Phoenix Academy of Los Angeles
“I stopped caring about everything. I was too busy gangbanging and getting high.”
I was born in Los Angeles, CA. As I child, I remember my Dad’s and Mom’s families always fighting, literally. My Mom’s oldest brother had a serious problem with alcohol and only recently got rehabilitated and is now sober. Back then, my Dad didn’t get along with my Mom’s family. He had a lot of problems with my Mom’s brothers. There were some specific events that I remember that increased the tension between my Dad and my Mom’s brothers, the oldest in particular. One time, my cousin and I were fighting, and my cousin who is three years older and a lot bigger than me ended up breaking my arm. Big things like that caused the most drama. However, the average drama was not much different, just more constant.
One day I was coming back from kindergarten, and I saw a big moving truck in the driveway. I didn’t get a chance to go into the house; I was told to get into the truck immediately. My Dad drove the moving tuck and my Mom drove the car. I didn’t really understand why we were leaving, but the truth was my Grandpa had kicked us out of the house. He owned that house as well as the houses in the back. I had no clue where we were going. I just know it was like about an eight-hour drive. We ended up in Salinas, CA. My Dad’s sister lived there. We stopped by her house and asked her if we could stay there for a while. She said we could only stay there a little while.
We ended up moving to the north side of Salinas. I went to Gavilan View Middle School. I started smoking weed during this time. I was fourteen years old when my mom decided to move back to East Los Angeles. We moved back to East LA and I went to Garfield High School. I met my girlfriend in the 9th grade. At the time I was getting good grades. During the middle of my 9th grade year, I started using crystal meth. I was selling at first, then I started using my own supply. At this time I was already kicking it and rolling with the neighborhood.
It didn’t take long before I got put on and I started banging. I was using very heavily at the time. However, my grades were still good, and my parents didn’t really know I was using until a year later when I overdosed and ended up in the hospital. My mom took me to Mexico to get detoxed, but I came back and the situation got worse. I stopped caring about everything. I was too busy gangbanging and getting high. It got to the point where I stopped coming home and I was in the streets for months. I would sleep at the park and at homies’ houses.
Then one day my girlfriend got pregnant. However, I still didn’t care, and I kept messing around. One day I was drunk on my bike and crashed into a police car. I had crystal in my pocket and they took me in. They called my parents and they picked me up from the sheriff’s station. Two days later, I was in a car with my girlfriend and I got pulled over and arrested for possession of crystal meth. They towed my car and they took me to the sheriff’s station again. My mom picked me up again and they set a court date. I went to court and they put me on house arrest for three months. While I was on house arrest I would always ditch school and go get high and drunk. I would also go to school drunk. My Parole Officer was real cool, and he would always let me slide, because I always had excuses and my parents were always there to back me up.
I ended up being detained for a dirty drug test. I was in the juvenile hall for about a month and a half. My judge ended up sending me to Phoenix House as a form of suitable placement. By the time I got here, I had already decided I wanted to change. I knew I had a baby coming soon and that it was time fort me to make that change. I plan on being the best father I can be.
After graduating from Phoenix Academy, Antonio is attending Pasadena City College and working at Universal Studios. His son is almost two years old and Antonio is a successful father and provider. He has been sober for two years and is doing well.