TESTIMONY OF DANNY (AKA BARABAS)

Before I accepted Christ as my savior and Lord, I lived my life like most people that don’t know Jesus as their Lord do, “selfishly.” I hung out with, and was involved with street gangs, car clubs and motorcycle gangs. Alcohol, drugs and crime of all sorts were the norm for me. You could say that I pretty much grew up in juvenile road camps, the

California Youth Authority, the L.A. county jail system, and both state and federal prisons. I used that time not to reform but to refine what I already knew. I learned how to travel throughout the U.S. and Canada by “till tapping.” We would fly to a city, rent a car and spend three days going from market to market buying a pack of gum or a pack of cigarettes in one line while tapping the unused register next to us. We did this until we would make between $5,000–$10,000, then fly home. This was all done while the Los Angeles Major Crimes Division was trying to catch us.

When I wanted a little more of an adrenaline rush I would rob drug dealers, taking both their money and their drugs. This sometimes ended in shootouts. On one such job, I was shot in the hip. That slug is still in my hip. I alsostarted robbing supermarkets and jewelry stores, sometimes up to three a day. In one market, a manager caught me off guard, shooting me in the face before I got out of the door. In both cases, when I was shot, I opted to treat thewounds at home. Another robbery resulted in a running gun battle with the police as I was leaving a store. I shot anofficer in the leg and made my getaway. I was eventually caught and charged with 22 armed robberies and various other crimes, resulting in a sentence of 10 years to life. While I was still in the county jail fighting my charges, myyoungest brother Eddy pulled off a $100,000 gold and silver robbery in Sacramento to get my bail money so that I could escape. He was caught after he tried to convert the gold and silver to cash. He was sentenced to 5 to life whichhe served in San Quentin and Folsom prisons. I served three years at Soledad state prison before escaping with one of my friends. I then traveled the U.S. still robbing and till tapping.

My Homeboy was caught in Grants Pass, Oregon. I was arrested in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but managed to escape. By now, I was #2 on the FBI’s most wanted list. Then in early 1978, one of my sisters-in-law turned me in. I was sentenced to five years in the federal prison system. I served three years at El Reno, Oklahoma and at Lompoc before being paroled back to The California Department of Corrections. This was to complete my original ten to life sentence, now enhanced with another consecutive sentence for my escape from Soledad. During this time, my younger brother Eddy was murdered in Sacramento after he was paroled from Folsom. He was killed by a rival prison gang. He had been shot in the neck and head, then stuffed into the trunk of his car and set on fire. He was only 27.

I was then placed in Folsom prison and put into close custody, better known as “The Hole,” for the remaining of seven years of my sentence. I was only allowed out of that cell once a week to shower. Locked in this tiny cell 24–7, I reached the end. While in solitary confinement, I reached out to God. One night, I prayed that He would reveal himself to me and he did. I opened a Bible randomly to this verse, Psalms 107:10-16. He spoke to me through these words — “Who are these that sit in darkness, in the shadow of death, crushed by misery and slavery?” My life changed that night as I accepted Him as my Lord. I had consecutive sentences to serve after my original 10 to life sentence was finished, but God broke down those prison gates for me. Miraculously, one year after asking Christ into my heart, I was released. Since that day in 1981, I have been a part of the same congregation for 23 years. I have been blessed to be married to a beautiful, godly woman for the past 27 years, and have three wonderful children that love the Lord.