[fastfredracing]

It is kind of a long story, I will try to condense it. I grew up with this guy. I did not hang out with him in high school ( he was kind of a dik back then). I did however rent commercial space from him for 5 years. It was where I started my business. He owned a radiator shop. He really helped me get my biz off the ground. It was the perfect place to start an auto repair business ,next to an existing one, and he fed me a ton of work in the beginning. We actually became pretty good friends. I regularly ate dinner with him and his family, we rode bikes every morning before work together ( he was a professional level bmx rider as a kid), and we had a pretty good relationship.
However , things in his business always seemed a bit shady to me. It took me a couple of years to put the pieces of the puzzle together, but long story short he was stealing cars right off the dealers lot, and re numbering them, painting them etc..
He was casual at first, only doing a couple for himself, but later on , he was selling them, and did quite a few. Mostly one ton dually's, and Corevettes..
As soon as I figured out what was going on, I went looking for another location to run my business. I got the hell out of there!
He did finally get busted ( 11 years after I moved out). I think he ended up with 84 counts of grand theft auto, running a chop shop, and all sorts of other charges that went with a car theft operation. He also had a whole crew of other people involved, and several other businesses went down because of this. I have been super glad that I used good judgment in my youth.
Any how, he has done a 4 year stretch, and will be getting out this spring, he has sent me letters, and asked if I could help him get back on his feet. He will need some temporary work, and some help getting a car . He is a pretty good wrench, and we used to work well together.
I don't condone theft, but I really do feel like I owe this guy in some little way. He was really helpful in me getting my operation off the ground.
FWIW, he did really seem like a good guy to most. He was a family man, a regular in church every Sunday, he did not do drugs or drink and was active in the local community. He was always helping out the neighborhood kids with their bikes, and he had a small bmx/motorcross track behind his property that he kept up and let all the local kids ride on.
In the last few months before I moved out of his building, I told him why I was leaving, and he did confess all of his sins to me. He asked me if I wanted in, and I of course declined, way too scary for me. I think he respected me in some sort of weird way for having integrity.
I am kind of torn, what would you do?