ALBEMARLE, N.C. — Next month, a man who robbed jewelry stores across the state will walk out of prison after serving 18 years. Tashawn Wilson is sharing the story of his path to prison to highlight the challenges facing youth aging out of foster care.
Anchor Brittney Johnson learned that he and the man he robbed hope the story of their unlikely friendship will inspire others to have more compassion
Michael Kingoff will never forget the day Wilson walked into his Wilmington jewelry store and changed his life.
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“We talked a little at the jewelry case about NBA basketball, they were looking at diamond stud earrings. About 45 minutes later they came back in the store and from doing this my entire life, I just had a bad feeling. He lifted up his shirt and maced me point-blank range along with two other staff members. From there, the claw hammers came out and the case was being broken,” Kingoff said.
May 2003, Wilson and another man ran off with $100,000 in diamonds.
Kingoff went to the trial in 2005 looking for justice and left filled with compassion.
“It’s hearing Tashawn’s story. It’s almost like ‘Of course he ends up in the life of crime.’ How else could you not,” Kingoff said.
Wilson is currently serving time for the robbery inside the Albemarle Correctional Institution. He and his social worker testified that his path here started when he was a child. They shared that he was born to a mother on drugs with no father around.
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He’s been sharing details of the challenges he’s faced since then in letters he’s sent to Channel 9. He says the couple who adopted him died before he was 12 years old and he entered the foster care system, where he lived in and out of foster and group homes.
Soon after going to prison for robbing Kingoff, Wilson started writing him letters too.
He told Eyewitness News Anchor Brittney Johnson why he’s so focused on sharing his story over the phone from prison.
“Being in foster care, I guess I was considered a troubled youth or a troubled child because I was rebelling. I was mad at the world because I’d just lost my parents. I was mad at the world because I’d just lost my parents. I want people to know that, man, I didn’t want to be in here. I didn’t want my life to be like this. I didn’t want to be a foster kid, I didn’t want to be. I didn’t want to lose my parents. I didn’t want none of this but I just was told to survive through all of this and I did the best I could,” Wilson said.
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Wilson says he aged out of foster care while he was incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility for selling drugs. He described how lost he felt when he was released -- homeless, hungry and desperate.
“I saw this abandoned house and broke in the house. I wasn’t even out of jail two or three hours. I broke in the house, went in the back room and just cried and went to sleep,” Wilson said.
He says some guys he met on the street showed him how to steal jewels.
“Only thing I knew is I needed a ride, a place to live and clothes to put on my back, so that’s all I fought for,” Wilson said.
Wilson says many of the men he’s incarcerated with now faced similar struggles after aging out of the foster care system alone.
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Every year roughly 20,000 young people age out of the foster care system in this country. Studies show that at least 20% experience homelessness, making them vulnerable to being victimized or getting involved in crime. The Juvenile Law Center reports that 90% of foster youth with 5 or more placements end up in the criminal justice system.
Wilson will be 43 when he is released in June for robbing Kingoff Jewelers. He hopes his story can spotlight the need for more support for young people in foster care and aging out
“I want to be able to spark the conversation about prison and the foster care system. I want people to really be able to look at it because I’m getting out of here with nothing again,” Wilson said.
But this time is a little different.
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Over the years, Wilson and Kingoff have continued writing letters back and forth and somehow the two have become friends.
“He has made me a better person and for that I am eternally grateful. There is no doubt I’ve learned more from him than he has learned from me. He’s just opened my eyes up to the world,” Kingoff said.
Seeing the impact of Wilson’s lack of family support, Kingoff says he has sent gift cards to Wilson’s daughter and grandchildren to help provide support while Wilson is away.
“It’s the right thing to do. Some people slip through the cracks. If we don’t help these people, you just can’t lock them in a cage and expect them to come out changed you’ve got to do something for them,” Kingoff said.
And next month when Wilson is released, Kingoff wants to be right there to support him.
“I want to do everything I can to help him. I’ll be there as much as he wants,” Kingoff said.
Wilson is set to be released from prison on June 8 after serving roughly 18 years for a string of jewelry store robberies. His childhood social worker and Michael Kingoff are working together trying to help him find a job and housing to transition back into the community successfully.