Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given - Duane Dog Chapman [104]
My mother always told me the love of money was the root of all evil. Having money isn’t a bad thing, but loving it can be very damaging. I’ve never had a love of money. If I had gotten the reward money for Luster, I would have given a portion of it to the victims because I feel they were just as deserving of it as I was. At the end of the day, the real reward for me is seeing justice served, not the money I put in my pockets. I guess that’s why I am usually without money. I like to share it.
I’m not a fancy guy and my needs have always been basic and simple. One of the reasons I have such an understanding for the people who watch my show is because I am that person. I struggle with bills. I’ve been a single dad with five kids who each wanted a pair of fifty-dollar jeans. I was never the type of father to tell my kids that they couldn’t have something, so I always found a way they got whatever they needed.
After my mother passed away in 1995, my life took a downward turn. I spiraled out of control until I was no longer able to make my own way. I was on welfare for three months before I finally flew back to Colorado to straighten out my life, get off the drugs I had turned to in my darkest moment, build up my strength, and yes, start all over again. Things were never easy, but I always found a way to get by, and for the most part, despite our limited resources, we were usually pretty happy.
In 2000, I started bounty hunting again after recovering from my battle with drugs and health issues. I was finally on my way back financially. For the first time in five years, money began coming in and I could actually catch up and meet my bills.
At the time, Beth and I had six children under the age of eighteen living at home, plus Moon and her three children were living with us too. Even though I was climbing the ladder again in business, I decided I didn’t want to stay in Colorado. I wanted to return to Hawaii. Since my license had been revoked and I could no longer write bail there, I needed to get Beth licensed so she could write bail in Hawaii for us. We were flat broke at the time, so we went to San Diego, where she could get licensed, because it was cheaper than flying all the way to Hawaii.
By late 2001 we were beginning to make a little bit of money, writing one bond at a time. We might have had close to a total of ten thousand dollars in the bank when I got the lead on Andrew Luster. Since I had to fund the hunt for him all on my own, I spent every last dollar I earned in 2002 chasing him down. Once I caught Luster, I thought everything was going to be OK, because I was certain the judge would award us the cost of apprehending him, which totaled more than $300,000 out of my own pocket. The law in California clearly stated that I had 180 days to capture a fugitive to make the claim. We captured Luster in 166 days. Upon Luster’s return to the States, the court was supposed to return the $1 million bail to the person who put it up, less the cost of apprehending the fugitive. In this case, it was Luster who’d posted his own bail, so he was entitled to the balance of the $1 million after our expenses were paid.
At the time, I figured I’d have the reward money from capturing Luster to put a small down payment on a house for my family and catch up with the IRS, which I had fallen behind on during that hunt. Several times during the course of my search for Luster, reporters would ask what