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In Reply to: Re: I was found guilty of breaking the law posted by Questions on June 13, 2005 at 09:45:03:
This reminds me of when I was a teenager, and I really wanted to drive, but didn't have a driving license. After pestering my friend hard enough, he said I could borrow his car, but if I got caught, I'd have to say I took his car without his knowledge. Sure enough, I got stopped at a routine check, and I had to say I took his car without his permission, as we had agreed. I was charged with grand theft auto.
What happened was a lot more serious than 'borrowing' a car, and it was not even my idea to start with. I was just made to do it, and it was obey, no questions asked. I'm sorry I am not yet ready to be more specific about what happened.
It had to do with cheating the system, but it was in a way that if it had happened again today and I got caught, it would raise so many concerns I could likely get treated as a suspected terrorist and get tortured for answers during interrogation. No kidding.
The fam did nothing to help me. They left me alone to fend for myself sitting in a 3rd world prison. I had to come up with the $35,000 myself. Later when I got back to the home they interrogated me, worried I'd said anything to the police that might lead to other people. The police had the name of another fam member involved, but I protected this person by taking the blame on myself entirely, even signing a confession that I had stolen from this person.
The next question is how did I have access to that kind of money? To be honest, I kept the $35,000 fine a secret from the fam, because I didn't want them to know I had access to that kind of money from the outside world. I had decided to leave, on realizing that the leaders were just a bunch of cowardly criminals and opportunists trying to cheat the system.
I don't know why I'm still not ready to be open and specify, what I am afraid of exactly. I know I'm not afraid of the fam. But still, if I mention this, they'll know exactly who I am and that doesn't feel comfortable for some reason. I've just buried this all my life and mentioned it to only a handful of people so far. It might be that having a criminal record isn't something you brag about. It might be that there are people involved I'm not sure want to be connected to this information. It might be the emotional scars of saying goodbye to $35,000 and how it left me in a hole I could not climb out of for years.
You can keep me in mind, and if push comes to shove, I will sign affidavits and testify in court. I have names. But for now, this is as far as I can go.
