Shooting Bath Salts, Robbing former Classmates at Gun Point, Kensington and Prison at 20 to Building an Empire from a Craigslist Ad...this is Rob C's Insane StoryShooting Bath Salts, Robbing former Classmates at Gun Point, Kensington and Prison at 20 to Building an Empire from a Craigslist Ad...this is Rob C's Insane Story
Chasing Heroine: Addiction Recovery Podcast
Rob Crossley shares how he went from shooting bath salts, robbing former classmates and facing years in prison to finding AA in California, landing a Craigslist sales job and building multiple businesses in sobriety. His story highlights brutal lows, a pivotal third‑step moment and the slow, determined rebuild of a life without drugs or alcohol.
1:45:42•23 Apr 2026
From Bath Salts and Prison at 20 to Business Success: Rob C’s Wild Recovery Story
Episode Overview
- Hitting a true bottom can include extreme behaviour like shooting bath salts, robbing people and stealing from family, yet still leave room for change.
- Family sometimes make heartbreaking choices to save a loved one, including calling the police and accepting prison as safer than continued using.
- Leaning into the 12 steps, especially the third step, helped Rob let go of fear about prison and focus on doing the next right thing in front of him.
- Starting over financially can begin with something as small as buying interview shoes at a charity shop and taking a low‑pay, commission‑based sales job.
- Long‑term sobriety opened the door for Rob to build and sell businesses, repair family relationships and create a stable home life without any financial help from relatives.
“"I came out here with two months’ rent, a hundred dollars in my pocket and a fugitive of justice from parole… and it’s exactly what I did, man. I just dove into the 12 steps."”
What remarkable journeys have people faced head‑on against addiction? Rob Crossley’s story is one of those wild, almost unbelievable ones that shows just how far someone can fall and still climb back up. Jeannine sits down with Rob, a former Kensington heroin user whose addiction escalated from shooting bath salts and raiding his dad’s locked safe to robbing old classmates at gunpoint and doing time in Pennsylvania county prisons.
He talks candidly about being the “drug nerd” kid who loved chemistry, graduated to Oxy and heroin, then spent days awake in bath‑salt psychosis, convinced he might die and not really mind if he did. You’ll hear about his dad’s combat injuries, the ridiculous amount of opiates the VA mailed out every month, and the moment his parents made the gut‑wrenching decision to call the police on their own son to save his life.
Rob shares how he became a parolee facing three years in state prison, represented himself in court more than once, and ended up a fugitive of justice so he could get back to California and try AA again. The turning point comes with a simple third‑step prayer in a carpark and a decision to throw himself into the 12 steps, 90‑in‑90, and service.
From there, he lands a sales job off a Craigslist ad, buys shoes with his last $20, steps on another $20 walking out of the interview, and starts a career that eventually leads to building and selling multiple businesses and owning a home in Orange County. This conversation is raw, honest and quietly funny in places, but it’s really about possibility: going from “junkie Christmas in the mail” to medical manufacturing, vape companies, and a solid family life.
If you’re sitting there wondering how you’re ever going to get from “here” to “anywhere”, why not let Rob’s story challenge what you think is possible in recovery?
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