I Lost 300 Pounds in Federal Prison — Here's How I Did It | Rusty Pangburn

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.8 • 743 Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2026

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Rusty Pangburn joins Locked In with Ian Bick to share how he went from selling candy as a kid to becoming involved in large-scale meth trafficking. Raised by a single mother and growing up between Missouri and California with his father out of the picture, Rusty was always searching for acceptance and a way to fit in. That mindset led him from small hustles into the drug world, where he became a key player working with major meth networks. In this episode, he breaks down how he got pulled into drug trafficking, what life was like on the inside of that world, and how it all came crashing down when he was arrested and sentenced to 5 years in federal prison. Rusty also shares his experience behind bars, including losing nearly 300 pounds during his sentence, and what it took to survive, change, and rebuild his life after prison. _____________________________________________ #FederalPrison #DrugTrafficking #Meth #TrueCrime #PrisonStory #ExInmate #CrimeStory #lockedinpodcast _____________________________________________ Connect with Rusty Pangburn: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rustypangburn/ Website: https://www.whynotmindset.net/about-rusty LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rustin-pangburn62276?trk=public_post_follow-view-profile _____________________________________________ Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ _____________________________________________ Shop Locked In Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop _____________________________________________ Timestamps: 00:00 500 Pounds, Meth Dealer, Federal Prison: Rusty's Story 00:20 Never Had a Home: Growing Up on the Run 01:19 No Dad, No Rules: Where It All Started 02:56 The $100 Kid: How It Started with Candy 04:41 From Candy to Cigarettes: Taking Over School 06:32 The Day He Quit School and Never Looked Back 08:03 When the Money Got Real 10:03 The First Time He Touched Meth 12:47 Running His Own Meth Operation 13:33 The Connect That Changed Everything 15:20 Moving Hundreds of Pounds: Leading a Trafficking Ring 17:01 When He Started Using His Own Product 18:49 The Day the Feds Knocked on His Door 21:10 Cash, Cars & the Life Before It Crashed 23:12 Facing Federal Charges: What the DA Offered 26:29 First Day Inside Federal Prison 29:24 500 Pounds in a Prison Cell: The Wake-Up Call 34:00 How He Survived Federal Prison Every Day 39:39 Walking Out After 5 Years: The World Had Changed 44:08 No One Would Hire a Federal Felon 47:40 Building from Zero: His First Legit Dollar 52:58 The People Who Didn't Give Up on Him 58:48 How He Stays Out: Life After the Gates 01:05:48 What He'd Tell the Kid Selling Candy 01:09:48 His New Mission: Why Not? 01:11:12 Where to Follow Rusty _____________________________________________ To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/LockedInWithIanBicka Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	My guest today is Rusty Pangburn, who went from selling candy as a kid to becoming involved in major meth trafficking,
0:06.4	getting sentenced to five years in federal prison, and losing nearly 300 pounds behind bars.
0:12.1	Today, he shares how it all happened and what that life was really like.
0:20.3	I was originally born. I'm in Joplin, Missouri. Okay. What was that like? What was your upbringing like?
0:26.4	Well, I wouldn't raise the entire time. I was born in Joplin and my mother wanted to have a better life for me.
0:33.6	So what she did was she moved me to California, San Diego, California, to try to get me a
0:39.9	better life. But it didn't really work out for her, and it was hard, life was hard on her. So she had to
0:45.3	send me off to family. So I bounced around from family to family to family until I was about,
0:52.9	I was about, I would say, 13. Then I, they, the family just couldn't
1:00.1	have me, so they shot me back to San Diego. She kind of got her life a little bit back together.
1:04.9	And then we decided to move back to Joplin. And so about the age of 14, 14 until about 2004 when everything went down is when
1:15.2	is my span.
1:17.5	Where was your dad?
1:19.0	He was, he was just never around.
1:21.3	He just wasn't there.
1:22.4	He's been out of the picture.
1:23.5	I met him one time, but other than that, the time I met him, he, I think I was 16, and I went
1:30.6	to his house and said, hey, and he knew exactly where it was.
1:33.6	And he just told me he really wasn't interested in having a relationship with me.
1:38.0	So I met him once.
1:39.9	So he's not in the picture.
1:41.2	Never, never has been.
	...

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