Jake Gardner, who was on Pit Bulls and Parolees, originally went to jail for a felony evading of an officer, and possession of an illegal firearm charge.
The dogs at the Villalobos Rescue Center are not the only ones that get a second chance at life on Pit Bulls and Parolees. The show also showcases the rehabilitation of various parolees.
Jake Gardner is one such parolee, who was initially charged with felony evading of an officer and possession of an illegal firearm before he started working at the rescue centre.
The allure of Pit Bulls and Parolees
Pit Bulls and Parolees takes the idea of an underdog trope to a whole new level.
The show follows Tia Torres and her family, as well as the other members of the Villalobos Rescue Center as they work to rescue and re-home pit bulls that deserve a second chance at a happy life.
The Villalobos Rescue Center at the centre of the show is the largest Pit Bull rescue centre in the United States.
Moreover, it is also one of the only rescue centres in the country which allows parolees to get their second chance at life through a stable job as a staff member or volunteer.
Why did Jake from Pit Bulls and Parolees go to jail?
Fans of the Pit Bulls and Parolees show will know that Tia Torres’s Villalobos Rescue Center has become a safe haven not only for the abused and neglected Pit Bulls which they take in, but also for the multiple parolees who work with these animals on a daily basis.
Jake Gardner is just one of the many parolees that was featured throughout the show, but he clearly had a special relationship with Tia and the rest of her family.
This is because of his mother, who was a foster-parent to for many of the centre’s dogs in the past.
Although Jake quickly became a fan-favourite on the show, he had a complicated history with the law, just like many of the other parolees on the show, and he had many shorts stints in prison before joining the cast.
However, Jake went to jail in 2009 after he was arrested and charged with a felony for evading an officer and for possession of an illegal firearm.
On the night of his arrest, Jake was riding a borrowed motorcycle. However, the real trouble began when the police attempted to pull him over for speeding, while he was carrying an unlicensed firearm.
Jake tried to avoid being pulled over and this quickly escalated into a high-speed chase, which ended in a crash. After this, Jake was arrested, and was then sentenced to spend 10 months in jail for his charges.
Jake’s connection to Tia Torres
Many of the parolees that have appeared on Pit Bulls and Parolees over the years have credited Tia Torres and the Villalobos Rescue Center for changing their lives. But Jake’s connection to Tia and the rescue centre runs much deeper than that.
Jake’s mother is a dog trainer, and she was one of the members of the community who used to help Tia to foster dogs in the beginning stages of the Villalobos Rescue Center.
As a result, he became Tia’s right-hand-man of sorts and was instrumental in the rescue centre’s move to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.
What has Jake been doing since he left the show?
Jake has now put his arrest and subsequent parole sentence well behind him and has moved on from Pit Bulls and Parolees entirely. Jake has gotten married and has founded his own rescue centre in North Carolina since he left the show.
He maintains that he will never be able to repay Tia Torres for the knowledge and passion that she taught him during his time at the Villalobos Rescue Center.
About Jake’s The Fort-Fortitudine Vincimus Rescue Center
Jake left Pit Bulls and Parolees and the Villalobos Rescue Center in 2012 in order to start his own rescue centre in North Carolina.
Jake has credited his old boss and friend, Tia Torres, with giving him the idea to start a rescue centre in an area where the euthanasia rates of shelters are often close to 90 percent.
The Fort, as Jake calls it, is a non-discriminatory rescue centre, which means that although they mainly focus on the care of American Pit Bull Terriers, they do not discriminate against any other dog breeds.
Jake continues to share updates about this rescue centre on his Instagram and Facebook pages to this day and encourages the general public to help them in their endeavour to offer these dogs a second chance in a new, loving home.
