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