FOUND GOD IN PRISON, SHOOTS NEIGHBOR AND HORSE

Glenn Champ, a sex offender who ran as a Republican for California governor, claims he found God inside prison, but on the outside he shot a neighbor and the neighbor's horse

My first assignment as a new parole agent in the Santa Ana office was to visit all the parolees on my case load that were locked up in jail, and there were a bunch of them! The very first one I saw was roosting in one of the LA county jails while being held on an armed robbery charge. After introducing each other, he immediately pops up with: "Mr. _____, I've found Jesus. If you'll help me get out of this rap, I promise that I will do the work of the Lord from now on." And so it went with most of the clowns I saw the first week on the job.

Furthermore, similar jailhouse conversion claims and promises were made by many parole violators throughout my parole career. It almost seemed as if they all had an instruction manual that read: If you get busted, tell your parole officer you've found Jesus and promise him you'll do the work of the Lord if he'll get you out of jail.

Here is an even better one. A mother came into the Riverside office when I worked there and told me she understood her son was going to be paroled to me. She said she could tell by my name that I was Jewish and knew that I would be pleased to learn her son had converted to Judaism while in the joint. I told her, "Lady, I'm a Catholic, and to be honest with you, I hate Jews!" That con-artist's face flushed and I thought she was about to have a stroke.

It’s been my experience that for most inmates those jailhouse conversions are short-lived, usually lasting only until they walk out of the prison's front door. Of course, some of those conversions were phony to begin with, being merely ploys designed to get inmates brownie points for an earlier release.

Tye 'Glenn' Champ, 48, an ex-con who is a registered sex offender, is one of those jailhouse conversion cases. Glenn claims he turned his life around after he found God in prison. Earlier this year he ran as a Republican for California governor.

But on Thursday in Prather, Glenn turned his life around once again. He got into an argument with a neighbor over work being done on a private road. At some point during the beef, Glenn pulled out a pistol, pointed it at the neighbor and his 13-year-old son, shot the neighbor in the stomach, and then shot dead a horse belonging to the neighbor.

Glenn's 40-year-old neighbor is recovering in a hospital after undergoing surgery for the gunshot wound.

Glenn has been charged with attempted murder, child endangerment and animal cruelty. He's locked up in the Fresno County jail, where I am sure he will find his way back to God and turn his life around again. Amen!