‘Redemption is not just about the survival of our soul. It’s about the revival of a soul that was once dead.’ True, isn’t it? Bryan Keith Stanley, a Drug dealer, proved it. Still, I find it hard to believe this quote. Is it even a possible thing to completely change your life even after committing horrible sins? 

I don’t know. I’d want you to decide after reading today’s story. The narrator Bryan Keith Stanley himself, who was once a criminal, changed his lifestyle after realizing the true purpose of human birth. He got far away from his past. Now, he is serving humanity, worshiping God, living life as an average person does. Still, it is incomplete as he feels a void in his heart whenever he turns back to his past. His past deeds never left his back. So he is seeking redemption for them. Will he get it? What are those deeds that made him seek redemption? Read his story to get the answer. 

Tale of A Drug Dealer and Addict Bryan Keith Stanley – His Story

My name is Bryan Keith Stanley. I was born on September 28, 1964. I was born in the Bible belt of Mississippi in a middle-class suburban family, and I am the youngest of four boys. My childhood wasn’t easy at all. My mother and siblings ill-treated me. It was my father who provided everything I needed to grow more in life. 

Multiple things were happening in the United States, such as the Vietnam War, racism, civil up rest, etc. I grew up watching the chaos and revolution that time and revolt had brought in the USA. 

For the first time, blacks were allowed into public schools in the first year of my schooling. It was a new thing for us as I had never seen anyone studying except white people. Yes, racism was brutal during that time. 

Bryan Keith Stanley

It was new for those kids as well, as they had also never seen white people either. We were innocent small children sitting side-by-side, having a good time in the first grade, learning to color within the lines while some people were burning down the church of the blacks and creating terror in the black community. At the same time, our parents hated each other from afar. Even after sitting together, we did know that we were supposed to hate each other.

Our parents were sitting outside the school with the picket signs. Blacks demanded segregation and equal treatment, whereas whites demanded separation and offering nothing except oppression. These turns of events ultimately became a recipe for disaster.
Due to these differences, I was quickly snatched up as my parents had decided to move to the suburbs.

There, they put me into a private school. After this, I was groomed and brought up very softly. I had a keen interest in baseball, so I was trained to be a professional baseball player. I played baseball for the next ten years going all the way up to semi-pro, all-star catcher, and pitcher every year.

Life was good, things were working in my favor, but my one wrong decision changed it all. At that time, I didn’t know my wrong move would change my life and put me on an unknown path I never desired to walk on.

While playing, I invested with some gentleman who was involved in drug trafficking. I wanted to make some quick money, and it seemed an easy way for me. However, this entire thing didn’t go well as I ended up in the state prison at 19. They threw the book at me, and I was ordered to serve three ten-year sentences, i.e., 30 years in the state prison. This phase was the mere beginning of a long life of crime.

I had spent 13 years running from the police and a specific life sentence. I become a three-time loser at the age of 19th, which means a mandatory life sentence for the subsequent felony. During this time, no one wanted to come between me and freedom because I had become too violent and desperate with nothing to lose.

Terrible things happened throughout my walk towards destiny because survival and violence became a way of life. I spent time in several jails throughout the states during the years on the run, using aliases to avoid my true identity. It was pure hell running and looking over my shoulder all of the time.

Addict Bryan Keith Stanley while he was young

When I got out of prison, no one would hire me firstly because my arrest happened in my workplace. During this time, I was working for a major bread company delivering bread, and I have been featured on all of the local news channels and the front page of the news channels on several occasions. Due to this, in every 100-mile radius, people knew about my time in prison. So, finding a job would be a challenge upon my release; however, this was only the beginning of a life as a career criminal.

Apart from it, I had reconciled with my wife, who was my friend when we met. We had separated from each other before I was imprisoned. After coming back, we sorted out and started living together.

I had to work hard to find a job. To survive, I created my own business Stanley Tree Landscape Service. I got the idea from my childhood memories as I remembered some friends teaching me how to climb trees and take things down professionally when I was a kid. It became my profession, and I began to work in this area. The business grew and evolved with time.

I did very well for a long time; I even offered my parole officers a job. Things were fantastic at that time. I always had at least ten employees around me all the time. The tree work was so technical I had to do it myself, but in the tree service business, it doesn’t matter if you are going to get hurt or not but how you get things down. However, my happiness and success weren’t long-lasting.

While doing the work, I had a massive piece of tree crush when I was taking a section down. The weight almost took my life and leg. I was injured very severely, but I survived against all odds. I went through eight surgeries to get my leg back. It ruined my business and everything else that I had created after coming out of prison.

I struggled to get back on my feet and succeeded in joining the workforce as a plumber. I continued to live my life and raise my three children with her in Tampa, Florida. Life was smooth. I was a successful person, a family man who was enjoying every bit of life. Each day was more like a vacation for me. It was one of the best phases of my life. However, just like other phases, it also didn’t last for too long.

One day, a family member visited me with $5000 in his pocket. He needed cocaine. Thus, he visited my house so I could arrange it for him. Again, the cycle of crime began because rather than refusing, I accepted to arrange it. I know I should have backed out. I should have said no and never met him again, but I did nothing like this. Instead, I agreed to go back to my past to bring the monster again into my life.

Addict Bryan Keith Stanley while he was young

So the crime cycle began again, and I started doing the same things. My wife came to know about it and left with the kids. At that time, I was angry at her for leaving me, but I knew she had taken the right step deep down. 

After a few weeks, when I went to see my wife and kids, the police were waiting for me there. They arrested me and put me in prison. Chaplin called the FBI, and everything went wrong again. I never expected it to happen, but it was all my fault. I couldn’t resist my demons. I couldn’t bury them, so I was bound to face the consequences of horrible crimes I had committed. 

The police caught me, and in the blink of an eye, my life changed forever. It was the point where my life fell apart, and I returned to a highly violent life of crime. I stayed on the run committing crimes to stay free and one step ahead of the police.

Doing bad things to people again became a way of life. It’s something that drug addicts and those who are lost tend to do when they have no hope. I have been locked up so often that I know that I will do life without parole if I get caught. Regardless of to mention, I did everything to save myself as I was a desperate man, and nobody should get in the way of me and my freedom. To restrain them all, I had become dangerous and ruthless. 

Then finally, I ran from the police in Monroe, Louisiana, but an officer jumped out and began chasing me on foot. I jumped over a concrete culvert, and he couldn’t catch me even despite trying hard. He broke his leg, and after a while, I was arrested too. The same man came to visit me after getting out of the hospital.

Read Part-2 of this story.

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