Robbie Shears
Robbie Shears is an American author and musician who is known for both his major contribution to the Praise & Worship (Christian) music industry and also for having operated a nation-wide payroll check counterfeiting operation after having become addicted to pain medications after an accident, for which he was ultimately arrested and sent to prison. He is author of several historical articles and an upcoming book: Hell on Wheels, The Life and Crimes of a Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde.
Background
Robert Eugene Shears II, known as Robbie, was born in Memphis, Tennessee on March 11, 1976 to R. E. Shears, Sr. (Bobby) and Donna Lee Kendall (Shears), a native of Sweden.
Bobby was a man of various interests and vocations, often succeeding in his ventures, often failing. He worked, variously, as a newspaperman, television and radio host and executive, youth minister, and finally as general manager of a large family-owned nightclub and restaurant. He moved where work took him, taking his son, Robbie, with him to places like Texas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, and back to their home state of Tennessee. Both of Robbie's parents were alcoholics, his mother abusing alcohol and prescription tranquilizers while pregnant with him. Robbie was born significantly underweight and stayed most of his first year in hospital for failure to thrive. Bobby divorced Donna when Robbie was an infant and moved to Texas, where he married Barbara Wells of Maryland, whom Robbie would consider his mother.
Robbie was shown to be of exceptional intelligence and IQ tests placed him at above genius level. He also showed an early and prodigious talent in music. Robbie was accepted into the world-renowned St. Mary's Boys Choir at the age of six. He also was a voice talent for radio spots and made several early TV appearances for school programming. He was cast in many plays and dramatic productions.
Throughout his high school years, Robbie would become involved in music on a daily basis, learning and performing both instrumentally and vocally, winning dozens of awards at state and national levels. He was mentored by the Worship Leader of a large Charismatic church in Memphis and would go on to become involved with the recording of live “Praise and Worship” albums which featured collections of popular short songs sung by congregations in a modern form of worship. Robbie would work with well-known personages known in the industry and the Integrity Music's Hosanna! Music® series.
In 1993, in the middle of the school year of Robbie's 11th grade, his father moved the family [including Robbie's newest step-mother Alison Stapp (Shears)] to Booneville, Mississippi Bobby opened a Bar-B-Q restaurant, which was only to survive a few months. Robbie had gone, in June, on a church sponsored trip to North Carolina. Within a weeks' time, upon his return to Booneville, Robbie found an empty house. His parents had moved, leaving no note or any information whatsoever. The house was an ancestral family home and was still furnished and had utilities; however, the only food in the house were remnants of the BBQ business. The house had no phone and Robbie had to walk over five miles (eight kilometres) to a relative's home to see what had happened to his parents. He called his family in Memphis and found his father there. His father explained that the business just didn't make it and they'd gone to Memphis for work. Later, Robbie would find out that his father had written many checks on the BBQ business account for overhead that weren't honored.
Robbie asked what he should do. Here he was, a high school junior with no job or car, or anyone to depend on. Bobby told him he could come to Memphis. Robbie had already enrolled for his senior year at Booneville High School, one of the best in the state of Mississippi and had already been promised a full-ride scholarship at the Northeast Mississippi Community College for the next year. Not wanting to squander these opportunities, Robbie was told he could stay there in Booneville. His father promised money for food and utilities, but never sent a dime. Robbie got a job at a fast-food restaurant in Booneville, worked, and went to school.
Robbie began attending The Northeast Mississippi Community College in Booneville, Mississippi where he majored in Vocal Performance. He had a triple minor in Piano, Percussion Performance, and Music Theory. He continued on to study Music Business Administration. In 1997, Robbie returned to Memphis, where his father had secured a job for him as Kitchen Manager of a nightclub and restaurant. When Bobby quit his job a few weeks later, as general manager, Robbie would move to that position. In 1997, Robbie found employment with Delta Air Lines at the Memphis International Airport, fulfilling a life-long dream to work in aviation.
In 2000, he began a small business named Freedom Associates Group, LLC, an endeavor to assist prisoners in gaining resources and employment opportunities upon release. The outfit also assisted low-income prisoners with investigations that may help them in their legal defense. During this time, Robbie met and married the daughter of a wealthy client convicted of tax evasion, Deborah King (Shears) of Jayess, Mississippi. In July 2004, their son Shelby Jordan Shears was born.
Due to economic considerations, Robbie shuttered the business and began to work for a travel agency in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Robbie and Deborah separated in 2008 and in 2009, Robbie met a former civil and structural engineer from Mobile, Alabama, with whom he began a relationship.
Counterfeiting
The world knows, that in 2008, the economy, for all intents and purposes, essentially collapsed. Unable to find employment in this volatile atmosphere, Robbie and his girlfriend moved to Memphis in 2009 to seek employment in a larger metropolis and live with family. Jobless, broke, seemingly without options, Robbie contacted the pastor of the large church he'd grown up in asking for help. The request went ignored. It was then that a payroll check counterfeiting operation began. At its inception, their plan was to only cash one or two checks until they could find employment. The girlfriend cashed the first few checks in the Memphis area and in northern Mississippi simply because Robbie was terrified of going back to jail. After a few weeks, she refused to cash anymore in her name and it fell, by necessity, to Robbie to do so.
During the years of 2009 through 2011, Robbie and the girlfriend traversed the country, covering 15 states cashing on an average of 4 or 5 checks a week, bringing in an average of $2,750.00. Robbie had been severely injured in an equestrian accident in 2003 and became addicted to opioid pain medication with the start of his medical treatment. The money Robbie garnered each week was only enough for their prescription pain pill habit (which primarily fueled the need for cash), the expenses of keeping homes in several cities (from which they based their travels according to geographical considerations), hotels, food, gas and car maintenance. On average, they would change the oil in the car every other weekend, in keeping with standard 3,000-mile rotation and paid out upwards of $200 a week in gas. The drug habit cost as much as $360 a day. The expenses of the operation itself were mind-boggling. Based on these averages, at best estimate, it was concluded that income from the operation totaled $41,250 in 2009, $137,500 in 2010, and $88,000 in 2011. This brings an approximated total of the enterprise to $266,750.00.
During that time, also, Robbie and his girlfriend founded a management and production company, Cason Management Professionals, and were working with others in the Christian music field to secure clients and begin production of actual music product. However, the business failed to produce a viable income and with the pressures and demands of the double life, the company would not become a dependable source of income before their arrest finally occurred in August 2011.
During the years-long investigation, Shears was sought by at least two divisions of the United States Marshal's Service Fugitive Task Force teams and was on most wanted lists all over the country. He had been featured in television, radio and newspaper media as wanted for fraud. With help from Robbie's ex-wife, Mississippi authorities finally closed in on the couple. On the night of August 16, 2011, they were stopped while driving on Mississippi Highway 8 near Houston, Mississippi. Both were arrested and taken to the Calhoun County Jail at Pittsboro, Mississippi.[1] In the following days, warrants came in from all over the nation, totaling more than 40 jurisdictions. Investigators from all around came to interview Robbie.
Within 15 days, Robbie was convicted of Uttering Forgery in two Mississippi counties and then was transferred to prison. While in prison, he would ultimately be convicted of forgery in six Mississippi counties and given a total term of ten years.
In January 2014, Robbie was extradited to the State of Missouri to face charges there. He would be the first person in Missouri history to be able to plead guilty and be convicted and sentenced via Ploycom®, a video conferencing platform like Skype® from one location in Missouri. He received a seven-year total term there. Robbie was returned to Mississippi to complete his term there in September 2014 and was ultimately paroled in July 2015 to detainers in Tennessee. Robbie completed his term in the Missouri Department of Corrections. As of this date, all detainers have been satisfied and he will be paroled to his home in rural Tennessee.
Current projects
Currently, Robbie is working on a book of memoirs detailing the significant hardships and appalling abuses he faced as a child, his addiction, and spiritual development. The book focuses on redemption and finding oneself through brutal honesty. The book is expected in 2019.
Robbie is also a very outspoken activist for prisoner's rights as in connection with the right to be free from violence. He works closely with others in bolstering the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, after he was the victim of just such a brutal attack while incarcerated. He also works with LGBTQPAI organizations to bring awareness and acceptance for peoples of alternative lifestyles.
References
This article "Robbie Shears" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Robbie Shears. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
