Meet Paul, a 54 year old who was born in Sommerville, NJ, raised in Port Richey and a recent returning citizen (ex-offender)
Paul wants his story to be told and prays it will help others.
Paul comes from an abusive home by his mom and step-dad. He never knew his biological father as he left Paul’s mom when she was pregnant with him. When Paul was 5 years old, he ran away from home and convinced his younger sister to come with him. After a few hours, authorities found them and returned them to their home. His second stint with running away from home was when he was 8 years old. He ran into a group of older boys who introduced him to cigarettes and once he learned how to inhale, to smoking pot and later on, to drugs. If it wasn’t bad enough that he was abused at home, he was also bullied in school. Back then, there weren’t counselors and programs to help children like Paul.
Paul got tired of being bullied and eventually became the bully. He started getting into trouble with the law and was sent to a boy’s home and other facilities, all to no avail.
He went to live with his grandparents as they hoped to be able to help him and at 15, they adopted him. Once again, Paul was beyond any help and kept on doing drugs and getting into trouble. At 16, he went back to live with his parents and their attitude had changed and they were trying to be helpful and supportive.
At 17, he attended a party with a girlfriend and was being harassed. There was a guy there who had his eyes on his girlfriend which bothered him. He left the party without his girlfriend and looked back and saw through the window that the guy who had eyes for his girlfriend was pointing at him and laughing. Paul jumped through the window and had the guy in a choke-hold. The police were called and had a gun to his head. They arrested him for aggravated battery and kidnapping. He was sentenced to 20 months but did less than a year.
At 19, he was back into drugs again and was arrested for strong armed robbery. He was sentenced to 18 months but was released in less than a year.
Paul doesn’t remember if it was 1994 or 1996, he was arrested for possession of crack and cocaine and received a sentence of 2 years but was released in less than 1 year.
In 1994, his girlfriend and he had a daughter and he settled down and they had two children together. They were together for 25 years.
For 20 years, Paul had gotten clean, no drugs, no trouble with the law and had a good job as a foreman doing carpentry work. However, his girlfriend started drinking and he tried to help her to no avail. Eventually, he started drinking with her and doing drugs.
In 2014, he was arrested for forging a check and signed his girlfriend’s name. He received a sentence of 8 years but was released after 10 months. He was doing what is called a downward departure from prison and did 18 months rehab at Phoenix House in Ocala with 3 years of probation. He was released from Phoenix House after 1 year and had 24 months of probation to do.
In 2014, Paul accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior and that changed his life.
When he was released from Phoenix House in 2015, his former employer hired him back as foreman, despite him knowing that those working under him were doing drugs and drinking. One day, he found one of the workers during lunch break in his car with a needle in his arm and passed out. He fired him.
He had a very understanding and compassionate Probation Officer during this time who knew his whole story. However, she left and he was assigned a different Probation Officer who was hard and didn’t know his story.
The person whom he fired kept on threatening him and said he would call the Probation Officer and say that he was doing drugs again. Paul, at that time, having been clean for so long, told him to go ahead, that he would do a drug test and it would come out negative.
Paul didn’t have a driver’s license or a car so his boss would pick him up, drop him off at work and then pick him up at the end of the day. One day, the Probation Officer called him and told him she wanted him into the office at 1 PM for a drug test. He told her he was working on a job 2 hours away and had no way of getting there in time. She didn’t care and told him, show up or you’re back in prison.
Unfortunately, he was arrested on violation of his probation and was forced into doing 6 years in prison. During his time in prison, he attended several bible studies each week as well as earned his GED. He started taking online courses at Nation’s University in New Orleans working towards a degree in Theology. He almost got to his AA but the courses were getting harder and he was barely making passing grades so he stopped his courses.
Paul did 5 years for his violation and parole for 1 year.
Paul was released from prison in July of 2021. Prior to his release, he was writing letters and trying to find a half way house to live when he got out. Somehow, Paul was referred to End Recidivism Project Extreme where he spoke with Julia Pauls, Managing Director and CEO of Take Charge Wellness Center Extreme d/b/a ER Project Extreme.
Paul is currently living at New Motives and was working odd jobs. Julia was able to help him get a birth certificate and an identification card so that he could secure employment. On August 30th, he secured a full time job as a painter and he couldn’t be happier.
He currently attends two bible studies a week and attends Journey church with Julia and has a volunteer case worker from ER Project Extreme working with him.
Currently, the first item on his list is to get a driver’s license, save some money and buy a car and put together enough money to get an apartment of his own and is waiting to see where God leads him so that he can help others.
Paul wants his story to be told and prays it will help others.
Paul comes from an abusive home by his mom and step-dad. He never knew his biological father as he left Paul’s mom when she was pregnant with him. When Paul was 5 years old, he ran away from home and convinced his younger sister to come with him. After a few hours, authorities found them and returned them to their home. His second stint with running away from home was when he was 8 years old. He ran into a group of older boys who introduced him to cigarettes and once he learned how to inhale, to smoking pot and later on, to drugs. If it wasn’t bad enough that he was abused at home, he was also bullied in school. Back then, there weren’t counselors and programs to help children like Paul.
Paul got tired of being bullied and eventually became the bully. He started getting into trouble with the law and was sent to a boy’s home and other facilities, all to no avail.
He went to live with his grandparents as they hoped to be able to help him and at 15, they adopted him. Once again, Paul was beyond any help and kept on doing drugs and getting into trouble. At 16, he went back to live with his parents and their attitude had changed and they were trying to be helpful and supportive.
At 17, he attended a party with a girlfriend and was being harassed. There was a guy there who had his eyes on his girlfriend which bothered him. He left the party without his girlfriend and looked back and saw through the window that the guy who had eyes for his girlfriend was pointing at him and laughing. Paul jumped through the window and had the guy in a choke-hold. The police were called and had a gun to his head. They arrested him for aggravated battery and kidnapping. He was sentenced to 20 months but did less than a year.
At 19, he was back into drugs again and was arrested for strong armed robbery. He was sentenced to 18 months but was released in less than a year.
Paul doesn’t remember if it was 1994 or 1996, he was arrested for possession of crack and cocaine and received a sentence of 2 years but was released in less than 1 year.
In 1994, his girlfriend and he had a daughter and he settled down and they had two children together. They were together for 25 years.
For 20 years, Paul had gotten clean, no drugs, no trouble with the law and had a good job as a foreman doing carpentry work. However, his girlfriend started drinking and he tried to help her to no avail. Eventually, he started drinking with her and doing drugs.
In 2014, he was arrested for forging a check and signed his girlfriend’s name. He received a sentence of 8 years but was released after 10 months. He was doing what is called a downward departure from prison and did 18 months rehab at Phoenix House in Ocala with 3 years of probation. He was released from Phoenix House after 1 year and had 24 months of probation to do.
In 2014, Paul accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior and that changed his life.
When he was released from Phoenix House in 2015, his former employer hired him back as foreman, despite him knowing that those working under him were doing drugs and drinking. One day, he found one of the workers during lunch break in his car with a needle in his arm and passed out. He fired him.
He had a very understanding and compassionate Probation Officer during this time who knew his whole story. However, she left and he was assigned a different Probation Officer who was hard and didn’t know his story.
The person whom he fired kept on threatening him and said he would call the Probation Officer and say that he was doing drugs again. Paul, at that time, having been clean for so long, told him to go ahead, that he would do a drug test and it would come out negative.
Paul didn’t have a driver’s license or a car so his boss would pick him up, drop him off at work and then pick him up at the end of the day. One day, the Probation Officer called him and told him she wanted him into the office at 1 PM for a drug test. He told her he was working on a job 2 hours away and had no way of getting there in time. She didn’t care and told him, show up or you’re back in prison.
Unfortunately, he was arrested on violation of his probation and was forced into doing 6 years in prison. During his time in prison, he attended several bible studies each week as well as earned his GED. He started taking online courses at Nation’s University in New Orleans working towards a degree in Theology. He almost got to his AA but the courses were getting harder and he was barely making passing grades so he stopped his courses.
Paul did 5 years for his violation and parole for 1 year.
Paul was released from prison in July of 2021. Prior to his release, he was writing letters and trying to find a half way house to live when he got out. Somehow, Paul was referred to End Recidivism Project Extreme where he spoke with Julia Pauls, Managing Director and CEO of Take Charge Wellness Center Extreme d/b/a ER Project Extreme.
Paul is currently living at New Motives and was working odd jobs. Julia was able to help him get a birth certificate and an identification card so that he could secure employment. On August 30th, he secured a full time job as a painter and he couldn’t be happier.
He currently attends two bible studies a week and attends Journey church with Julia and has a volunteer case worker from ER Project Extreme working with him.
Currently, the first item on his list is to get a driver’s license, save some money and buy a car and put together enough money to get an apartment of his own and is waiting to see where God leads him so that he can help others.