Pardoned by Obama, former drug dealer brings ‘Whole Foods to the hood’
“Almost 30 years to the day of when I sold my first dime bag in front of that grocery store ... I’m signing the contract to sell not weed, but cabbage and broccoli and lettuce.”
“We’ll live on the west side and have our own maids,” Hernandez said. “That’s what I was dreaming about.”Six years later, Hernandez was arrested on nonviolent drug charges. Chasing the dream came at a cost. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus 320 years for conspiracy to distribute drugs and for violating other federal drug statutes. A mandatory sentence received during the U.S. government’s war on drugs. But on Dec.
“Sometimes we don’t have the right resources to make the right decisions,” Hernandez said. He wants to make sure that’s not the case in East McKinney. Hernandez has received a $10,000 donation from HEB and a $20,000 grant from the Seed Project Foundation. He has been speaking at churches, Rotary clubs, local businesses and using social media to share news about the store. He plans to have a soft opening May 1.Built in 1953, the store was originally called Rodriguez Grocery. To get to areas on the east side — Lewisville, Sugar Hill, the Flat Tops, La Loma — you had to pass by.
By 1993, only a year after Hernandez sold his first dime bag, the 16-year-old came home to his parents sitting at the kitchen table with a 6-pound bag of weed in front of them. He started reading books to familiarize himself with the criminal appeals process and became known as a jailhouse attorney. He was one of three prisoners picked from 2,000 to mentor youth, which inspired him to start writing the curriculum for the AT LAST program.for a commuted sentence, promising that if he were given a second chance, he would return to the community he once “corrupted” and make up for the wrong.
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