Damon West

I had two parents in my home.

My parents were married for 55 years, you know.

Great high school quarterback, Division I starting quarterback at North Texas.

Got injured, career got cut short, got into drugs, but I had some of the best jobs you can imagine.

I worked in the United States Congress.

I worked for a guy running for president.

Then I became a Wall Street stockbroker, and it was at that job as a broker in Dallas in 2004 that I was introduced to meth.

And once I was introduced to meth, the wheels came off.

I was homeless after 18 months, living on the streets.

And I put together a burglary crew and we started breaking into homes all over Dallas.

And Mick, when I broke into people's homes, I didn't just steal their property.

I stole their sense of security.

And I know I took it from them.

They can't get that back.

But on July 30th, 2008, the Dallas SWAT team takes me down.

Dramatic SWAT team raid.

They arrest me that day.

Or as I tell people all the time, Dallas SWAT didn't just arrest me in 2008.

They rescued me.

They pulled me out of a situation I couldn't get myself out of.