By Angel Canales
ABC News
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Frederick Hutson always wanted to be a businessman.
“I always knew I’ll be doing something entrepreneurial,” he said. After graduating from high school, Hutson followed in his uncle’s footsteps and joined the U.S. Air Force.
“My uncle retired from the Air Force and he was always in my ear talking to me about it. He was the most successful person in our family and someone I looked up to and when I saw his success for me it was a no brainer to join,” he said. Hutson became an F-16 Avionics Electrician and served honorably for almost three years. He had an entrepreneurial spirit. At age 19, he launched and later sold a window tinting business. Two years later, he opened a cell phone store, and again, turned a profit.
Hutson, 30, always saw a need to fix problems — but following a brush with the law — his entrepreneurial ideas were put on hold. He joined his friend’s marihuana trafficking business and was caught. The risky business decision landed Hutson, a man with no previous criminal records in federal court in 2008. He served four years behind bars for trafficking marijuana.
“It is probably one of the most disruptive experiences ever,” he recalled. “You go from having control over what time you get up, what time you eat, when you sleep, where you sleep, who you sleep next to and not having control of anything.”
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Full story: US Air Force Vet Goes From Inmate to Entrepreneur