This book is about my life growing up and wanting to become a custom home builder like my dad. I achieved that goal having built over two hundred custom homes in the Indianapolis area. Building homes, remodeling homes, flipping homes, and becoming a mortgage broker as well. An entrepreneur than an inmate at a prison camp for two-and-a-half years. My story and stories of other brilliant minds. When the building and mortgage industry crashed in 2009, I retired from those. I did some remodeling and started a networking business. Things were starting to click and then a friend introduced me to a new business. The synthetic marijuana business then called K2. It was legal, so I took it on and starting manufacturing K2. Soon I was making millions with my latest plant in LA. I become a true entrepreneur. I started a recording studio, record label, concert promotions, limo service, and two restaurants with entertainment. Hobnobbing with celebrities, enjoying the wonderful life.

Then one cold February morning there was a knock on the door, it was Lewis and his DEA posse. Raiding my home and another group raiding the plant in LA at the same time, seizing over two and a half million dollars from me.

It all came crashing down, they said that I had a banned product called XRL11 in my products. I told them that I had never heard of that product and never bought any of it. It did not matter what I said.

Well, I was threatened and coerced into taking a plea deal and if I did not, I could be facing twenty years and they would bring my wife into this as well. She did not have anything to do with the business. They offered me 0-5 years, my attorney said I would get probation. The Judge said I was a good businessman but would be an example and he gave me four years.

Now I am a 69-year-old first time and nonviolent inmate at a prison camp, a criminal, and a number 12636-028 to go by. One good thing at the camp I meet a lot of good brilliant minds, doctors, lawyers, businessmen, builders, engineers, and of course drug users and dealers. Some not even knowing they were committing a crime. Some knowing or unknowing committing a crime. Then getting unjust and excessive time.

I will be an advocate to help change prison and sentencing reform and helping convicted offenders before, during, and after prison. Helping children of incarcerated parents.

Roger Upchurch

You are Guilty Til' Proven Innocent

"Things work out for the best for those that make the best of how things work out." - John Wooden

The morning started like most every other morning. I got up at 7 am fixed coffee for my wife and me and let the dogs out. At that time, we had two dogs Rocky and Bullwinkle, both Chihuahua's. Bullwinkle true to his name was the beefier of the two. A year later Bullwinkle died, and it was a huge loss as you get really attached to your pets.

That was a cold February morning with about 2" of snow on the ground and a good day to get some office work done. My wife Peggy had left for work at about 8 am at the I.U. Health Heliport and she has worked there for about 8 years and was talking about retiring at the end of the year. 

I was in my home office making some phone calls and doing some paperwork when my phone rang; it was about 10 am; it was Janie my partner's wife in Los Angeles; she was crying and said the cops were there raiding the place with guns drawn, telling everybody to get on the ground. We were manufacturing K 2 there in the warehouse. K 2 is synthetic marijuana and gives you the same effect as the real thing.

I was only on the phone for a couple of minutes when my doorbell rang and it was Lewis, the same man I recently sold some product to. The same man that said he might buy me out. I thought he wanted to talk about getting into the business or even buying me out as we had discussed a couple of months ago, instead; he showed me his badge and said D.E.A. He was followed by his posse of about 10 other people. They came in without any guns drawn and each knowing their job. We sat down at our dining room table and it was me, Lewis, an IRS agent, and another D. E. A. agent. Lewis introduced them to me, but I cannot remember their names. As we sat down at the table to talk the other people were searching the house and looking for assets they wanted. I was wondering what the neighbors were thinking with all these people there. While I was being interrogated by Lewis and the other agents, I could hear the other people talking and going thru the house. I worked with them congenially and was completely truthful in answering all their questions. I was of course extremely nervous on the inside but calm and cool on the outside. As I sat there being interrogated my cell phone was constantly ringing and it was Peggy then Shelby my daughter. My son—in—law Ryan drove by and seen all the cars and people carrying out boxes wearing D.E.A. jackets. He called Peggy and Shelby and told them something was going on. Lewis told me to ignore the calls. I knew they were surely worried and wondering what was happening to me, was I arrested and going to jail? I convinced Lewis for me to call them or they would be here soon and we both did not want that. I called her and told her that the D.E.A. was raiding me and everything was going to be alright and I would be home when they got there and they were not going to arrest me, and I am not going to jail. Lewis was asking me all kinds of questions, including asking me it I knew several people he mentioned, which I told him that I knew some of them but some I did not. It is funny how you can sit there and hear them and respond but can not remember much they said. I do remember that he said that I had a banned substance in my products called XRL11. I told him that I never heard of that or bought any of that.

As Lewis and the IRS agent and the other person was interrogating me the other people were carrying out boxes of my files, the titles to my 2013 Chrysler 300, my new pontoon boat I just bought and the title to a 1966 red Chevy 11 Nova that I just bought as well. I had bought a new Chevy 11 Nova while in high school and always wanted another one and I found this one for $13,000 it needs some work but it ran and had a good body and would have been fun finishing it. As we were still talking, one officer took my cell phone for about 30 minutes, then brought it back, probably cleaned it. They also took my computer, laptop, and iPad, as well as both our passports. Why did they take Peggy's passport?

Lewis was asking me all kinds of questions that were scary since I have never been in trouble before and did not realize how they make you feel like a criminal. He told me that I could do 20 years and they may indict Peggy too since she benefited from the money. Thank goodness they never even talked to her.

As we were finishing up the other men had a garbage bag sitting by the front door. It was the cash we had, and it was $576,000 in cash.

We had that money in a suitcase, and a bag and they counted it.

They had a list of items that they took from the house and had me to sign it. At about 2:30 they were getting ready to leave and Lewis looked to me and said give me the keys to your car, with a grin on his face. I said are you serious. He said yes and said it was bought with dirty money.

In the trunk, there were about 50 electronic cigarettes that I bought and was thinking about getting into that business and these were samples. He hesitated about taking them but decided to take them, what a nice guy. I never received any paperwork stating that they were taken as the other items were.

Lewis and his posse' said goodbye and that I would be hearing from them soon. As they were leaving I asked is everything in L.A gone too. He said yes and I should not contact Andrew. Andrew was my partner in L.A. running the manufacturing plant. I did try calling him and Janie back but never got an answer, and I never tried to call them again.

As soon as they left, I called Peggy and let her know that I was OK and not going to jail, but the house was somewhat of a mess. I told her that they took all of our money. I called Shelby my daughter as well and told her I was alright too and would see them later tonight,

After I called them I had a couple of hours before they got there so I started checking on our accounts. Just as I suspected they were all frozen except one of Peggy's bank accounts that still had $30,000 in it and a PayPal account that had $125.00 in it, there was about $1,500,000 in cash and in the bank that they took. 

I had just bought a home in Hamilton Proper in Fishers Indiana and we paid $450,000 cash for it and I was upgrading it and planning to move into it in the spring. This home was on a beautiful golf course called the Hawthorne's and there is a large pond in the back overlooking the picturesque fairway of the 13th green on the other side of the pond. I Put about $30,000 in upgrades and even bought a pool table which they took it all, what a crime in itself.

They can take your money, your possessions, ruin your life and not arrest you or charge you with anything, you would think they would do that first but it goes to prove that you are "Guilty 'Til Proven Innocent"

That evening when Peggy came home from work she was not too happy about the house as she always has it in perfect shape. Shortly Shelby and Ryan came over. We cried a little and hugged each other for a minute then starting recapping the event. I told them how it happened and said at least they did not come in with their guns drawn after breaking the door down, he just rang the doorbell. I told them that Lewis and the other people were quite friendly and polite; they treated me with respect and I treated them with respect. You always hear that you should never say anything when you are arrested or interrogated, but with this, I thought that it would be best to cooperate from the beginning, I still today think it was the right move. I told Peggy and Shelby that they never searched me and I had $2,000 cash in my pocket, my Rolex watch on my wrist and Peggy had a lot of expensive jewelry on the dresser in the bedroom and none of that was touched.

We talked, why did we not bury or have all our property in another name, but we never thought this would happen to us, that is only the criminals you see on TV.  I do not see myself as a criminal. 

We were all hungry and tired from the stress of the day, so we went to Outback Steakhouse and had dinner. As we sat there and drinking our margarita's we decided that this was not going to change our lives, at least for now. 

They can lie to you but you better not lie to them.

The next day we got up fixed our coffee, Peggy got ready for work and went to work as usual, but not as rich! I called Gary an attorney friend of mine and told him what happened; he was sick that they did that, and it happened to me. He is a real estate and entertainment attorney and he referred to a criminal attorney he knows and his name is Richard Keefer with the law firm of Greenbaum, Doll LLC. I called Mr. Keefer and told him some of what happened, and we set up an appointment for the next day at 2 pm. I called Gary back, and we decided to meet at Daddy Jacks for lunch at 1 pm and I called my accountant as well and told him and he met us there too. Over lunch, I told them everything that happened and how corrupt the DOJ can be. I told Kirk, my accountant, to shut down Real Feel Products Inc, which was the name of the corporation we were using. 

The next morning Peggy and I went to the bank and pulled that $30,000 out of the bank with a cashier’s check made out to the attorneys for a retainer. At 2 pm I went to the attorney’s office, and it was just off the circle in downtown Indianapolis and their office is on the 27th and 28th floors must be doing well to have such lavish Offices. I walked up to the receptionist which was a very nice lady and I told her my name and said that I was here to see Mr. Keefer, she said have a seat and I will let him know you are here. I sat down at a couch just in front of a wall of glass overlooking the skyline of the city and could see the building where Shelby and Ryan got married.

About five minutes later Mr. Keefer walked to me with another gentleman. I shook hands with Mr. Keefer and introduced myself and he said I am Richard Keefer, and this is Mike Gaerte. Mr. Keefer said lets meet in here and let us see if we can help you Keefer said. I started telling my story from the beginning when I started manufacturing the product. And thru to Lewis buying a product off me and then raiding me on February 12th. I told them as I told Lewis that I had never heard of the product that they said I had in my products which were XRLII.

Mr. Keefer said that this is a gray area and the Feds are unclear on how to handle these cases, so they try to get you by scare tactics to get you to a plea deal. Mr. Keefer said if you go to a supermarket and buy a bag of flour and when you open it and it is cocaine are you guilty of possession? I do not think so. I believe we can help you, but I am not sure that a trial would be the best thing, we can push for probation.

I said what about the money and assets that they took including about $50,000 that Peggy had in her retirement account years before I got into this business. Keefer said they would see what they could do about that. Mike here will be your guy that you will work with him as he is billed out at $300 an hour, I am $500 an hour. I knew it would be expensive and that probably the going rate for criminal attorneys, so I handed the cashier’s check for $30,000 and agreed to hire them. They said OK and that they will contact Lewis with the DEA and find out who the prosecutor will be and then set up another meeting soon. I said OK and then left. Two days later Mike called me and told me that he talked to Lewis and they had conversations that were recorded by Lewis as he was wearing a wire when meeting me and they wanted me to listen to it. Mike called me a few hours later and said that we can go the next morning to listen to the tapes. He also said that a Mr. Sardelli was our Prosecutor, and he was working out of Washington DC.

The next morning, I met Mike at the DEA’s office which was a sizeable building and was the social security building as well. We get to their office and Lewis came out and handed Mike a recording and we listened to it. I did not hear any real damaging comments or nothing positive either. I wish I would have said something as I would never do anything illegal, but I did not. The next day Mike called, and he talked to Mr. Sardelli and said that he seemed like a likable guy and wanted to make a plea deal and wanted to meet soon. They would be in contact with me to schedule a day and time.

Mike and I met for lunch the next day downtown then went to his office for more discussions. I told him that in the middle of August 2013 a customer of mine Gary that lived in Fishers Indiana was buying products off of us and did not want to go thru Andrew in L.A. He said that he only wanted to deal with me. He brought Lewis to meet me and buy some products. I knew that I should have not trusted Gary and Lewis and I should have been smarter. He said he was a buyer and his family-owned stores in Indiana and Kentucky and wanted to sell our products. Which was all lies. He also said he was interested in buying me out, which was another lie. Lewis bought a small amount with cash. He said that he would get back to me about more products and buying me out.

 "The government can lie to you, but you better not lie to them" 

I am not sure what kind of deal Gary made with the DEA but no doubt it benefited him. He was a snitch or a “Whistle Blower” and I have not seen or heard from Gary again and the next time I saw Lewis was that February morning in 2014 

We were always careful of what we bought and having our products tested randomly to make sure we were not selling banned products. I knew that I may be borderline but technically I was not buying anything banned so it was not illegal, technically. They said that I had a chemical called XRL11 and that was banned in March 2013.

Our powder came from China and one company that I worked with had a salesgirl and I called her Gorgeous. I had a good relationship with her, and she kept me in products. All the powder looks the same so without lab testing, you just to have to take their word for it. I trusted Gorgeous.

Andrew has bought chemicals from other companies but always was careful getting them tested as well he tells me. He could have got the banned products by mistake or greed got to him to get products out the door, I do not know. That got me thinking because one day Lewis called me and asked me if I paid a lab company extra money to state that the products were not banned, but actually were, I said absolutely not but could have Andrew; I do not know, but I do know he was cheating me and getting money under the table. I sort of turned a blind eye as I was making almost $100,000 a week and doing almost nothing.

I remember that we had a lot of products that became banned, and we decided to burn it instead of selling it. We burned about $50,000 worth of banned products. If you stood too close to the fire, you would get high.

As, for the DEA I never saw their test to substantiate their claim of our products of having any banned products. For all, I know they could have planted something in the products or just lied to me. They had done plenty of other lies. Here is an article about me and some others were in the Indianapolis Star. I knew Doug Sloan, and he was the one who introduced me to K2. I think I met Parsons once and was not in business with him, and there are others that have been stated that were part of the business that I never met or heard of. I was never interviewed by any reporter from any station. Why? You would think they would want the facts.

Here is an article in the Indianapolis Star

In 2010, court records say, Upchurch began manufacturing “smokeless synthetic cannabis products” in Indiana. He sold more than 2,000 pounds of spice, and “profited millions of dollars,” according to sentencing documents. 

Roger Upchurch awaits sentencing after agreeing to plead guilty to federal charges involving synthetic marijuana. Upchurch moved his manufacturing operation to Chandler, Arizona, in 2012. He moved it again the following year to Chatsworth, California, where the operation was producing more than 200 pounds of spice a day. 

At a plea hearing in 2015, the judge asked Upchurch how he got involved with the spice ring. “A friend introduced me to a business opportunity that I took advantage of he said."

As part of his sentence, Upchurch forfeited more than $1.2 million along with a house, pontoon boat, and a 1966 Chevy, which the judge also asked him about. I graduated in 66, and that was the first car that I had, Upchurch explained. “So, I found one similar to it.”

As part of the plea deal negotiated in 2015, Upchurch agreed to help investigators in exchange for a lighter sentencing recommendation than the 20 years he was facing. Court records indicate his assistance included testifying before a federal grand jury in New York.

It is not clear from public records if Upchurch provided testimony against Sloan, Parsons, or Jaynes, who prosecutors allege sold more than 555,000 packages of spice between April 2011 and October 2013. Over a period of nine months in 2013, Jaynes grossed at least $2.6 million in sales, according to testimony. His total income from the drug sales, prosecutors said, was higher but could not be quantified easily. 

Jaynes started in the business by packaging synthetic drugs made in Missouri by Doug and Greg Sloan, and eventually moved into distributing the finished product to retail outlets. When authorities shut down the Sloans' operation, Jaynes began making spice at a warehouse on Brookville Road and later at a Hancock County farm he purchased with $230,000 in cash.

Jaynes’ lawyer said he got involved with synthetic drugs after filing for bankruptcy and as his son was about to undergo open-heart surgery.

Contrary to what the article states I did not testify against anyone of the men listed above. One day Shelby and I had lunch together and said that she read this article and is was on TV about me and the others. She said that there was a guy that was a partner with Jarred Fogle and his child pornography deal. I told her that I do not know a lot of these people that the paper said that we are all part of a drug ring. 

Here is another article.

IndyStar investigation: Indy's spice road 

Probe uncovers tale of pastor, teacher and cops involved with synthetic drugs, bundles of cash and real trouble

Tim Evans, and Mark Alesia IndyStar

Robert Jaynes headed to his truck after a service Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015, at Irvington Bible Baptist Church. From all outward appearances, they were regular folks. Good Hoosiers. Salt-of-the-earth types in respected professions.

What they became, authorities say, was something much different — players in a real-life Indiana version of "Breaking Bad" involving millions of dollars in illegal drugs. But the drug was not meth. It was a potentially deadly synthetic substitute for marijuana.

The unlikely cast included a fire-and-brimstone preacher from a small Baptist church in Irvington. A husband and wife who were deputies for the Hendricks County Sheriff's Department. An Indianapolis Public Schools teacher. And a pair of business owners, one of whom put his company’s logo on an Indy 500 car and another who owned a natural dog food business, worked as a clown, and once ran for the state Senate as a Libertarian.

But behind their public personas, an Indianapolis Star investigation found, many appeared to be leading double lives. Court documents say those lives entangled them in an international criminal venture that made, packaged, and sold synthetic marijuana, commonly referred to as "spice" or "K2."

The local spice operation, according to court documents, was part of an international conspiracy stretching from the United States to China and back again to a farm near New Palestine and two warehouses along Brookville Road on the Southeast side of Indianapolis — a tangled web with branches that extended from New York to California.

But when The Star began pulling on the threads of that web, many led back to Indiana — and this most unlikely cast of suspects.

Irvington Bible Baptist Church in Indianapolis.

Robert Jaynes Jr., the fundamentalist preacher who founded Irvington Bible Baptist Church in 1998, is alleged to have been at the center of the Indiana operation that produced thousands of pounds of spice. The drug was sold — with a wink and nod, prosecutors say — as "incense" or "potpourri" and labeled "not for human consumption."

Jaynes, 45, employed church members in his drug enterprise. Records show members of the small congregation wrote personal checks to foreign suppliers of illegal substances used to make spice. Some laundered profits through personal bank accounts. Others produced and packaged the drugs at warehouses run by Jaynes and Kirk Parsons, 46, the pastor’s brother-in-law, close friend, and Irvington church leader. One even kept the books.

Through it all, Jaynes continued to preach the word of God, fervently imploring his parishioners to turn away from evil.

A YouTube video posted last year — just a week before Jaynes was indicted by a federal grand jury for his alleged role in the drug conspiracy — shows the pastor warning his flock about earthly temptations.

"When we come to Jesus Christ," Jaynes said, "we are no longer supposed to be partakers of the evil life. … The Bible tells us the devil is trying to deceive people and trick people and blind them and destroy them."

Luke Daugherty, who has known Jaynes since they were pastors more than a decade ago, called Jaynes a “spiritual predator.”

“He’s not some guy slinging spice on the side of the road,” Daugherty said. “He’s a guy who’s standing in a pulpit pontificating. He crashes down on people and makes them feel bad … and yet he’s running a multistate spice ring, and he’s dragging his own people into it.”

Jaynes now faces federal charges and is expected to plead guilty Nov. 20. He would not comment to The Star for this story, but in court records he has acknowledged his involvement and even offered to go to jail if his church members were spared prosecution.

Deadly drugs

The years-long saga involves several interconnected cases, including charges that Jaynes distributed controlled substances and misbranded synthetic drugs. His brother-in-law, Parsons, and two other Indiana suspects, Doug Sloan, and David Neal, face similar federal charges. Attorneys for Sloan and Neal declined comment on behalf of their clients. Parsons' attorney did not respond to multiple messages from The Star.

A separate but interconnected federal case has already been resolved. Roger Upchurch, of Indianapolis, agreed to plead guilty in March to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance lookalike and money laundering. He admitted being "a leading member of (an) international drug trafficking organization," according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Upchurch's attorney declined to comment.

Spice first showed up in the U.S. about 10 years ago and quickly became popular because it was sold legally for a time and did not show up in most drug tests. It is made from dried plant material soaked in chemical compounds that mimic the effects of marijuana, and it is relatively easy and inexpensive to produce.

It has a widely varying impact on users. That is due to haphazard production by amateur "chemists," not to mention the dangerous side effects of the chemicals used. Synthetic marijuana was responsible for 15 deaths in the U.S. in the first half of 2015, triple the number for the same period last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Synthetic narcotics are not the harmless product traffickers and users make them out to be,” Josh Minkler, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said after Upchurch pleaded guilty. “They are mind-altering substances that cause psychosis and even death (among) our nation’s youth.”

Bibles and business, It is unclear how the operation began or what lured Jaynes and the others into the world of drugs and easy money.

What is known is that well before Jaynes was alleged to have entered the spice business, he had already established long-term connections with many of the people who court documents say had ties to the international drug ring.

In the 1990s, Jaynes was an ambitious preacher being mentored by another old-school fundamentalist Baptist pastor named Earl Chestnut. The men worked together at The Grace Church in Mooresville. It was at Grace that Jaynes grew closer to Parsons, who married his sister Sherry, now an IPS teacher. It was also during this time that Jaynes worked in the mortgage business with Sloan, as well as Chestnut's stepson, Russell Taylor.

Taylor is infamous for his connection to an unrelated high-profile case. The former head of Jared Fogle's foundation awaits sentencing in a child pornography case that also ensnared Fogle. (Subway Fame)