Ex-lawyer found a new career as a pastry chef while in prison
Less than a decade ago, Richard Creamer was enjoying the financial rewards of being a successful real estate and entertainment lawyer, including multiple homes and nice cars.
Then it was suggested to him by a real estate investment partner that he could do better by playing a role in a marijuana-growing operation.
“It came across my plate in a way that was like, ‘This makes really, really crazy economic sense to me at this moment in my life,’ and I didn’t hold it to a great deal more scrutiny,” the 44-year-old told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “It didn’t take me very long to wish that I had.”
After he got involved in 2009, the feds raided the operation later the same year, Creamer says. The growing operation was being conducted in a warehouse he and his investment partner owned in North Philadelphia.
Convicted in 2010 of conspiracy to manufacture 1,000 or more marijuana plants and maintaining a place for manufacture of a controlled substance, he was sentenced in 2011 to a five-year federal prison term. Creamer also gave up his law license at that time.
But a career turnaround after his release was possible, thanks to an innovative prison program that trains inmates in food preparation and life skills.
Participating in the free 14-week Philabundance Community Kitchen course put Creamer in a position to work after his release at an award-winning restaurant in 2015. There he was promoted within months to the job of head pastry chef.
“I hadn’t thought about where I wanted to be when I got out before, but then the program came out and there was something that clicked,” he told an Inquirer reporter. “The restaurant industry is extremely forgiving, and I was coming out a felon.”
By the end of 2015, Creamer had made another career shift, to real-estate consulting. He is working to put himself in a position to regain his law license, which he can apply for after June 1.
Assuming he succeeds, he has a new career goal this time around: to work as a criminal defense attorney.
“In a number of ways, I’m uniquely qualified,” he says.
Related coverage:
Philadelphia Inquirer (2010): “Lawyer convicted in marijuana-growing operation”
CBS Philly (2011): “Philadelphia Attorney Gets 5 Years For Part In Marijuana-Growing Operation”
