I was lying in bed. That's when Arnold experienced a sudden change in her perspective, becoming in her words like "an adult." Her husband's biker gang connections helped establish her supply chains, and almost overnight she was doing serious business selling what the locals affectionately called "ice.". As a child, Tom Arnold was diagnosed with autism. They wanted more, and she saw an opportunity to capitalize, becoming a topmaker and dealer of meth. At age 14, Lori Arnolddeveloped a drinking problem and started dating a23-year-old man. The business was booming, and they were making a fair bit of money. Arnolds experience with Josh taught her not to be too tough on her oft-absent mother. EXCLUSIVE: The Queen of Meths reign came to a screeching halt one night in 1991. She said she signed up with Discovery because"they were willing to do what I wanted as far as telling the truth and not exaggerating it and everything else, which is unusual for a production company.". As narrator in "The Queen of Meth," she said she earned "in a few minutes" what she now earns in a day. Sibling relationships can be among the most complicated in the world. Lori Arnold was just 18-years-old when she married Floyd Stockdall and became pregnant with his son. In October 2020, she, her brother and anotherbrother, Scott,reunited in Ottumwa while she was there in connection with the docuseries. And somebody offered me a way to make a little extra money and it just rolled right back into the way it was. Id like to think that if the feds had broken down my door and hauled me to jail, I would have used my one phone call to order a pizza, too. "Im working 10-hour days. Visually it tends toward the melancholy, as Arnold revisits her now-shuttered bar and the farm she once owned where she and her husband, who later died in federal prison, built their own meth lab, like upper Midwestern Walter Whites. In 2001, she sold four ounces of meth to a man who turned out to be an undercover cop, and she was arrested for the second time. I regret everything I did. Connie L. Schwartz, 61, of Brookings, SD passed away Wednesday, February 22, 2023 at the Brookings Health System, Brookings, SD. While her life has turned around, she said that she does feel guilt for having introduced meth in Ottumwa, and the damage that it cause to others' lives. Speaking in "The Queen of Meth," Tom Arnold likened his sister's role in creating the meth trade to the tech pioneers of the era. Text size. They provided Arnold and her siblings with a good home, and she excelled in school and went to church every week. And Im a people person. By the time she was 14, she was hanging around at the club where her mom worked and was addicted to alcohol. And as I got dressed, I saw my husband laying on the floor handcuffed. After six months in a halfway house, she wasreleased in June 2008. When I was making $800 a week, she was sometimes grossing $800,000. Marnie and Arnold Cohen - 3 days ago Natalie- sending our sincerest condolences on Sheldon's passing. All rights reserved. At his sentencing, Floyd said, I got into this accidentally. Arnold, who grew up in the small town of Ottumwa, Iowa, seemed doomed from the start. Visitation will be Tuesday May 31 . She operated out of Ottumwa, Iowa, with her then-husband Floyd Stockdall. Lori Arnold sent a driver to get 10 pounds of meth for $100,000 in California. Her story from drug addict to drug dealer to redemption is featured in the Discovery+ docu-series, The Queen of Meth (2021). That marriage was short-lived. My husband was next to me. As The Fix points out, with the meatpacking and railroad jobs gone and many farms going into bankruptcy, that left Arnold as the largest employer in the region. She stayed, opened a biker bar and started her own business cooking and selling meth. She also repeated her mistakes. Get the best of Fox News' entertainment coverage, right in your inbox. With Stockdall,who was arrested with her and later died in prison, she had a son, and she said she is happy that while she was locked up, he grew up to be a "good man. I work really hard. As reported in"Methland,"although Stockdall had retired as the club's president he was still a member, and still kept up his criminal lifestyle, dealing cocaine in Iowa and maintaining his ties with the Grim Reapers. He might drink a beer once in a while, but he's not a drinker. Beginning in 1985, it was the start of a six-year-long wild ride of drug trafficking and manufacturing. "I learned how to use the power tools, so I was working my butt off there, and I was still exercising and everything else," she said. #TruthMatters Venmo: @Lori-BeavoArnold Cash app: https . (discovery+). Legal Statement. While working at Cargill she observed that her co-workersmany of whom were likely former customers of herswere using low-quality meth to get through their workdays. For someone as depressed and unhappy as Lori Arnold, it was irresistible. I put myself out there and say it the way it is.". After an initial raid that year, Lori and the members of her organization were arrested in November 1991. As noted by The Fix, Stockdall brought something else to the marriage: Meth connections. And I tried to stay clean. Like all the guys from Muenster, he took a job . The Motorcycle Club at that point was heavily involved in smuggling drugs and guns. Jun 1, 2021 Goshen resident Lori Arnold stands by her signs during an interview Tuesday at her home along South Main Street in Goshen. On Tuesday, October 14, 1947, Vertice was born in Orange, Texas, to Edna Vertice L. Head, 75, of Orange, Texas, passed away peacefully at his home, on Monday, January 2, 2023. She wanted to make up for lost time with Josh, her son. As a result of the freedom she had, Lori started to date a 23-year-old married man, who she had to then marry because of her stepdad and mother finding out about it. The stories of small-town Iowans of my age are not plentiful on TV, and I watched this one with rapt attention, even though our lives diverged significantly after childhood. Lori was drawn to Floyd, who was in his mid-30s, because of the power he held and the respect he commanded. It was not a matter of color or gender, neither of which matched. It will quickly take away everything.". Im sorry I had to break the law to support my family. In all, about 50-60 defendants were sent to prison as a part of this case, effectively ending Lori and Floyds operation. Nobody wanted to mess with him. Loree was the fifth child of Marian (Nelson) and Dick Kiel. But it wasn't an achievement to celebrate. Her mother was extremely permissive, and Lori Arnold lost all discipline in her life. Arnold said she paid "a little extra money" to get the best quality meth she could obtain for her eager clients. October 13, 1936 May 25, 2022. Lori was born in Wichita, Kansas and came to Brevard County in 1967 from New Orleans, LA. Loree handled her cancer with valor and a positive attitude. That allowed Arnold to grow her empire under the radar for years. (discovery+). Then during her teenage years, she and her siblings moved with the hard-drinking, remarried matriarch. Go ahead. I didnt fight it. Meanwhile, I had a nice house and a car. It was all clean fun back then [and that] is how it felt in the moment, she. (Arnold served nine years on drug and gun charges, started dealing again and served another six years.) I hadnt slept for a while. And you miss out on so much of your childrens lives. Lori Arnold was born to Jack and Linda in 1961. At the time of their arrest, they had property worth over $750,000. Her brother, who was gaining fame as a comic actor on TV and in movies while his sister built her illegal empire,participated in the production of "Queen of Meth" and also spoke in the interview. Connie's Obituary. As The Fix explains, she made new connections with Mexican drug cartels that allowed her to bring super-high quality meth into the Midwest. I was a hit right away and I had nothing to worry about.". Countless people, including young children, were exposed to it. I never had to use him for anything. ", The Truth About Tom Arnold's Drug Lord Sister, Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town, they'd reduced their wages from $18 an hour to just $5.60 an hour, was raided by the FBI, the DEA, and the ATF. Before they were married, Lori ran in their circles and helped Floyd smuggle drugs into Ottumwa. Thats why I didnt want to go back.". He was a graduate of Freeport High School, Class of . 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Sierra Porter covers entertainment for the Des Moines Register. Lori grew up in a dysfunctional family, and by the age of 14, was already addicted to alcohol and headed for marriage to a man nearly a decade her senior. She led a multistate methamphetamine production and distribution network. Floyd and Lori were both charged with a multitude of offenses that included continuing a criminal enterprise and gun violations, among others. He was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison for continuing a criminal enterprise, controlled substance offenses, and a firearm offense. Lori K. Arnold, 41, of Ottumwa, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Jan. 4. I was back in the game. "You know, I wanted to go,'screw that, screw her, screw her husband.'. She started selling speed and prescription drugs before eventually moving to crystal methamphetamine when the drug began to spread across the Midwest, the outlet noted. Put simply, part of her success stemmed from the economic desperation of people who didn't have many other options when it came to making a living. Maintained by Lori Lee Crawford . Now, Lori returns to her hometown where she and Tom confront the chaos of their childhood. ORLANDO, Fla. LIV Golf chose to start its new season when the PGA Tour's biggest stars were certain to be taking the week off. OTTUMWA John S. "Jack" Arnold, 78, of Ottumwa, passed away November 9, 2015, at Hospice House in Ottumwa after a short battle with lung cancer. For her, the idea was to set up a business with that money, but it was hard to give up selling. More: Country star Lee Brice talks about recovering from COVID-19, and headlining Iowa's Big Country Bash. Born on Jan. 1, 1930, in Fayette Twp., Juniata County, he was a son of the late Harry A. and Dorothy L. (Leister) Arnold. "I was missing the old days," she admitted about her second arrest. Kracl Funeral Chapel of David City is in charge of the arrangements. She doesn't just look back fondly on her time as the "queen of meth," she also doesn't apologize for what many see as the damage she's done. She was 45. Remarkably, the Amezcua brothers weren't upset about Arnold setting up her own supply chain. "We found out later on that there was a guy we were buying drugs from out in Arizona and California," she said. Going straight wasn't smooth sailing for Arnold. . The business was booming, and they were making a fair bit of money. The other was in the fall of 2020. Convicted of drug trafficking and money laundering, Arnold spent 15 years in prison. Floyd was the former president of the Grim Reapers Motorcycle Club that was involved in running guns and drugs. "A lot of the guys were scared of me because they knew I was crazy and tough. Xavier I. Arnold, 20, of Coplay, was . In 1981, they had a child together, Josh. He was my backup. You have to be if you dont want to be messed up. A combination of wanting to get rich and not being able to stop led Lori Arnold to become one of the most notorious drug dealers in the Midwest during that time. The drug trafficking days seem to be truly behind Lori now since she works as a Materials Technician at Freudenberg-Nok, an automotive company. By then, the meth epidemic had ravaged the city. Arnold, now sober, lives in Sandusky, Ohio where. The feds were on him. Memorial Visitation will be held from 5:00pm to 7:00pm Friday, March 3, 2023 at Rude's Funeral Home, Brookings, SD. The type of cancer was not specified. Early life. The couple went on to make a tremendous amount of money through the course of the six years that they were active before being arrested and convicted. If you know the city and state where Lori Arnold lives in, fill in the fields accordingly. The local meatpacking plant, Cargill, had not only eliminated a lot of jobs, by 1987,they'd reduced their wages from $18 an hour to just $5.60 an hourwith no benefits. The couple went on to make a tremendous amount of money through the course of the six years that they were active before being arrested and convicted. In Queen of Meth, Lori Arnold and her friends reflect on her time as a high-volume drug dealer. In the 1980s, Ottumwa, Iowa, was a struggling city with residents facing a myriad of issues, including unemployment. Wimp was born June 11, 1933, in Butler Junction, a son of the late Virginia (Vota) and Felix M. Corgnati Sr. "Methland" details her attempts to do so, which included buying a car dealership, a bar, several other local businesses, 14 houses in the Ottumwa area, a 144-acre horse farm, and 52 racehorsesand hired the trainers, groomers, veterinarians, and jockeys required to care for them. But six months later, the teen bride divorced her husband because she said he was abusive and a cheater, the New York Post reported. "She had two children from a previous marriage, and then they got together and had two more kids. Her life had quickly become a pretty horrifying and depressing one. For someone like me with a past and triggers with addiction, it can make it somewhat difficult.. Once was for her father's funeral about four years ago. ", "The next thing I knew Ive got somebody on top of me with a gun on my forehead," she shared. Lori will be dearly missed, remembered always and loved forever. We were buddies, and we did everything together, and everything else, but my family stepped in and raised him right," she said. At one point, Arnold was grossing more than $200K a week. [2] In 1991 she was arrested by the DEA, who seized more than $10 million in assets from her. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Neil Druckmann, who. As noted by "Methland,"Arnold served eight years of a 10-year sentence and emerged from prison in 1999. Her famous brother, Tom, says this decision essentially ruined Lori's life. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. She moved to Arizona after that because Ottumwa brought up bad memories. So they thought that was really cool. Lori Arnold's thriving drug enterprise in the Midwest came tumbling down in 1991. Arnold gave up her job working in a local bar and the couple moved into a small cabin outside her hometown of Ottumwa, and Arnold soon gave birth to their son, Josh. Lori Arnolds thriving drug enterprise in the Midwest came tumbling down in 1991. According to Loris brother Tom, a big part ofQueen of Methwas allowing Josh to confront his mother about her past transgressions. Once she got rid of the product quickly, Lori saw a lucrative opportunity to get out of poverty. Tom Arnold and sister Lori share troubled childhood, addiction in 'Queen of Meth' doc Tom Arnold's sister Lori went from drug user to one of the most prolific meth dealers in the Midwest.. (discovery+), "And I was bad," she laughed. That's because Lori Arnold excelled in the highly competitive world of making and selling methamphetamine. 3. But we were both from Iowa, both born in 1960, both got As and Bs, both had a parent with a problematic relationship to a local watering hole (Elks Club for her, V.F.W. She founded legitimate businesses which employed local people. Melcher Mortuary Mission Chapel & Cremat 6625 E Main St, Mesa (480) 832-3500 ; Mariposa Gardens Memorial Park and Funer 400 South Power Road, Mesa (480) 830-4422 ; Parker Funeral Home 1704 Ocotillo, Parker (928) 669-2156 ; Funeraria Del Angel Greer-Wilson Chapel 5921 West Thomas Rd, Phoenix (623) 245-0994 ; A.L. When the FBI arrested her, they seized more than $10 million in assets, People reported. Advertisement. It didnt matter if I was in the picture or not because they still had that addiction. So I guess thats why, you know, I forgive her because I didnt mean to hurt my son, either., The truth about Sister Cindy her transformation, her family, and the criticism she receives, Isabella Russos ethnicity Her Asian roots explained, What is Ines Tazis ethnicity? Lori was a smart kid who did well academically, but her rebellious streak kicked in when she was in seventh grade. Arnold "Arnie" Bentz, age 85 of Truman passed away Wednesday May 25, 2022 at Mayo Hospital in Rochester with his loving family by his side. [3][4][5] Lori is the sister of actor and comedian Tom Arnold. little sister to Iowa-born actor and comedian Tom Arnold. 1935-2023. Lori began to make a lot of money, and with that, she bought a bar, a horse ranch, and multiple other properties. After a while, even the lax rules of her mother's house proved to be too much for Arnold. A new, one-day festival slated for September. She said that while she was dealing, she didn't understand the destruction meth was sowing in the community. Linda was not too particular about rules at her house, and it just went on. "They had me read documents from the court, how they evaluated her before the sentencing. So you stay away. Please received our heartfelt condolences. "So I wanted my friends to share it with me. When I first got out, I did two jobs. That problem led her to purchase a nightclub, a new house, and a fancy car to try and launder some of it. Susan Losonci - 3 days ago Dear Cutler Family, My heartfelt and sincere condolences, on Sheldon's (z"l) passing. The filmmakers like to pose Arnold and other interview subjects in front of tractors or in long shot against drab warehouses or faded downtowns. Unfortunately for Arnold, her own drug addiction and success went to her head, and she got very, very lazy, flaunting her ill-gotten gains and making little effort to hide where it came from. But after her release in1999, she went back to Ottumwa and returned to the drug trade. Lori acknowledges that there were better ways to help her community. And I had [my man] Floyd. And there were no rules. Mother of three dragonish sons. In May 1980, Lori got married to local biker Floyd Stockdall. Wayne Arnold died Monday, Jan. 16, 2023, at St. Joseph's Villa in David City. By 2001, she was once again making so much money she had to buy new businesses to launder the money. "She has a matter-of-fact charisma and a ready laugh, and you can see how those qualities would have made it easy for her to sell drugs in the depressed, working-class town of Ottumwa, Iowa.". The illegal drug trade is a cash business, and dealing with all that cash can be a logistical nightmare. Lori Arnold, who did two stints in federal prison and now lives in Ohio, where she is a factory worker, had been involved for years in efforts to bring her story to film. In a review, New York Times TV critic Mike Hale praised "The Queen of Meth," in part because he, too, was raised in a troubled family in small-town Iowa, and felt as though Arnold was a "soul sister," reflecting people he said he rarely sees depicted on TV. Unsurprisingly for one of the most addictive substances on the planet, the drug was a huge hit, and before long she started selling meth through a local bar. 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