on
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vacation and lost it so ever since then
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she's like two of everything Chris two
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for me two for the kids everything it
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got to the point where I had to store
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this stuff in my apartment boxes
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everywhere where boxes to the ceiling I
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couldn't even get in my own kitchen but
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then I realized they didn't even use one
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of this stuff so there's two of
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everything I could sell one of them they
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wouldn't even
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notice so I decided to give it a try I
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grabbed this $200 vintage shirt they had
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sitting around for months and I went
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into a pawn shop I was was nervous about
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it I pulled the trigger got an extra 200
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bucks so the next few weeks I couldn't
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sleep like are they going to ask about
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this shirt am I going to get fired am I
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going to go to jail but then nothing
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happened they didn't ask me about it
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they didn't care they didn't notice I
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was in the clear baby drink some
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meat so the way I thought if I could get
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away with a $200
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t-shirt why not $1,000 bracelet why not
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a $5,000 handbag so the next two months
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boom boom boom I was in every pawn shop
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selling every duplicate I had I was
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making money and at one point I sold two
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of the same handbag and just my luck the
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wife wanted it and I didn't know where I
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sold it how could I remember I didn't
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write it down I I was just making money
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and she wanted it she had this big party
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that night it went well with her dress
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or something I don't know but she called
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me four times she's like Chris where
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where is this bag I don't see it
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anywhere and I'm driving around town I
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can't find it I must have gone into six
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shops I found the shop where I sold one
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of them and they sold it great awesome
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I'm going to jail I kept going that day
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I went into three more shops I find the
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secondhand bag it's on the shelf and I'm
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like hey can I buy that and the guy's
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like didn't you sell this to us like a
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week ago I'm like no no no it's it's
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okay I I I need it back I got it to the
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wife like an hour before the
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party she didn't know anything I didn't
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get caught but I had to change some
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things I had to be more careful I
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started writing everything down where I
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sold everything what pawn shop what item
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what date all the data I wasn't going to
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get caught this time so as a personal
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shopper I was making a grand a week I
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could make up to 10 grand a month as a
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personal seller life was good man I was
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making money I was treating myself I I
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was treating the people close to me and
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they didn't know a
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thing so 2 years into the gig making
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good money Family decides to move they
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need an even bigger house I don't know
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why stuff can get lost in the shuffle if
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you know what I mean this was a big
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chance to score they're not tracking any
00:17:17
of this stuff they got a lot of other
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people working for them a lot of stuff
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they want me to buy for it this is how
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I'm going to do it I can be rich for
00:17:27
life such a big undertaking I got to
00:17:31
bring in another guy I had a buddy from
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high school he's a little sketchy but I
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knew he'd be willing to do this kind of
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thing so we get to work we're writing
00:17:39
everything down we're in every pawn shop
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from San Diego to Santa Barbara I I was
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working so much I couldn't even spend
00:17:46
the money but I couldn't stop it was so
00:17:49
much money business was booming how
00:17:52
could I stop you going to say no to 10
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grand I'm not all of my time was
00:17:57
consumed by this
00:17:59
so one day the wife calls me and says
00:18:01
hey we're in the middle of the move
00:18:02
we're missing some stuff do you know
00:18:05
anything about it I was like no uh
00:18:08
everything should be at the house she's
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like we may be rich but we don't like
00:18:11
being stolen from we're going to check
00:18:13
the security footage and I panic oh crap
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the security
00:18:20
footage trust me that secret Eye in the
00:18:23
Sky don't
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blink find out if Chris can buy his way
00:18:28
at the trouble on statute of limitations
00:18:32
next way back in the day our man Chris
00:18:35
was stealing tons of stuff from the rich
00:18:38
family that employed him but while he
00:18:40
was making all that stuff disappear he
00:18:42
was also creating something in the
00:18:44
process a trail of evidence all thanks
00:18:48
to their security cam footage how's he
00:18:51
going to get out of this the same way
00:18:53
they should have been able to put him
00:18:55
away roll the tape she's like We're
00:18:58
going to going to check the security
00:18:59
footage we may be rich but we don't like
00:19:01
being stolen from I think this is it oh
00:19:04
crap security footage I might have
00:19:07
misstepped here and there are they going
00:19:10
to see me grabbing something from the
00:19:12
basement are they going to see me
00:19:14
Wheeling out a box or two it's been so
00:19:18
long I can't even remember now I'm like
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I want to help you get to the bottom of
00:19:23
who's doing this who's looking at the
00:19:25
security footage uh do you want me to
00:19:27
talk to anyone else on staff and she's
00:19:29
like I'll take care of it and walked
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away I got scared she didn't trust me I
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know she thinks it's me so I got to
00:19:38
cover my tracks I got all this stuff in
00:19:40
my apartment should I put it back in the
00:19:42
house should I get rid of it I got to
00:19:44
talk to my buddy like hey man have they
00:19:46
talked to you at all like maybe we were
00:19:48
hanging out one day at the house and
00:19:50
they know who you are my mind's racing I
00:19:53
got to get everything out of my
00:19:54
apartment I have so much stuff in there
00:19:57
still if I get a knock on the door
00:19:58
they're going to see that I tried to
00:20:00
sell some stuff to pawn shops but I
00:20:03
couldn't do it fast enough I threw away
00:20:05
tens of thousands of dollars of
00:20:08
items right in the dumpster so I know
00:20:11
they're going to be checking the tapes
00:20:12
every day and now I'm just thinking back
00:20:14
to every time I walked through the
00:20:16
basement and there was a camera on me
00:20:18
every time I was walking up the driveway
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they had this place under constant
00:20:23
surveillance I'm looking up how long
00:20:25
does footage stay in the system for if
00:20:28
it's a month I'm okay I don't think I've
00:20:30
taken anything from there in that amount
00:20:32
of time but if it's more I think they
00:20:34
got me red-handed one day the wife calls
00:20:38
me in and says hey Chris can I talk to
00:20:39
you for a second I think this is it she
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sits me down and says Chris about the
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security
00:20:47
footage I think I should be running for
00:20:49
the door and she says
00:20:51
Chris I want to put you in charge of it
00:20:54
I want you to get to the bottom of who's
00:20:56
doing this
00:20:58
I'm like
00:21:01
what are you crazy lady who do you think
00:21:04
has access to all this stuff on the
00:21:07
inside I'm popping champagne bottles I'm
00:21:10
partying I'm
00:21:12
likeo she doesn't suspect it's me she
00:21:15
trusts me but on the outside I'm like of
00:21:18
course I can totally do that for you
00:21:21
anything you need I'm going to help you
00:21:22
out am I in there red-handed am I taking
00:21:25
stuff out of the basement hour six
00:21:28
I found something they have hundreds of
00:21:30
hours of footage here they're not going
00:21:32
to notice if 6 minutes is missing so
00:21:35
delete delete I give her a report I'm
00:21:39
like I don't find anything here could be
00:21:41
these movers you have coming in all the
00:21:44
time but your footage is only stored for
00:21:46
90 days so chances are it's been deleted
00:21:49
already they let it go so I continue to
00:21:53
work for him for the next few months
00:21:55
make sure the move went smoothly I was
00:21:57
like hey
00:21:58
it's time that I do something else so on
00:22:01
my last day as a going away present the
00:22:04
husband didn't even know he liked me
00:22:07
came up and said Chris you did a good
00:22:09
job I want you to have this he gave me a
00:22:12
$5,000
00:22:14
Rolex little did he know I already have
00:22:17
two of
00:22:18
them Yo three must be the magic number
00:22:22
especially when it comes to those
00:22:24
Rolexes I guess he's the type of person
00:22:27
who will rob you and then help you look
00:22:30
for it too wow those people right there
00:22:32
on the wars anyway even after stealing
00:22:35
countless high-end designer Goods none
00:22:38
of which were fugazi fugazi fugazi you
00:22:41
know what I'm saying Chris is lucky as
00:22:43
hell he's home free damn we could
00:22:47
probably all learn something from him
00:22:50
that's a wrap for this episode I'm Mike
00:22:52
The Situation Santino be sure to check
00:22:55
out more highflying L defying folks that
00:22:58
fought the law and won next time on
00:23:01
statute of limitations
00:23:03
capiche
00:23:07
peace this program is for entertainment
00:23:09
purposes only and it is not legal advice
00:23:12
the statute of limitations are
00:23:14
complicated and depend on many factors
00:23:17
if you need advice you should seek legal
00:23:19
counsel from a competent attorney in
00:23:22
your
00:23:26
jurisdiction
00:23:27
[Music]
00:23:56
yeah
00:23:59
[Music]
00:24:10
back
