Indiana Dunes in northern Indiana is a national park and there are many casinos throughout Indiana, including French Lick which has two large hotels, a championship golf course, and used to be a place where a lot of gangsters hanged out years ago, including Al Capone, and John Dillinger and Presidents and other celebrities. French Lick is also home to Larry Bird an Indiana basketball icon.
I sat down with a man we will call Phil and here is Phil's story:
Phil said that he had an eye disease, and he has had it for several years since he served. He started going to the Veterans Hospital eye doctors, and they told him he had a problem. They declared him legally blind, but not totally bling. He had gone too many doctors, and they all said that he had a problem, but that they could not pinpoint the problem. They were so bad that at times he could hardly see and had to use a cane.
Since they listed him as legally blind, they got him on Disability Insurance. He drew disability insurance for several years. For some reason, his eyes would get better and he could see a lot better. They would be that way for a while and then start to slowly get worse again. Sometimes they got so bad he could only see shadows. Phil had an eye appointment at the Veterans Hospital, and it was when his eyes were better. He drove himself to the hospital and as he was parking a security man that knew Phil and knew why he was going there. He had told someone that Phil was driving and that if he was legally blind, he should not be driving. Somehow this info got into the insurance records and the insurance company alerted the authorities. The Feds had him to go to another eye doctor and this eye doctor said that he could not find anything wrong with his eyes. Several Doctors had said that he had a problem, and it comes and goes. After investigating him for a period they indicted him on Insurance fraud. The Feds were scaring him like they do with everyone telling him he could do twenty years and so on. They coerced him into a plea deal, and it was five years in prison and two years home confinement. The judge gave him that and $800,000 in restitution. He came here at the camp and when he went through his physical; they check his eyes and they thought that he had a problem. So, several people said that he had a problem and one said that they could find nothing. He says that he is getting an appeal together.
My Thoughts :
It looked like he was seeing all right to me and I watched him and as I watched him; he was walking fast and always walks around the compound. Maybe they have not started getting worse yet. He may have taken advantage of the insurance company, but the eye doctor or someone approved the disability insurance so is that his fight. Maybe he should be more careful just in case. No matter what went on the crime does not fit the penalty. He said that it was not near $800,000 that he received, and he should have got only one year and one-year home confinement, as he is not a risk to do anything like that again.
Pete came to my room about five minutes before the 4 pm count and said that there were a few books that are lying sideways on top of other books and they all should be upright like all the others. I do not lay them sideways and I have not seen them that way before. He said that the horizontal ones are always on my shift; I told him I would not do that and would make sure they are all the way they are supposed to be. That night they were all fine when I left, and then the next night I went into the library to work and there were some books horizontal again. Someone playing tricks on me.
Pete left and came back and accused me of breaking someone’s earphones. That really pissed me off, I went off on him and said that there were some books that were horizontal and were on his shift and I did not break anyone's earphone, and why would you accuse me of that. I said that you are wrong and keep your mouth shut.
A little later he came back and apologized to me and said he knew it was not me now that broke a guy’s earphone as he was told the old man did it, Well the old man was doctor Ron who is eighty years old and he broke them. He also apologized about the books and says that it happens all the time. I have found out here at the camp that "You have to stand up for yourself and if you do not, they will run over you"
Sometimes I think some inmates think they are wearing blue suits rather than those green ones.
In the TV room, guys think they own a chair and or a space the chair is in. Sometimes they set their cup or headphones in the chair to mark their chair. It is stupid it should be first there gets the open chair. Anyway, there was a cup that had been in this chair all day and after the 9 pm count, I went to the TV room and sat the cup on the floor and sat in the chair. I thought if the owner of the cup came and wanted to sit there, I would get up, no big deal. Pete came in and says that is Joe's chair and he might come back so he told me to move. I said no if he comes, he can sit here tonight. Also, Joe lives in another dorm and has no right to his chair in our dorm. He did not come in tonight and I did not move.
Chapter Six
Trusting someone’s words is respectful,
acting on that trust without facts can be deadly.
I met Brandon the other day, and he told me his story:
An American Native church approached him, and they wanted him to grow marijuana for medical and religious purposes. Medical marijuana is legal in Michigan. That is where the church is and were Branden lives. They told him they had a license and authority to grow marijuana for medical and religious reasons. They gave him documents that showed that and he sent them to the attorney. He said that the attorney glanced at them and he thought that they may be ok. He had heard nothing from the attorney for a while, so he made an agreement with the church to produce the marijuana for them. He thought that if his attorney had any reason that he should not do it he would have called him. He started growing marijuana on the farm he had there in Michigan, and it was about forty-five minutes from the church. He also had another home that he would rent out but •ace that he got this deal he would use it as his place to finish the product, bag, and weigh it. I was working out well. He kept perfect books, took pictures, and kept notes and excellent records of all purchases and transactions with the church. He thought he was doing everything legally and complying with the laws. He had been working with the church for about a year when his house that he finished the product in and stocked there as well caught on fire. There was a gas leak which was on the outside and Brandan was there when it happened. I.t ignited and burned part of the house, he called 911 and they This was in November 2014 and it was not too cold out that day, but a storm was brewing. The first responders showed up which was the fire department and the police. The fire department shut the gas off and put out the fire, but the fire destroyed the electric box, then there was no electricity as well. Branden knew one of the cops that were there, and he was questioning him about the pot and equipment that was there. He said that he had to report it as everyone there saw it. Brandon was lucky that the leak was on the outside as if it were on the inside and gas built up there would have been an explosion. Then Brandon would have been hurt or killed.
The next day the local prosecutor called, and Brandon met him and told him everything about the church and the paperwork that he had. He told him that it was cut and dry and that that he was not going to do anything there locally. He thought that it was over Brandon also suspected that the fire was the work of arson, as well as a firefighter, as it looked like the pipe had been cut. That night the weather became violent with a huge ice storm and the temperature dropped to zero. The next morning the water pipes had frozen and busted and destroyed everything in the house. He talked to his attorney and he did not have anything to tell him, so he thought he was in the clear. So, he set up a place at his farm to finish and stock the pot that he was growing for the church.
About four months later he was working on his farm and he heard a gunshot. He noticed that his dogs were missing, he had two dogs, a German shepherd, and a collie. Both were good dogs but sometimes they stayed away to the neighbors which are about a quarter-mile away. The neighbor has chickens and does not want the dogs to come over there. A few minutes later the collie came back and a few minutes later the German Shepherd came back with blood on the side of his face and had been shot. Brandon put the dog in his truck and headed to the Vet, but he saw the neighbor out in front and stopped for a minute and got in his face and threatened