Alcoholics Anonymous host allegedly sold drugs at meetings
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SEATTLE -- The owner of a South Seattle nonprofit club that regularly hosted Alcoholics Anonymous meetings was arrested Monday night for allegedly selling oxycodone before and after meetings.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, someone told the Seattle Police Department in November that Nomadian Community Resource Center owner Michael Shepard was dealing illegal drugs.
"We took a closer look and realized what we had here was a pretty significant drug operation," said Sgt. Sean Whitcomb with the Seattle Police Department.
Shepard, 64, turned the club at 4267 S. Orcas St. into a hub for prescription drug dealing, selling only to people who became members of the club in order to avoid law-enforcement detection, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Shepard sold drugs to someone working with law enforcement five times in January and February. Some of those sales were reportedly monitored or witnesses by undercover officers.
Court documents say Shepard sold the pills in between meetings.
"It's like, 'Show-up early, stay late and get your drugs, and in-between if you want to learn a little more about AA, we can talk about that too,'" Whitcomb said.
Shepard was arrested Monday, and officers found prescription narcotics and two guns inside the Nomadian Community Resource Center, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Shepard could face up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine if found guilty of selling oxycodone
Michael Shepard took the low road, I do not judge, after 28+ years in AA I know all too well, it is not because I am the sharpest tool in the shed that I have been able to stay on the high road, it's God.  I can no more explain love than I can explain the creative force of the universe. God.  If Michael Shepard choose to worship money property and disease so be it.   I am not one to proselytize, Not to worry Michael they have AA in prison as well.  One day at a time brother!  ODAAT! Â
â@davidkroll: But wasn't drinking... RT @A3plusDrJ: komonews.com\/news\/local\/Alcâ¦Lx7â true!
@A3plusDrJ In @BreakingBad_AMC, Jesse was using his NA meeting to sell meth.
At least the guy knew how to effectively market his product, something a lot of small businesses struggle at.
A alcoholic or dope fiend with steal their grandmother's heirlooms and break your heart every time...with a smile and a broken promise.
My dad was a member for 54 yrs., the group is a good one to belong to, it truly does have people like my dad who want to help people become sober and stay sober, my dad is proof it does work. You really have to want to do it to stick to it.
Remember is the "DESIRE TO STOP" (not the act of ACTUALLY STOPPING!) that is the "membership criteria" for all 12 Step groups (which means that you HAVE TO BE ACTIVELY DOING THE ACTIVITY YOU "DESIRE TO STOP" in order to be a 12 Step group "member"!).
"AA has no opinion on outside issues. Hence the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy."Â
Alcoholics Anonymous, as a group, will not have a formal opinion on this incident, just based off the traditions themselves. Alcoholics? They'll have lots of opinions. ;-)
My own experience? There are sick meetings, and sick places, just as there are sick alcoholics. Those meetings and those places that do not benefit the still suffering alcoholic in a positive way will eventually go away.
These stories are not uncommon; it is a little unusual, however, to see the name of any 12-Step program linked in this way. These actions are NOT AA or AA World Services sanctioned. These are the acts and actions of 1 individual, who from the article, is not necessarily connected in anyway other than as a landlord and by those individuals who CHOSE to continue in their disease by purchasing and/or using drugs or alcohol. That use was a choice, good or bad. It was not God's will or a Higher Powers will. It was a choice made by a fallible human being, who may or may not have professed to being an alcoholic or addict. A not so bright choice? Absolutely.Â
I will always have the choice to make what ever decision I chose - the only thing I need to do is accept the consequences. For this guy, it sounds like jail time is part of that consequence.Â
There have been other incredibly insensible ideas and things that have happened in the last 75+ years of AA & I'm certain there will be many more. The ability for the human mind to generate Rube Goldberg-esq ideas to make a quick buck will never cease to surprise me. I do believe that AA and all the other 12-Step programs that have sprung off it will survive in the manner in which they are supposed to.
@Alicia d. WRONG there is scum at EVERY A.A. meeting and it took the steps for me to wake up and see the truth. A.A. is THE garbage dump of humanity with male members soliciting prostitutes, controlling sponsors...to the point of arranging marriages between sponsees, groups that pass around underage girls for sex purposes to downright murder, all protected by "the good old fellowship of A.A." You know...people like YOU!!! The club I went to had White Collar Blue Collar prejudice going on in between clubs, Boston Big Book cults that are not beyond threatening people with murder if people did not comply with doing the steps "their way" WTF???!!! You people are no different than the Scientologists that commit crimes against humanity with their belief system. You stink on ice lady!!! Yes there WILL be consequences that YOU and your "fellowship" will have to accept for all this crap going on. Keep swallowing the Truman Show "Gratitude" Kool-Aid and leep blindly covering up for the scum in A.A.
@Alicia d. "Gee there ain't nothing the matter here ma!!! Aren't you glad the wind stopped blowing?"
Right.
its a cover up to the point that court order is spit on by the control of a troll that leads the way though the process of the court which the judge is shamelessly denied the true facts.. or provided true and trust worthy facts ..yep tacoma courts r what some call wally world.
ace
for way too many years and why too many that need real help and when the system is no more then a joke
How pathetic.
Does this really surprise anyone? Â If you want to stay sober you are going to, if you don't then you won't. Â Temptation is everywhere and so are opportunists.
@keri555Â
This is true, I had a husband who was court ordered to attend 3- AA meetings a week for a DUI, I usually went with him,( I did not go in) after the meetings, most of those in attendance  pooled their money to buy alcohol, and decided to who's house they would go to and have a party, some did not participate in the buying and drinking, including my husband, although they could have, most there were court ordered to be there, so some, weather court ordered or not really did want to change.
KOMO, is this man a member of Alcoholics Anonymous? No. Does he own a building AA meetings are held in? Yes. These are two very different scenarios within the story and from reading the comments section it looks as if the majority of the people now think AA is a joke. So KOMO news now has a responsibility to do the right thing and set the story straight, drug addiction and alcoholism is a life and death matter that I have seen in action within my personal life and my 31 years of sobriety in AA. Somebody might read this and figure they'll never find a way out of their addiction, that everything and everyone is cynical. All due to a clever headline in a supposedly community media service.
@Mr. Scratchy hear, hear!  KOMO should be ashamed of themselves. This article could literally cost people their lives!  And for what? I doubt this story would be considered anything close to award worthy journalism.
@Mr. Scratchy Looks to me that the particular clubhouse meetings in this facility ARE a JOKE!
Remember the people who go to these meetings are not bad people trying to become good...most are trying to comply with the courts.....and yes they can still be the most dispicable, dishonest people while they are "sober" or "clean". I have known people to go to the meetings to find someone they can take advantage....
@Pawna Somebody in this particular outfit dropped the ball. If AA doesn't like this type of publicity then perhaps the groups who meet at this clubhouse need to change their act and meet somewhere else and start policing themselves before the police has to do the job for them!
Muhahhahaha. This is funny. Not only did the AA guy sell them, it was AA people who bought them. Yeah, go there and get off alcohol and on drugs.
There is no cure. Only a daily reprive, Hense the slogan "One day at a time" (:
@missyk http://www.eskimo.com/~burked/history/harpers.htmlÂ
Not quite true
@missyk Are you making an excuse for this sort of TOTALLY WRONG BEHAVIOR? One day, one day at a time, there will be no AA if you keep up this type of stupidity and keep justifying bad behavior. START POLICING YOURSELVES OR THE POLICE WILL DO IT FOR YOU!
@missyk Wonder if there's no cure for drug addicts, shopping addicts and gambling addicts, either. Who decided there is no cure for alcoholism anyway? AA who incidently profits from Alcoholics?
@the tide Explain how AA profits from alcoholics.
People who do not have addiction do not understand it. Congratulations on your 4 months. It is a lifetime job not for sissy's.
@the tide I feel like Im cured after 4 months sober. But it would only take one beer to make me binge for a week so they are 1/2 right. If Oxy's werent so addictive I would think thats a good way to keep people off alcohol. It makes you happy but not wild and crazy. Some scientist should invent a drug thats like oxy but not as addictive.
Nothing surprises me anymore.
Nor should it. Sadly  We will never rise above being human.
It is unfortunate for AA to be affiliated at any level with the front page news. Most activities that go on in the "Real" AA meetings where people have the desire to stop drinking seldom see this. They are few and far apart. Since the Treatment centers, jails, and mental hospitals have been sluffing off their rejects on to AA with a hope that someone will help them , AA has gone down hill. The problem is most do not want to nor do they desire to stop drinking or drugging until they are way down the line with their addiction. No one can help them they must want the help. So then you have meetings full of people who are just messing around and ruining what is a wonderful program for people who are at the end of their rope so to speak. I have watche the demise of both AA and NA since the 70's. Sadly most old timers with lots of wisdom seldom go to meetings anymore if at all. I think the principles and steps of the AA founders are solid. I think as in most cases people trying to help people have made a mockery of the program. I think eventually the original substance of AA will prevail , but it will be a long time in coming. Probably after insurance companies, and state run organizations throw in the towel and quit supplying people who are not serious with an easy out of their troubles.Â
@missyk Missy, you're going to the wrong meetings. My homegroup averages 19 years with attendance around 45-60 weekly. Old-Timers still go. I do the coins, I need to order a bunch of 40+ years this month.
Not surprising at all. I've been to a few AA meetings, and one in Renton where after the meeting several walked out and right to the bar. Many go to AA because of Alcohol but are drug addicts on top of it and never bother to address that fact. I've been around AA my whole life (thanks to my Step Dad) and find that the majority of them are people I never want to be around. I've met the most effed up people I've ever met who were in AA. Unfortunately, even if these people get away from the substance they went to AA for to start with, they never change as people. Once an addict always an addict. My brother having been hooked on heroin and no longer shooting up, he's still exactly the same as he always was. Pathological liar, thief, people abuser, people USER, and perpetual "victim". The dude's no longer allowed in my home. Neither is his Father, who is in a nursing home and lives a lonely existence which IMO he deserves. His son is exactly like him. POS.
Perhaps if you concerned yourself with your own happiness, which is something you can control, rather then what your stepfather is doing, maybe you wouldn't have wasted your own life. Because wasting years of your life resenting someone else is really pathetic
Not every one who goes to meetings has the same desire as others. You cannot lump all people in recovery together. Sorry you had such a bad experience. I assure you there are wonderful people out there who have been clean and sober for many years and have truely made all around changes.
@missyk My Step Dad's been clean and sober since I was a kid (I'm in my late 30's) and has never changed. He's a POS, always has been, always will be, and he used to chair the dang meetings. It's the TYPE of people at those meetings I refer to. Those that do not follow the BS end up clean and sober on their own without the BS AA puts out and without associating with the trash that typically sits in those meetings. Sorry if it's offensive, but fact is fact. Once an addict, ALWAYS an addict. Same goes with being a "victim".Â
@PhunkyMunky @missyk Maybe your Step Dad's meetings were full of people just like him. The general advice is if you don't like a meeting, keep looking until you find one you do like. The ones I go to are pretty diverse and it'd be hard to generalize about the people who go to them.
But like you say AA isn't the only way to get the job done. It's just a program that many find works for them.
@missyk In 36 years years I've yet to meet a "changed" addict or alchy.Â
True once an addict always an addict, but behaviors are changeable if one desires to change.
Sad to put that kind of light on AA. My mother has been attending those meetings for 26 years. Her core group of people are fun to hang out with. They go to dinner, celebrate "birthdays" with cake and parties, and support each not only in moments of weakness but in personal dilemmas as well. Ya some come and go simply because they have to but others are very serious about their recovery.
birds of a feather flock together
This really isn't anything new or shocking.. Try investigating the methadone programs.. now there is a joke and a half. People get their clinical cocktails to go and their suppliers all wrapped up in one stop shopping.. which, yes, you the taxpayer even provide the transportation to get them to and from there, as well as provide the fix!Â
Is this step 13?
@aintno1special No.Â
See my "shocked" face>>> :oD
@anon99percenter Why is that not suprising?
its my guess that he wasn't a member- sad!
Didn't I see this on Breaking Bad?
It ain't no church social club...... revolving door..... sometimes the door swings shut..... end of story.
Seeing how most AAs take sobriety pretty seriously, dealing drugs around meetings sounds like a fantastic way to get busted.
@nodozr If AA wants to be taken seriously they need to drop the higher power non-sense.
@IslandAtheist @nodozr Island Atheist - there is actually quite a large faction within AA that support the Atheist ideal. God as you understand God. If you understand that there is no God, that's what you understand.
You can do the 12 steps without God, in fact, it ends up being about 9 steps instead. The reason AA split from the Oxford Group and started on its own was that the founding members felt that the Oxford Group was too Christian centric.Â
@IslandAtheist @nodozr AA does not care about being taken seriously. They care about staying sober, and the higher power nonsense helps people do that.
@IslandAtheist @nodozr Why SHOULD they get rid of it? They don't point out God, Allah, or anything else. Your "higher Power" could be YOU! They don't tell you who YOUR higher power should be. It's also not required to participate in any prayers. I'm sure an Atheist could find meetings closer to their belief system (and Atheism has indeed become a religion all it's own, especially when they shove THAT nonsense down everyone else's throats, but complain that Churches even exist).Â
@nodozr It's part of relapse/recovery for some....Â
@Funky-Munky @nodozr And the courts send plenty of people to meetings who have no intention of getting sober. I get that.
But when you list your meeting on an intergroup website, you have no way of knowing who's going to show up or how kindly they'll take to you selling pills by the coffee pot.