From Drug Dealer and Convicted Criminal to Addiction Counselor and Community Leader

Tony Moore: From Prisoner to Influencer

Tony’s story is well-known as he has been out of prison and has been a positive leader in his Kenosha, Wisconsin community for more than two decades.

However, if you have not read his books or listened to his life presentations, here is his story:

When I was a young adult of 15 years and 6 months, I was faced with the choice to be a man or die from the pain, shame, and guilt of going to prison. I was facing three years in juvenile prison for the awful crimes of murder in the first degree and armed robbery.

I was in ninth grade at this time, and I was into the drugs of the 1970s and I found myself wanting to fit into the “social intellectual crowd” so badly that I had to make a statement about my life. I started carrying a gun with me everywhere, even to school, which led me to doing all kinds of crimes.

I remember I started living for the any-moment criminal excitement and reacting to the people around me in very negative ways. Very quickly, I became a pawn in the lifestyles of a criminal, drug abuser, pimp, and killer, so contrary to the lifestyle of my religious and family upbringing that would eventually set me free.

I spent the next three years in juvenile prison trying to figure out what went wrong and how I ended up in a God-forsaken juvenile prison.

For the next twenty-three years, I would experience drug abuse and misuse and go in and out of jail and prison. I spent these days thinking about what it would have been like if things had been different and if I had only listened to my parents who cared so deeply for me. Not even the loss of my family's trust could stop the madness that crime, drugs, guns, and the streets created in my life at that time. I have made some bad choices concerning my life as a young man, for which I had to pay a great price. I have been shot nine times from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. I have watched friends die and get hurt from drug abuse, gunfire, and crime during that part of my life, which was tremendously painful for me. I spent a lot of my life in a jail cell, suffering from the consequences of my foolishness and lack of personal responsibility. I have been through it all, from prison to guns, and my own near-death experiences. In 1995, after eighteen years of going in and out of jails and treatment facilities, I realized that I was tired of wasting my life on the jail, drugs, vices, resentments, and laziness.

When I look at the success in my life, I think that I learned to plan for my journey by becoming more focused on what the outcomes of my life would be.
After I left prison, in which was grace extended to me by the judge, I made up my mind to glorify God, get married and raise a family and serve the substance abuse population and my community.

My story, though inspiring, is not unique. There are thousands of men and women who are saved from the walking death of substance abuse and criminal activity. My ministry and my cause is to be a light in the darkness.
So, through my books, seminars, videos, podcasts, blogs, and special appearances, I hope I can inspire others to get off substances, stay off substances, and positively serve their families and communities!

If you’d like for me to be a guest on your podcast, radio program or television program, church, or organization, please contact me ►