By Colleen Cason
Armando Galindo has gone from a prison cell to an inmate fire crew to a guy you might see on a TV show. And it is not “America’s Most Wanted.”
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Galindo, of Oxnard, is featured on Animal Planet’s “Pit Bulls and Parolees.” The program follows Tia Maria Torres and the ex-cons she hires to care for the pit bulls she saves through her Villalobos Rescue Center in Agua Dulce.
But Galindo has a more important role in real life than on reality TV. He is a father trying to keep a promise he made to his teenage son, Tommy.
I wrote about Galindo and Tommy and the amazing coincidence that brought them together more than two years ago. Back then, though, Galindo was unavailable for comment on account of serving four years for forgery.
He got to prison by the usual route — taking shortcuts. He was supporting eight children working as a supervisor of the people who offer samples at warehouse stores. Money from his honest job didn’t stretch far enough so he did a little “creative” writing, shall we say?
A cooperative inmate, Galindo was transferred to Cuesta Conservation Camp, where California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection personnel train convicts to fight wildfires.
In November 2007, his crew was dispatched to Ventura County to battle fires breaking out in the coastal canyons.
While in base camp at Camarillo Airport, Galindo looked up to see something that made his heart race.
Somehow through two dozen fire engines, six bulldozers and 800 firefighters, he spotted his son. Tommy, then 11, was there with a church group delivering pies to the firefighters.
Breaking the rules, Galindo ran to embrace the son he had not seen in two years.
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“Dad told me he loved me and that he would see me soon,” Tommy recalled.
They had once seen a lot of each other. They played video games together and Galindo coached Tommy’s Little League team.
Now it was his turn to step up to the plate. He vowed then and there he would be a better father.
Galindo was paroled in May 2008 and shortly after that he reunited with his son, spending a few days together.
Their reunion went well, but things quickly started going downhill for Galindo. No one wanted to hire a 39-year-old ex-con.
“There was so much negativity. I heard ‘You can’t do this. You can’t do that. You have to check in here.’ And soon you start telling yourself. ‘I cannot be successful. I will never change. I won’t get off parole.’”
That’s when he found a new lease on life. At a job fair for parolees, he was told about Torres, who hires parolees to care for the pit bulls she rescues and rehabilitates.
Galindo knew nothing about dogs but said, “If I have to pick up pit-bull poop, that’s what I will do.”
Torres interviewed him and liked what she saw.
“What sold me on him is that he embraced his former criminal life, making no excuses for his poor behavior,” Torres told me.
And pretty soon Galindo was indeed picking up pit-bull poop. He also was learning how to care for dogs that had been abused, neglected or forced into dogfighting.
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Convicts and pit bulls are a good mix, Galindo believes.
“We both are labeled bad by society, and we have a dark cloud over our heads. You see an ex-con with a pit bull and what do you do? You cross the street to avoid them,” he said.
He now makes the almost two-hour commute to work. He and the parolee crew feed, groom and help train more than 250 dogs.
The role on the TV show was a bonus, Galindo said. At first, he was nervous about having cameras watching him, but now he forgets they are there. On a recent episode, he is shown bathing Shaggy, the pit bull, with enough calm assertion to be the next “Dog Whisperer.”
He now enjoys minor celebrity status back in the ’Nard. Just last week, he talked to the youth group at Tommy’s church about pit bulls.
Tommy joins him at Villalobos ranch for volunteer days and recently wrote an essay for his language arts class about the rights of dogs.
The dogs are making Galindo a better man, Torres said.
“I’ve seen Armando bite his tongue a lot more. I’ve seen Armando put into positions here that normally would’ve made him ‘go off’ on someone. Now he smiles and walks away.”
Tommy tells me his dad is spending a lot of time with him. Galindo successfully completed his parole and has a new girlfriend who expresses pride in how far he has come.
Still, Galindo admits, his struggles to start afresh are far from over. Ex-cons are dogged by enormous odds against them.
But I can’t help but hope for a Hollywood ending for this reality-TV cast member who has resurrected a normal life.
— E-mail Colleen at [email protected].
Source: https://t-tees.com
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