DEALERS MAKE EASY MONEY SELLING METH ON THE STREETS

The first step into Wayne Gerard's swiftly spiraling decline into the
world of dealing methamphetamine occurred when he lost his job at an
area plant shortly after his daughter was born.

The baby was screaming for food, bill collectors demanding their money
kept the phone ringing constantly, rent was due in just a week and
Gerard said he had no clue how he would make ends meet.

"My girlfriend was working at a fast food joint," Gerard, a Port
Neches resident, said. "We needed money for the baby."

The lure of big money and "bling, bling"

The former PN-G student said he was waiting to speak to a manager at
an area Burger King about getting a job when he ran into old classmate
of his in the lobby of the fastfood restaurant.

"The guy was shocked to see me sitting there filling out a job
application," Gerard said of his old classmate. "When I told him about
the baby and how I needed money, he asked me to step outside to talk
to him."

Gerard's friend brought him to a huge new SUV with shiny rims, a
pearly paint job, a booming stereo system and all sorts of other bells
and whistles. His former classmate, Gerard said, seemed to have hit
the motherload of success.

"The car was clean, man, and the guy had diamonds in his ears and a
diamond necklace," Gerard said. "This was a guy who barely passed any
of his classes when he was in school. I knew something was up."

The former classmate of Gerard's said he had a deal to offer the
struggling father. He handed Gerard a bag of white powder and asked if
his former classmate could get rid of the substance for him,
methamphetamine he needed to get off of his hands and wanted to know
Gerard would be interested in selling it.

"It was meth and I knew it. He told me he would give it to me for free
for now and I could keep 75 percent of the profit if I just got rid of
it for him," Gerard said. "I didn't know what to do. All sorts of
thoughts began going through my mind."

Gerard said he had been looking for a job for a few months, but to no
avail. He knew he could sell the meth to guys around his neighborhood
quickly and after it was all gone, he could go back to looking for a
legal job. If he did sell the meth, Gerard said, it would just be for
one time and one time only.

"I wasn't the drug dealing type. I'd never even done drugs before,
man," he said. "I was in the choir in high school and I was into
reading books and stuff like that."

The offer his classmate laid on the table was too good to pass up in
Gerard's eyes and it was a quick way to feed his daughter, pay his
rent and take care of a couple of utility bills.

"I took him up on that offer and made about $500 in about two hours,"
he said. "I didn't make that much in a week at my other job at the
plant."

Addiction to the fast life

Instead of it becoming a one-time stint as Gerard had initially
planned, he said he found himself falling into the trap of making
quick money in the streets.

"I could go to a fast food place, slave all day and all night, make
minimum wage and still not have enough money to take care of my
family," he said. "Or I had the option of hitting the streets for a
few hours and ending up with almost a thousand dollars."

Gerard began making a name for himself throughout Port Neches he said,
and other more rural areas of Southeast Texas.

"From Nome to China and Liberty and Raywood and all those areas, I
started building up a customer base," he said.

The money started rolling in for Gerard and he soon had enough money
to pay for daycare for his daughter, buy himself a used car and pay
his rent a few weeks ahead of time. He had a connection in a meth lab
who would sell him the finished product for a good deal, Gerard said.
As money became easier and easier to attain, he said he became more
confident in his trade, selling drugs to anyone who requested them.

One evening, Gerard said he had plans to meet with a guy who said he
needed a lot of meth quick. The guy seemed a little odd to Gerard, but
he paid it no mind and agreed to drop the drugs off to a notorious
drug house in Beaumont.

"I'd gotten the money in exchange for the meth," Gerard said. "I was
about to pull off in my car when everything went down."

A downfall begins

As Gerard began to pull off in his car, a swarm of cars and trucks
surrounded his vehicle. Flashing red and blue lights lit up the night
and Gerard realized he had fallen prey to an undercover drug operation.

"That was the first and last time I went to jail," he said.

Though it was his first offense, Gerard was sentenced to jail time, he
said, and during his three-year stint in prison, he said he received
the biggest emotional blow of his life.

"My mother died from cancer," he said. "I wasn't even around to visit
her in the hospital. I was doing time for selling drugs when my mother
was dying."

It was then, Gerard said, that he realized he had to get his life
straight. He planned on getting his life together, getting a job and
taking care of his daughter, who was now almost 4-years old.

Two months after being released from jail, Gerard said he began to
grow tired of being turned down when putting in numerous job
applications and going on countless interviews.

"No one wanted to hire a drug dealer," he said. "People say you can
get a job but I really couldn't. I tried for months and no one wanted
to hire me. Not even McDonald's."

Gerard went back to the street game he knew - selling drugs. Before
long, the father of one said his girlfriend began speaking out against
his "career."

"She made me feel horrible about selling it and would always bring up
my mother and how my mother would be so disappointed," he said. "I
needed something to ease that pain and that stress."

The meth dealer then began using his own product to ease some of the
stress and the depression he said was swallowing his life.

"I had the stuff and it was mine, so I just went ahead and snorted it
sometimes," he said. "Once I started, I understood why people would
want to buy it from me. It takes your mind away from whatever your
troubles may be."

Pretty soon, Gerard said he had nothing to sell because he was using
his product himself. After about two months of regular use of the
drug, Gerard's girlfriend had to intervene.

Turning around a life of crime

"She didn't want me around our daughter and I can't blame her. I just
broke down," he said. "She brought me to a rehabilitation center in
Houston where she knew someone."

Gerard spent about six months in the center, and when it was time for
him to head back into the world, the Port Neches native said the
clinic helped him find a job.

For young fathers, or anyone else, easing their way into the world of
drugs or thinking about it, Gerard advises steering clear of what
appears to be the benefits of drug dealing.

"Whether someone is thinking about using or selling, either way it
becomes an addiction that is harder than anyone can imagine to get out
of," he said. "It's a trap and the only way out is death or prison."

Now working as a custodian for a Houston janitorial firm, Gerard said
he sees his daughter every week and is even putting aside money from
his paychecks to start a trust fund for the 6-year old.

"I'm not making nearly as much money as I used to," he said. "But the
fact that I can be proud of the way I make my money makes up for it. I
know my daughter can be proud and I know my mother is proud of me too."