# Felons you have known **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 15, 2013, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362 "2013-12-15T07:20:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/61 "2013-12-16T06:19:36Z")
My sister’s ex boyfriend is on death row for murdering the girlfriend he had after my sister dumped him. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/62 "2013-12-16T07:00:48Z")
One ex-girlfriend for murder of the guy for whom I was dumped (dodged a bullet there), a friend/FWB may become a felon if she’s convicted on her current charges. Don’t want to name the charges, as she’d be easily Google-able. A few family members; one, now deceased, on child molestation. He was murdered upon release by his victim, and she’s now a felon. Childhood friend and one of my coworkers, for murder. They moved in together, and shot two children from their apartment balcony who were near their cars. I broke off contact with a number of friends and acquaintances from my childhood friend’s neighborhood after their conviction; it was a wealthy area, and the folks there closed ranks and cried “injustice” because one of their own was being treated like a common criminal. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/63 "2013-12-16T07:19:52Z")
The older I get the less felons I know, they tend to die younger than the general population. ---
**Author:** ![MrDurden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ed655f/32.png) [@MrDurden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDurden)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/64 "2013-12-16T07:45:24Z")
> [@Marion\_Wormer](#): > > When I was a second lieutenant I knew another 2 LT who robbed several banks to support his marijuana habit. He went to prison and I have no idea what happened to him. This was 40 years ago. If he robbed several banks to support his ‘marijuana habit’ he didn’t JUST have a weed habit. Even only if you got a few thousand from a bank, that would be enough to smoke yourself crazy for at least a year or two. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/65 "2013-12-16T09:13:39Z")
A guy I lived with who had murdered a man presumed to be fooling around with his ex girlfriend. Also, there was a guy across the road who supposedly shot a man when he was 15. A casual acquaintance who claimed to have been an armed robber until he found Jesus or AA. A cousin who got into a fight, got probation, then spent a few years on and off in prison because she kept blowing probation and judges don’t like that. Various friends who did time for selling drugs, usually meth. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/66 "2013-12-16T12:58:25Z")
About 15 years ago I had a job interview with a VP of a large company. I didn’t get hired, but I had contact with him from time to time after that because my organization had a contract with his. About four years ago he was busted for having one of the largest child porn stashes in Texas history. He’s in jail now, gonna be there for a while. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/67 "2013-12-16T14:56:53Z")
I went bar hopping with former Louisiana Governor and convicted felon Ed Edwards. A whole bunch of friends from high school seemed to have picked felon as a career choice. We googled a cow-worker’s city and name trying to find his address and discovered that he was a former cop who was convicted of rape. It really didn’t surprise any of us. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/68 "2013-12-16T15:05:34Z")
The gym teacher I had in Junior HS was fired from his job-he was a serial pedophile predator. He finally was arrested in Florida, and is now in jail. God only knows how many kids this guy destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/69 "2013-12-16T15:28:26Z")
> [@pythonzzz](#): > > How many felons do you know? Not as many as **Little Nemo** , but back in the day, I used to be a deputy sheriff. I’ll just say a bunch and let it go at that. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/70 "2013-12-16T15:47:21Z")
I managed an eleven room house that we only rented to crackheads. Yeah, I’ve know a few, including one that attacked another with a chainsaw! I also know [Dawn Breedon](http://www.dawnbreedon.com/), whose four year old son was the victim of a murder/suicide by his father, who I also knew. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/71 "2013-12-16T16:03:38Z")
A guy in my high school class is on the sex offenders’ registry for kidnapping a minor, but is not in jail. I suspect that it was part of a custody dispute over his kid, but I don’t know him well enough to ask. Also, kind of related: one of my former roommates was jailed for a couple years (awaiting trial) on a bogus dealing charge. He fought it and won. If he hadn’t, though, he’d be a felon. His biggest mistake was being born black and liking the ganj. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/72 "2013-12-16T16:03:40Z")
> [@MrDurden](#): > > If he robbed several banks to support his ‘marijuana habit’ he didn’t JUST have a weed habit. Even only if you got a few thousand from a bank, that would be enough to smoke yourself crazy for at least a year or two. If the wife kept a tight grip on the money knowing what type of person he was he may have needed another way to get cash. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/73 "2013-12-16T16:07:55Z")
Hmmm. I didn’t know him well, but when my oldest kid’s first roommate went a bit around the bend a few years later. Fortunately, oldest kids had moved to another city by then. He just heard about it when he went back to visit old friends and neighbors. I’m not sure why the police came to the little cabin-like house that they’d been renting, and that he now lived in alone. But when he saw them coming he shot at them. When he finally surrendered, days later, it turned out that he’d only had one bullet. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/74 "2013-12-16T16:29:03Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I also know [Dawn Breedon](http://www.dawnbreedon.com/), whose four year old son was the victim of a murder/suicide by his father, who I also knew. Now this is the kind of thing that would either make me overcome all reason and become religious, or kill myself. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/75 "2013-12-16T16:31:55Z")
I can’t think of anyone in my circle of friends or acquaintances who is, although I know people secondhand through them who are. I used to work with a woman who mostly associated with ex-convicts even though she was highly educated and raised in a middle-class household, and her husband was definitely on that list. Many years ago, I had a job that was so bad, after I left, I briefly considered surrendering my license. One day, I had this weird feeling that I was working with a serial killer, and when I got Internet access, one of the first things I looked up was whether there was any large number of unexplained disappearances or unsolved murders in the areas where he had lived. :eek: (I really didn’t find anything.) Even though he had lived here for over 20 years and had his own business for most of that time, with one exception, NOBODY I knew in our field had ever heard of him 😕, which was odd because he claimed to have a lot of dirt on me (although he wouldn’t tell me what he’d heard). He told me that the store he owned before he moved here had closed because he was undercut by the competition, and a person I later worked with who DID know him said she had done some relief work at the local business. In addition to all 3 paychecks she got from him bouncing, she told me that the REAL reason his store closed was because everyone in town knew that he beat his wife up all the time, and wouldn’t patronize it. That did not surprise me at all; when he told me that his wife did not work outside the home, that wasn’t suspicious to me, but that she didn’t drive AND WAS NOT DISABLED? Hoo, boy, big flapping red flags there. In addition, their two sons, who were in their 20s, lived with them. I know that it is not uncommon for grown children to do this, to protect their mother. Several weeks ago, I was at the nearby mall and an elderly man walked by and got this look on his face like “Don’t I know you from somewhere?” Yep, guess who it was. I simply walked on. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/76 "2013-12-16T16:41:40Z")
Can’t believe I hadn’t thought of this until now, but he’s not a person I’m in contact with IRL. My SIL’s husband did 3 years for meth manufacture. I knew he’d been arrested for it, but didn’t even know he’d gone away (to another state, no less) until after he came home. I think the people who did know about it wanted to keep it that way. Many years ago, I dated a man whose history was probably even sketchier than I knew about, and early in our relationship, he told me that he had lived briefly in Seattle “but something happened and I knew I had to get out of town right away”. He wouldn’t tell me what it was, and other people in his circle of friends didn’t seem to know either - they just knew it was something - and a while back, I decided to look up Seattle court records to see if they had anything on him. The online records did go back to the time when he lived there (early 1980s) and while there was something on his brother, there was nothing on him. I guessed, then and now, that he got a woman pregnant and didn’t want to own up to it. If a man tossed crumbs to me like that now but indicated that he wasn’t going to tell me more, it would be a deal-breaker because you just don’t keep secrets like that from your SO, but I was young and more naive back then. Oh, and trust me, if that’s the case, the kid was MASSIVELY better off without him. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/77 "2013-12-16T16:44:41Z")
In my entire life, there’s only been one truly bad guy that I ever knew fairly well… or at least that I saw and chatted with semi-regularly. I had no idea. As far as I knew, he was a nice guy, and he ran my favorite neighborhood pizza joint. You can read about him here. > **[Jury Rules One Way, Judge Another in Mob Killing (Published 2007)](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/nyregion/15mob.html?_r=0)** > > The fate of two men tried together in a mafia killing diverged when one elected to have a jury issue a verdict and the other asked the judge to decide his case. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/78 "2013-12-16T16:46:52Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > I recently found out that a guy I was close friends with growing up is serving 15 years for child molestation. I lost touch with him over the last decade and my mother recently told me about what happened. He’s a former police officer and an Internet search for his name turns up a lot of stories about his arrests, trial, conviction and sentence. I was completely shocked when I found out. I would have never thought he would be capable of anything like that. I found out that a man who went to the church I attended as a teenager molested pretty much all of his female relatives. While he did not abuse me, it didn’t surprise me because all of his kids (including their son, who denied being abused) made INCREDIBLY bad decisions when it came to picking spouses. Whatever he did left no medical evidence, so he didn’t go to prison, but while it was shocking to find this out, like I said, I wasn’t surprised at all and it did explain a lot. Very tragic situation, because I thought he was a gentle, loving man. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/79 "2013-12-16T16:47:56Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > In my entire life, there’s only been one truly bad guy that I ever knew fairly well… or at least that I saw and chatted with semi-regularly. > > I had no idea. As far as I knew, he was a nice guy, and he ran my favorite neighborhood pizza joint. > > You can read about him here. > > [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/nyregion/15mob.html?\_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/nyregion/15mob.html?_r=0) FYI: You have to pay to read that story. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362/80 "2013-12-16T17:02:19Z")
I didn’t have to pay- I’m surprised anyone else had to. See if you can read this instead: > **[Pizza maker acquitted in mob shooting](https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/pizza-maker-acquitted-mob-shooting-article-1.271956)** > > In a stunning reversal of fortune, a Brooklyn jury Thurdsday night acquitted a pizza maker of cooking up a plan to gun down a mob loanshark and his cousin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/felons-you-have-known/676362.md?page=5)