WYATT’S MOM RESPONDS…
The article written about Wyatt was great, I was busy over on Methed Up News taking a beating in the comment section after they reposted The Sheriff’s Wanted Poster. The majority of comments were positive, but this whole situation blows my mind and i wanted a chance to put out his story and I’m ready for round two.
It’s been fifteen years since the first time I found Wyatt unconscious with a needle in his arm. He was 17, he turned 32 last week. A milestone not many addicts hit and I want my son back. Back at family dinners, holidays, weddings, picnics. My mom turned 91 last month and I would love for her to see him again. It’s been a long road.
I never prayed to God when I was pregnant saying, “send me the junkie, I can handle it.” I couldn’t handle any of it. It’s like watching your child drown, you throw them a life preserver and they won’t grab it. You jump in to try and save them and they pull you under. Maybe getting arrested was the best thing for him (and me) but shouldn’t the punishment fit the crime?
On the morning of September 29th 2024, I woke up to a loud (cop knock) knocking. I slept right by the front door because my huge white German Shepard wasShepard was afraid of stairs. I barely had the door open as they pushed by me, yelling Wyatt’s name, hands on their guns. One yelled for me to “get my dog” who was standing there with a toy in her mouth looking as confused as me. I kept asking what is going on, but they wouldn’t tell me. I assumed he murdered someone by the level of aggression displayed.
They brought him back down from the third floor handcuffed, still in his sleep clothes and i’m asking Wyatt what is this about, he didn’t know and they still wouldn’t tell me as they led him out. An hour later they did come back with Wyatt, after he gave them permission to search his room. My first thought was how did they have the right to push past me if they had no search warrant? At the time it seemed like them entering my home wasn’t my choice.
They found no drugs in his room or my house but he was put in jail with a 75,000 cash bail set. I did some research on legal documents and emailed the magistrate (Beth Dodson) a motion to reduce bail and a plea to send him to treatment. She is a truly lovely, empathatic person. She even took the time to drop Wyatt’s arrest papers and affidavit off at my house on her way home. But as for his fate, she stated she wouldn’t be opposed to treatment over incarceration, but ultimately it wasn’t up to her.
I called the DA of Carbon County but he wouldn’t take my call since they dont give legal advice, I called the Public Defenders Office, but I was told there is three attorneys and 700 applications ahead of Wyatt. So I emailed the DA that evening about treatment for Wyatt. He returned my call the next day, which was nice. I’ve been very active in advocating for treatment options instead of criminal charges and I was closely following the opioid lawsuits filed by all the states and the money the counties were receiving from this trust.
The LETI program was recently implemented in Carbon County with these funds that are specifically directed for opioid treatment and prevention. This program encourages police as the first contact in the community to defer an indivual to treatment while suspending charges pending the outcome. I thought Wyatt would be a great candidate for this program, no prior drug charges just a misdemeanor for selling a dresser for 75 dollars on Facebook and not delivering fast enough. (that charge was BS too)
The DA said Wyatt didn’t qualify for this program and it was more fitting for teenagers that got caught smoking weed. I have to disagree, that money came with very specific guidelines for opioid treatment and this is where it starts, I couldn’t argue he was wrong. Wyatt was stuck to sit in jail, dopesick.
Dopesick is probably the biggest reason addicts continue to use. Wyatt was in a heavy cycle of using and most days he didn’t get high it was the need to not be sick. At least after 6 days of puking on himself in jail he was seen by the drug and alcohol department. Just for reference the picture on the left in the wanted poster was the day he got arrested, he lost 35 more pounds in the custody of Carbon County. Twenty five days later he went to his arraignment where an agent of the Attorney General’s Drug Task Force cut him a deal of mitigating his charges and getting out of jail that day by making a buy for them in a drug sting. He probalby would have sold my soul to get out by then.
Two months later the agent got a phone number from Wyatt’s court appointed counsel, and he texted the phone saying, “hey Wyatt this is the agent from the AG’s office are you ready to do some work for me?” Except the number he texted without even verifying who he was talking to, was a shared phone at a drug house. A person that responded to him said no he wasnt there and Wyatt had a lot on his plate. (My dog passed away that day and Wyatt was home helping me through it) The agent responded threatening, “tell Wyatt he’s going to have a lot on his plate in prison, he better call me.”
The next week he got in a car for a ride and he got jumped by someone hiding in the back. Some dealer in Hazleton heard he was a snitch and was blaming Wyatt for a recent bust. He had to look over his shoulder where ever he went and he never even did a buy for them and at this point he wasn’t going to. His lawyer was not helpful, even though this (to me) was a negligent act of an agency that should have had his safety as a priority.
This is a problem. A drug bust goes down, a picture of the drugs and money gets published in the newspaper or on line and everyone praises the police as heroes. The only work that happened on their end was taking advantage of people in addicton, mostly poor, desperate, uneducated or unable to obtain affective counsel. Would my son get workers compensation if he got stabbed in this transaction? Making a deal with a dope sick addict is nothing less than coercion under duress.
I told his lawyer about the lack of a warrant to file a pre trial motion of habeus corpus. I told him how he had no drugs on him. He only focused on the Confidential Informant that was in his case who said Wyatt ran for drugs for her and that sounded like a drug deal to him. And in the mean time they offered Wyatt a plea deal of dropping the PWID and taking a guilty plea of conspiracy and he could get home confinement or probation since he didn’t have any felonies prior.
That’s another problem using CI’s, they make these arrangements to mitigate their own drug charges. This girl has a rap sheet a mile long, tried to get more drugs later that evening after the controlled buy, took some out of the bag wyatt obtained from the dealer, gave 100 dollars less than stated in the affidavit and tipped off wyatt a week before about a dealer in Hazleton that was “being watched.” These CI’s aren’t going to set up a big dealer, theyre going to set up an addict low on the dealer pole to not influence their ability to get their drugs. And if you noticed I didn’t mention her name, because i would go to jail if I exposed a CI’s identity.
I told him don’t take the deal but the lawyer said if they go to trial and he loses he’ll get all the charges and go to state prison for years. Either way he was throwing away any chance of getting a good job but Wyatt was confident in his decision and spent the next year in treatment and then transitioned to a sober living facility where he attended meetings everyday and I finally started seeing the old Wyatt coming back. So much hope.
But his lawyer failed to communicate his location to the court when his plea deal came up and he was picked up in Carbondale on his first day of a new job on a warrant and housed in Lackawanna prison for a week before being transferred back to Carbon County for his hearing, and he was released back to the county where his addiction thrived, with no plan. He lost his bed at the half way house and would have to start over in treatment but couldn’t get funded since he was clean.
But he maintained his sobriety and was looking forward to the sentencing to get this behind him and start his life. I got zero sleep the night before his sentencing, worrying led to a migraine so I didn’t attend, but his girlfriend was with him and i was just expecting a lot of rules and fines he’d be returning with. So hearing 1 to 3 years in a state prison, first offense, i was shocked.
It was shocking to me, I have an obsession of over researching things and what I had learned was there are guidelines to sentencing. The sentencing judge has the discression of the final say but the guidelines i read was the conspiracy charge has a gravity score of 12. Which can be mitigated down to a 6 or aggrevated to 24. wyatt was led to believe his score was 6. A 6 OGS has a sentencing range in the probation/home confinement range. The original score of 12 hovers around home confinement and county jail 12 to 18 months. So a sentence of state prison for no less than one year and no more than 3 is way more than standard and Wyatt is sober.
Some comments I received the other day were I was the poblem and Wyatt committed a crime so do the time. I agree with the comment of me being a problem, but at the end of the day, everyday..I’m a Mom. His addiction didnt change that. we all want the best for our kids and hope to be proud of theit accomplishments. I can’t give up on him. He also did the crime. He never bought drugs from the dealer he sold her junk drugs from his own stash (less than a gram) to steal the money and buy himself drugs.
He didn’t report to prison and he never received papers with the specific details of time, I get that’s something he should have looked in to but I can also understand the fear of reporting to prison with the word snitch hanging over his head.
I got called out in the comments for making a statement like that and at first I dismissed the comment thinking “what a bitch” but revisiting the statement I made of “less than a gram” that he sold, I can see how odd it is to normalize any amount of drugs but 15 years of living this life numbed me to things that arent normal I guess, but i do agree and hopefully someday i can be appalled at someone else when i’m living a normal life. (fingers crossed)
But I’m wrapping this up with a request to anyone thats been through any legal process to comment any tips, advice or documents I can share. This experience has taight me a lot of self advocating and legal work and I have a website where I’m sharing information to help other people navigate all diffent legal issues, addiction resources or even leave a comment in support or a nasty comment I can reflect on. It doesn’t matter. But if you made it this far, thank you. I’ll try and update with any progress or set backs.
As of right now I have filed a complaint to The Attorney General Office against their agent. I wrote a letter to the judge and requested to vacate and withdraw his plea. if that doesn’t happen I have appeal papers ready to go. I called a few attorneys but money is usually the barrier we can’t hurdle. Legal aid doesn’t assist in criminal cases so another reason I’d like to help sharing this.
There’s a lot said about the drugs in this country and where they come from. The opioid epidemic was started by the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma. They marketed Oxycontin as less addictive and encouraged doctors to prescribe to farmers for back pain, high school athletes for injuries, even new mothers recovering from C sections. When patients showed signs of addiction by asking for more, doctors were instructed to prescribe double calling it break through pain.
This is all documented in the lawsuits and congressional hearings, the death was compared to a 911 every three weeks. Yet the Sackler family moved their billions to off shore accounts, filed bankrupcy and walked free. Now the addicts are being rounded up with criminal harsh penalties from an addiction that changes whats important to you. Addiction isnt a moral failing or a choice, yet families have to wait until they choose to get better. Most don’t last that long.
Confidence doesn’t always arrive with a bold entrance. Sometimes, it builds quietly, step by step, as we show up for ourselves day after day. It grows when we choose to try, even when we’re unsure of the outcome. Every time you take actio.n despite self-doubt, you reinforce the belief that you’re capable. Confidence isn’t about having all the answers — it’s about trusting that you can figure it out along the way.
The key to making things happen isn’t waiting for the perfect moment; it’s starting with what you have, where you are. Big goals can feel overwhelming when viewed all at once, but momentum builds through small, consistent action. Whether you’re working toward a personal milestone or a professional dream, progress comes from showing up — not perfectly, but persistently. Action creates clarity, and over time, those steps forward add up to something real.
You don’t need to be fearless to reach your goals, you just need to be willing. Willing to try, willing to learn, and willing to believe that you’re capable of more than you know. The road may not always be smooth, but growth rarely is. What matters most is that you keep going, keep learning, and keep believing in the version of yourself you’re becoming.
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