Ex-convict returns to art, public service Operation Avalanche ranks as one of Charlotte's largest drug probes. In the late '80s and early '90s, it snared some 50 people -- lawyers, former legislators, a star soccer player. Robert Cheek, a Myers Park art gallery owner and city-county arts commissioner, smuggled in cocaine for the ring.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. Staff writer Jennifer Rothacker spoke with Cheek, 65, who is living in Durham. When did you get out of prison?
In federal service, you serve 85 percent of your time if you don't screw up. I was released in February of 1999. I then served five years of probation and paid a fine.
Are you back in the art business? Yes, ever since I was released. I restarted by contacting most of my former clients.
Many of them were willing to accept my remorse. Do you own a gallery? I'm now a private dealer again.
I'd grown tired of and closed the Charlotte gallery, which was too far ahead of its time. I'd planned on moving (to Durham) anyway. What was prison like?
Outside of the penitentiaries, federal prison is not like a Clint Eastwood movie. It's simply life that is very heavily regulated. Still, there were a lot of glaring problems, mostly from hostile inmates and bad staff, which you try to avoid.
If you stay away from gambling, drugs and sex, you can avoid most difficulties. Why did you get involved in a drug ring? I was going to Florida routinely on art business anyway.
I'd known two of the ring leaders socially for years. They begged me to carry money down there and drugs back. Then, at about age 42, in one of the most colossally stupid mid-life crises ever, I thought this would liven things up.
I should have sold the business and bought a boat and sailed the world. Did you use drugs? I used some socially, but I was never an addict.
Did this experience prompt you to change? Certainly, I place great priority on personal objectivity and truthfulness. Also, I've returned to public service.
I must do a lot to make up for the cost of my crime. Do you speak out against drug use? I stay completely away from the drug business in every aspect, including the rehabilitation.
I believe drug use is an entirely personal choice. It's not my obligation to try to offset what I did by trying to lecture or speak in public. I serve here by volunteering with our Habitat for Humanity thrift shop, the Chapel Hill Museum and some of the area food banks.
You still have a sense of humor. By maintaining my self-respect and objectivity. and intelligent, you'll heal and move on.
Catching up with ...
News RSS