Looking for a second chance..

Anyone know of some decent second chance companies? I'll give a rundown of my history.

Attended Roadmaster Drivers School in 2010. Due to me not having verifiable work history previously (I framed houses for about 15 years as a subcontractor, so self employed), I was able to start on with Swift from 2010 until 2012. I drove for them for 2 years to get my first two initial OTR experience and then I went to Tango Transport out of Shreveport, LA for about 4 to 6 months in 2012. This ended up being one of the worst things I could've done as their driver managers were NOT driver friendly (they didn't care about your HoS (literally was told "just fake it and make it, you got paper logs"), just pickups & deliveries) and threatened termination. Fell asleep at the wheel one day, so had a single vehicle accident (thankfully nobody was injured) and of course, I was terminated.

I found a Grass delivery flatbed job at Grass4Sale.com in 2013 for about 6 months and this turned out to be an absolute nightmare company. Just google their reviews between the customers and other drivers. Small 1 man and 2 sales women company with 2 trucks and a very very crappy reputation. Again, another company who didn't care about your HoS. Most deliveries were already late before they were even cut, much less loaded and hauled.

I went a few months before finding some local dump truck company housed out of Kingwood, TX ran by some Gypsy's doing asphalt for about 6 months. Was told I would be driving a dump truck where they needed me to go to dump at and turned out I was shoveling asphalt instead. Someone else was driving the dump truck. Was in Chicago area, woke up in the motel one morning, and they were all gone. Left in the middle of the night. I'm an "outsider", so they weren't very concerned about me.

Got on with Djurich out if Gary, IN in 2014 shortly after the Gypsy's disappeared and signed owner/operator with them. I was 2 payments away from paying off the truck and they terminated my employment citing "poor work performance". Turned out this is something they have done to a lot of their owner/operator drivers that were lease purchasing a truck from them. They'd take the truck and resell it to a new driver for the same amount they were selling it to you.

Got on with UFL (United Freight Lines) based out of North Royalton OH. 3 man company again, 4 trucks. 2 local pickup/delivery (1 in Chicago, 1 in Cleveland), and 2 drop-and-hook trucks to go between Chicago & Cleveland. I worked all aspects from pickup/delivery in Chicago, to pickup/delivery in Cleveland, and also Drop-and-Hook between the two cities.

Most of my experience has been Dryvan mixed with some Reefer for OTR. I hauled containers from the railyards for Djurich, mostly local, I was home almost every night.

In Nov 2015, my wife was diagnosed with cancer, so I quit driving and came home to take care of her and our kids. In October 2019 I was convicted and incarcerated with the Texas Dept of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison system for 5 years. I discharged my sentence on October 4, 2024. No parole, no probation, no restrictions. Free and clear. I obtained my DL as soon as I got out, got my CDL permit almost right away after that, and then had to wait for a friend of mine to get his truck (owner/operator) and trailer in to town so I could take the road test and get my CDL back. I've had my CDL for about a month and a half now and am just running into nothing but dead ends. Clearinghouse is clear and no SAP. Driving record is also clean for the last 9 years. I was arrested for OWI in January 2016 (my worst mistake ever), guilty plea and it was reduced to Endangering a Person, 1 year probation, but no DUI/OWI convictions. I haven't had a drink since the day of that arrest. 9 years sober! Counting and staying that way. No programs, all self done.

I have tried to call many "second chance" companies only for them to tell me "No thanks".. Werner, Western Express, Maverick, TMC, CFI, and several others, but all denied due to the nature of my conviction. Please do not judge me for that as I have already been judged in a court of law and will face the Lord some day and He has the ultimate judgement above anyone else. A few companies, such as TransAM, KLLM, US Express, Tyson Foods, Barr-Nunn, and a handful of others will hire me, except they require recent experience.

I am looking for almost anything dryvan, reefer, or flatbed. I would like to get into flatbed but it's so difficult to find any flatbed companies that are willing to start with No Experience PLUS a felony conviction. I am of course looking for OTR. Not looking for Teams and prefer manual transmission. I am from Humble TX (Houston) and am willing to travel anywhere I need to so I can start. Rider program preferred but not required. My wife would like to travel with me sometimes but not permanently.

If anyone can help, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm hardworking, honest, friendly, drama free, and looking to rebuild a life for my wife, myself, our grown kids, and our grandchildren.

Please help!

 

Sorry! I'm in Texas. Near Houston, to be exact. Haven't the funds to get my TWIC, which would open a few more doors, until after I get back to work.

[QUOTE="Also, submit the short app or whichever app is available on each trucking company website, before calling. Then tomorrow or the next day, call and say, "I'm checking on my driving job application."[/QUOTE]

This is mostly what I had been doing. With some of the companies that has turned me away in the beginning was due to my conviction after my application was processed, so that's why I started to just call them and lay everything on the table up front that way nobody's time is wasted and I can keep looking for others.

With most of these companies, I have tried to be very upfront about everything so nobody's time and/or resources are wasted. I feel it's only a waste of their time just to get to the background check part and have it all fall apart, so I'd just rather put everything on the table up front because if I'm not going to pass your background check, then there's no sense in going any further.