private hell. when we met arman tiano at california state prison corcoran he was recovering from a shoulder surgery. that didn t help ease the pain of being here after a 26-year career in law enforcement. i worked in the patrol division, narcotics bureau, protective bureau, personnel training in the jails. i was promoted to lieutenant in 1984. what happened? what sent you here? good question. after retiring, tiano and a group of friends started a charitable foundation. they raised over $3 million in donations, but then questions arose about where the money actually went. to make a long story short, the judge said all the money was raised was fraud even though we could show we gave away $70,000 to little league teams, hospitals, christmas drives, thanksgiving, easter basket drives, no, it s all fraud in money.
so, because it is all fraud, the 3.5 million is all income and by the way, you owe several million tax on that. after donating $70,000 out of the $3.5 million raised, tiano was sentenced to 18 years in prison for fraud and embezzlement. it is one of those things in the beginning it seems surreal and as you go through it you start to devise ways to cope or go crazy, you know? i ve it s no secret. i m not ashamed to say, i ve thought of killing myself, you know, in the beginning. i didn t know if i could get through this. when i was arrested they took me down to my jail, you know, where i worked. i have guys that were working for me putting handcuffs on me and they felt terrible. i mean, i had one guy telling me it s like putting handcuffs on my brother.
the jury that convicted tiano believed he used the million dollars he raised to live a life of luxury purchasing houses, boats and sports cars. it is a different life for tiano today. you have a table there. you have four walls that are cement. you have cement floor. no paint. stainless steel toilet. you have to use a restroom where you have to eat. there are two people. most of the time. you have to go to the restroom here. everything is just so i wasn t brought up that way. you know, i m from the old school. and it s very difficult. very, very difficult. not only was he former law enforcement, he still carried himself like a cop and here he was incarcerated in a pretty hardcore prison. i could see he really hadn t come to terms with the fact he was once a law enforcement agent and now he was an inmate. he still obviously struggled with that fact.
he was lucky. he was put in a protective custody unit because otherwise he would be in grave danger. i wouldn t probably last five minutes on the mainline. why? well, they don t like cops. you know, or ex-cops. tiano says if nothing else, his experience here has helped him see the people he used to arrest in a new light. i have been dealing with these people for many, many years. and you know, there s a lot of them that aren t, i mean, you know, there s a perception, unfortunately, by the majority of our society that everybody in prison is really a bad person. and that s not the case. my heart aches for some of these youngsters you see come in here. 21, 22 years old that are facing life sentences because of a stupid mistake. i mean, you just wonder how is this 22-year-old kid going to get through to age 65, 70, 75,
i was happy. during our brief time with arman the arman tiano, state records only listed his fraud and embezzlement convictions. later we learned this was not the first time he was incarcerated. prior to his fraud trial, he was convicted of molesting two teenage female relatives. he received a year in county jail and five years probation, a surprisingly light sentence for the disgraced police officer. prosecutors had asked for 15 years to life. coming up we believe you may have been a victim of a battery. trying to find out what happened. i want to tell them what happened. a former gang member gives correctional officers the silent treatment. numerous bruises he had and the two black eyes, i m thinking it has to be more than one person. bringing you more great tasting beverages with less sugar