Five years ago, Bill Pelfree began a long journey to sobriety after abusing drugs for most of his life.

Now, he’s spreading the Lord’s word and his story of drug abuse in hopes of helping others.

“I’m just working and trying to help other people overcome substance abuse,” Pelfree said.

Growing up in the small town of Fostoria, Ohio, Pelfree felt left out. He came from a large but poor family and fell into the world of drugs at the age of 14.

“I was picked on by other kids and teased. I didn’t fit in,” he said in a recent interview.

“Then I realized I could pick on other kids if I was like that, and I started doing drugs. I felt wanted there. I was smoking pot, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. When I was a teenager, the older kids turned me on to LSD and speed.”

His drug habit escalated to cocaine and then to methamphetamine at the age of 38.

He lost his job, his home and nearly his family.

At first, he said shooting meth made him feel powerful and in control.

“The euphoric feeling,” he said, “I thought it was great.”

Then, he said, he began seeing and feeling the effects.

His cheeks and eyes were sunken. His arms were half the size they used to be. He once weighed only 140 pounds.

“I lost weight, I couldn’t sleep and I couldn’t eat,” he said. “And once you’re hooked, you’re hooked. You go 90 miles per hour and don’t slow down and you’re always paranoid.”

Growing up, Bill wasn’t a church goer and didn’t believe in God.

“I didn’t think it was real,” he said. “I thought it was just about the money and being popular.”

The Addiction

Meth, a highly addictive drug made from household products, swept into Kokomo about 10 years ago. In its wake, it has left a trail of broken lives, including Bill’s.

Bill got married at 18 and he and wife, Theresa, started a family. He continued to smoke pot and other drugs, but had not yet tried meth.

In 1988, Bill was first arrested on marijuana charges in a major drug investigation called “The Three Amigos.”

“I tried to get my life back together, but I couldn’t,” he said. “I started lying to everybody and thought I was slick.”

His relationship with his father, Merle, helped him get back on track, at least for awhile, he said.

“I had a close relationship with my father racing cars and it kept me out of trouble.”

The couple moved from his home in Kokomo to Galveston to get away from the drug culture and to raise his family.

With four daughters, a steady job and a home, he thought his life was good.

“I owned my own home, I had Harleys and race cars — everything was going great.”

Then his father suffered a stroke in 2000.

The pressures of caring for his ailing father and raising a family drew him back to drug use. He began taking his dad’s medication, which included OxyContin and morphine, to escape the pressures.

“It gave me the extra kick to get me going,” he said. “I was banging Oxys all the time.”

In 2001, his father passed away, drawing Bill even further into depression and drugs.

“I just wanted to give up,” said Bill.

That’s when he started doing meth.

“While I was at the race track, a guy said, ‘here, try this.’ It was meth. I was 38 years old. My money went quick.”

That’s when his now-former wife also began doing meth.

To supply their habit, Bill learned how to cook meth and began selling it.

“We were selling one drug to get another. I was lying, stealing. I thought I was the best cook in the county. I would go from city to city and county to county buying pseudoephedrine, cold pills and other ingredients. I wasn’t just hurting people, I was killing people. I thought I was so cool. We were getting by day-by-day and killing ourselves. That wasn’t me. I don’t know who that person was.”

On top of the financial and personal losses, meth also landed Bill and his wife in jail.

They were arrested on Jan. 31, 2003, after police reportedly found a working methamphetamine lab on their eastern Howard County property.

That didn’t stop Bill from cooking, though. In March 2004, he was arrested again.

Bill was convicted in two separate meth cases and sentenced to three years in each case, with two years of house arrest and the balance suspended.

Getting clean

Now, at the age of 47, Bill is clean — thanks to help from a church and the Lord, he said.

“I’ve been clean for more than five years,” Bill said.

Thanks to the church, Bill’s back on the right track, and he wants to help others whose lives were wrecked because of drugs.

“I just wanted to tell people my story in hopes that I can help someone and give something back to the community,” he said.

“The community needs to understand how dangerous drugs are to people and their children. The users truly believe they’re doing all right. I feel I owe it to society to try to help others now. If I can help just one person, it would be worth it. The Lord has truly blessed me.”

Since kicking his meth habit, Bill divorced his wife after 27 1/2 years of marriage and recently bought a new house.

“I completely remodeled it,” he said of his new home. “I worked on it all winter and redid the inside and outside. It’s been a blessing. If not for the Lord and my church family I would have hard time. I don’t want anything to do with that lifestyle anymore.”

Along with working construction, Bill speaks at methamphetamine presentations with Ray Tetrault, of the community transition program, and with Capt. Harold Vincent, of the Howard County Sheriff Department’s meth night out program at area schools.

“Anybody that has drug problems also has numerous other challenges, and every challenge Bill faced he never went back to drugs,” said Tetrault. “He found that life can be tough and learned to work out his problems without resorting to dealing or using drugs.”

Tetrault said Bill has made tremendous strides since being arrested on meth charges.

As part of his sobriety, Bill talks about his former drug habit each Monday evening at the Government Building on East Mulberry Street at a “Celebrate Recovery” program.

“We appreciate [Superior Court 2 Judge Stephen] Jessup’s wiliness to give Bill a chance,” Tetrault said. “Bill is very proactive to assist others in getting out of the drug culture. Bill is one we can point to very quickly when it comes to sobriety.”

• Mike Fletcher is the Kokomo Tribune crime reporter. He can be reached at (765) 454-8577 or mike.fletcher@kokomotribune.com.