http://www.gainesville.com/assets/mp3/RCummings0124101609edited.mp3
A cell phone: $300
A collect call from prison $10
Incriminating yourself on a recorded phonecall to a reporter: Priceless.
(there might be errors in this transcript and I didn't mark all the pauses)
January 24th
RC= Inmate Ronald Cummings
DT= Reporter Dana Treen
DT: Dana Treen
Phone lady: Hello, this is a collect call from:
RC: Ronald
DT: Hello
Phone lady: An inmate at Flagler county jail. With telephone service provided by Paytel Communications. The call will be recorded and subject to monitoring at any time.
RC: Hello
DT: Hello
RC: What’s going on man?
DT: Hey…
RC: How, how are you?
DT: How are you doing?
RC: How am I doing?
DT: How are you doing?
RC: One minute at a time, man.
DT: What, yeah, I tell you what. (beep)
RC: No…
DT:
RC: I ain’t really worried about the---, I’m worried about where I’m at, man. I’m in solitary confinement so I can’t even see nobody or talk to nobody and that.
DT: Oh is that right?
RC:Yeah.
DT: It’s gonna be dreary.
RC: Yeah.
DT: How come?
RC: I don’t know. I guess because it’s a high profile case.
DT: (Crosstalk)
RC: They’re not gonna let me out of here so I’ll go to DOC.
DT: (pause) Ah.
RC: At least that’s what I’ve been told.
DT: Who told you that?
RC: Well, uh(pause), a couple of people, but (pause) I’ve talked to two people that said that’s not true so (pause) I can’t, you know, I can’t go 100% on yes or no.
DT: I mean, uh, (pause) you had some (pause) you had some stuff in the past, nothing of, too terribly serious while that stuff with drugs, I mean, it is trafficking but it’s also, you know, it is not a first offence but it’s a (pause), I don’t know. Is it, do you think it is that serious, or do you think it’s something that you can get worked out, or something, not too…?
RC: Oh no I’m going to DOC, I’m going to prison. (pause) No ifs ands and buts.
DT: What’s that?
RC: I said there’s no ifs ands and buts. I’m going to prison. (pause) Hear me?
DT: Yeah, I hear you. Uh. ..
RC: Oh I put you on the visiting list too. You asked me to put ….(??) to put you on the visiting list and I put you on it.
DT: Yeah I did and I’m going to come down Wednesday morning, 9 o’clock.
RC: OK
DT: Oh, what, I guess, you know, but I, you know, I mean, following it It’s a high profile case and all of this, of course all of, you know…I guess one thing I want to ask you is they arrested you for the trafficking thing and they’ve got a, you know they say they’ve got several instances of buys and selling and all that… I guess I want to know what the, you kind of put yourself in a bad spot, you think?
RC: Did I?
DT: Yeah, I’m asking you.
RC: Did I put myself in a bad spot?
DT: Yeah.
RC: Of course I did.
DT: How come? Why? Why would you… That’s a big risk?
RC: Um. I don’t know man. I don’t really know.
DT: Oh…
RC: You talking to me on the record or off the record, man.
DT: You know, we can do it either way, I mean, I wanna be sure and I want to talk to you on the record, at some point...
RC: That’s fine but leave everything we’re saying right now off if you would please.
DT: Ok, all right.
RC: Because right now, man, right now you know I’ve just said something to you that I should not have said. When you said I put myself in a bad spot and I said yes I said something I shouldn’t have said because I got a defence attorney working on this.
DT: Right.
RC: So, you know I cut my own rope by saying one word. You put that in Jacksonville Times Union and I’m screwed.
DT: Well, they record this probably
RC: Yea but there is a difference in that, a big difference.