Married At First Sight groom Timothy Smith has dropped the biggest bombshell this season post-show; he spent time in a max security prison in the US.
Timothy told A Current Affair that he was sentenced to one year in a max-security prison in the US for drug smuggling, and revealed the heartbreaking consequences of his sentence.
“I was a helicopter pilot in North America that did something really stupid, and made a decision to fly marijuana across the Canadian border into the US, and got caught doing it.
“It’s something I’m not proud of. I’m definitely not proud of it, but it doesn’t define who I am and I’m not the same person I was 17 years ago.”
“That decision in 2006 keeps affecting me. Unfortunately or fortunately it shapes who I am today.”
How did Timothy become a drug smuggler?
Timothy told A Current Affair that he met a group of people at a nightclub who asked him to fly the drugs for him.
“Someone threw some money at me and said, ‘Go and take a lesson tomorrow’. I did and the instructor said I was a natural. That was the beginning of the end.
“I would take off from a little unmanned airport. I had the helicopter sorted and I’d fly up a valley and into a creek. I’d meet a 4WD (four-wheel drive) and land behind it and within a minute the helicopter would be loaded with marijuana and I’d fly south into the US.”
“It was $100,000 a trip for a couple of hours of work,” Smith said.
In 2006, Timothy found out that his mother Narree had cancer, so he flew back to Australia to see her. Once he arrived back in America US Immigration and Customs Enforcement were waiting for him in the terminal.
“My world changed. I was shipped off to a federal facility. No guards, four walls, 180 guys, good or bad,” Smith said.
Timothy’s mother and brother died while he was in jail
Sadly, both Timothy’s mother and brother Dave passed away during Timothy’s 12-month sentence.
“I wasn’t there when my mother and brother died. I paid the price. I pay the price every day,” he said.
“That’s where the sentence starts,” Timothy said. “I’m sorry for what I did. I’m sorry to everyone I hurt and I don’t want anyone to do what I did. I don’t want you to think there’s some sort of glamorous life out there, they are real consequences.”
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