What had happened is that an officer in the company that  Mike used to launder money went down for some other crime, and he implicated Mike to reduce his sentence.The attorney ultimately got the prosecutors to agree to a charge of filing a false report, actually a minor felony.

The trial judge was very intolerant of anyone in the case who even had a hint of being a fugitive, so he zapped Mike at sentencing: the maximum sentence permitted , five years. Since it was a pre-guidelines sentence, meaning that parole was applicable after serving two-thirds of the time, he was looking at three
and one-half years in custody.

Was he unhappy with the result? Absolutely, as he and his attorney had thought a short sentence (one or one and a half years) would be the probable result. Mike also had never been in the military, so being in a prison that was part of an air force base was a shock. Substandard institutional cuisine had apparently never passed through his lips, and sleeping on the upper part of a bunk bed was a major departure from his usual accommodation. I was  a bit more immune to the conditions, having slept on the wet ground more times than I could count whilst in the Army. I also had had a lot of experience with military mess hall food.

Mike's fiance Trudy had actually moved into an apartment not far from the prison camp, so as to be near him,  which meant that she could visit most weekends and holidays. In addition there was an arrangement with a church at the base allowing Jewish prisoners to participate in Friday sabbath services, and their relatives were allowed to enter the base and also attend, meaning it became a de facto contact visit. Mike would always refer to his girlfriend's visits as a bittersweet experience, meaning that, whilst pleasant, they also drove home the fact he was an inmate, and not free to leave.

Trudy's father was one on Miami's most prominent developers, making her a member of a privileged class, but she endured her exile in a lonely apartment in an obscure Florida town, just so as to be near her soul-mate. I admired that, because many wives and girlfriends of criminal clients were only in the relationship for so long as the money was good. As soon as the guy trooped off to prison, they found some other high-roller to sleep with, and enjoy his affluent lifestyle. I guess I expected a higher degree of loyalty from the female companions of the clients, but since the money attracted the clients to crime in the first place, it was logical to understand that their choice of  personal companionship would also be cut from the same cloth.

My sister, who was my support system whilst I was in custody, and a godsend in a time of trouble, developed a close relationship with Trudy. She shared my belief that Trudy must have had an infinite amount of patience to live in such minimal accommodation for years, and to be there for Mike, who could be a bit difficult at times.

When we were in custody together, I used my best efforts to attempt to gain a sentence reduction for Mike, who had gone to the Parole Board with negative results. Ultimately, his sentence was reduced, but he only gained a net reduction of six months, a result that deeply disappointed him.

Mike was released from prison a full year after me, though he had arrived there just prior to me, meaning that he spent three years in custody. For some amazing reason, his professional credentials were not revoked by state licensing authorities, and he returned to his previous life as an accountant, though he relocated to another part of Florida. He was extremely bitter about his experience, totally overlooking the fact that he willingly participated in our criminal organisation, and that he had actually suggested that the client participate in the domestic money laundering scheme in the first place. I know he's not too pleased with me for bringing him into that life, but we all make choices, and they do have untoward consequences. Nobody ever twisted his arm, I assure you; he went into it willingly, as we all did.

We have lost contact with one another; probably his choice. I do see his name, and Trudy's, on the Internet, he traveling on gambling junkets to the Bahamas, she participating in numerous triathlons. Like a number of my former clients, they try, unsuccessfully, to forget that they were ever in that situation. it does recede into the past after a few years, like most of life's negative experiences, but one is supposed to gain knowledge and wisdom from difficult times, are we not?

Next Week: Prison life, good, bad, ugly and utterly boring.