Part 3: The Final Betrayal – The Arrest That Sent Me to Prison
By. Christopher McManus
The Fast Life Calls Again
I was tired. Tired of living off others. Tired of watching my life go nowhere. I had burned through my 401(k), my unemployment, and my second chances.
Then, I saw it. A brand-new BMW.
Michael, the guy I had been hanging around, had upgraded overnight. One day, he was driving a beat-up Grand Am. The next? He was rolling up in something sleek, something expensive.
“Dude, what the hell are you doing to get that?”
He didn’t hesitate.
“Selling meth.”
I wasn’t shocked. I had been tiptoeing on the edge of the game for a while. I just needed that final push.
And I got it.
A few days later, I was driving with a roommate when she casually mentioned, “Some meth would be nice once in a while.”
It was all the justification I needed.
I tracked down Michael and got a hold of some. The first time was a test. The second time was a habit.
The third time?
I was all in.
I started getting more and more. At first, it was to fund my use. But then, it became about the money.
It was easy. It was fast. And it wasn’t going to last.
The Bust – Walking Straight into a Trap
Michael and I had been running together for a while. We were tight—or so I thought.
But then, one night, he disappeared.
No call. No text. Nothing.
Hours turned into a full day. The next morning, he finally called back—but something was off.
I couldn’t put my finger on it at the time, but looking back? I know exactly what happened.
That was the night he got busted.
And when the feds catch you, they give you a choice:
➡ Do time.
➡ Set people up.
I didn’t know it yet, but Michael had made his choice.
And he chose me.
A guy named Adam reached out to me through Michael. Said he wanted to score. He was talking like someone who had been in the game, someone who had been in trouble before.
I thought we were on the same page.
I had no idea I was texting a detective.
Adam asked me to make a drop outside of Minneapolis. At first, I hesitated. Something felt… off.
“You ever met with this guy before?” I asked Michael.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, brushing it off.
So I agreed.
Michael had my trust. That was my first mistake.
I found someone to give me a ride—some dude named Brian I had been hanging around. We picked up some product, made a quick stop to smoke up, then headed toward the meetup spot.
At first, we were supposed to meet at a Nike Outlet.
Then, at the last second, Adam changed it.
“Meet me at the Casey’s gas station instead.”
That was mistake number two.
We pulled up. I told Brian to grab some fuel, started handing him some money, and then—
Lights. Sirens. Unmarked cars everywhere.
I turned around and saw him—some biker-looking dude with a badge hanging around his neck.
Everything slowed down.
I glanced at my backpack. Full of meth, baggies, scales, molly, Tylenol 3, weed, a pipe—everything they needed to bury me.
Then I looked at the walkway behind the gas station.
Run.
That was my instinct. But then reality hit—
🚨 Bro, you’ve been up for 11 days straight. You ain’t outrunning nobody. 🚨
I knew if I ran, they’d hunt me down. There’d be a warrant. I’d be looking at even more time.
So I did the only thing I could.
I put my hands up.
And dropped to my knees.
Facing Prison – The Moment I Knew My Life Was Over
Sitting in that jail cell, everything hit me.
They weren’t cutting deals.
They weren’t letting me walk.
I was done.
At first, they wanted to hit me with 1st-degree sales. Minimum 84 months.
I was ready to end it all. I wasn’t about to sit in prison for 7 years over some bullshit.
I told them I’d take it to trial. I had been in the system long enough to know how the game worked—no one wants to go to trial.
Two weeks later, they dropped the charge to 2nd-degree possession with intent to sell.
Still a felony. Still a prison sentence.
But only 24 months.
I had no leverage. I had no way out.
So I took the deal.
The judge looked at me, then at my file.
He sighed.
“Mr. McManus, you are hereby sentenced to 24 months in prison.”
This was it.
No more running.
No more excuses.
No more pretending I had it all under control.
For the first time in my life, I had to face myself.
To Be Continued…
I thought prison would break me.
But instead, it saved me.
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