Randy Cimino said he once lived the life of a booster—someone who steals items and sells them to pawn shops for money.

"It's the best way to make money fast without actually hurting somebody,” he said.

Cimino had the stealing and selling down to a science.

"I would come to the pawn shop, which ever one I was dealing with, get a list with 20 dollars, go out and get high and then I would go about my day stealing,” Cimino said.

He believes some addicts could be upset that the pawn shop on Dewey Avenue is closed as boosting can be a source of income. He says pawn shop owners take advantage of those facing addiction.

"I know how sad it is and how bad it feels to steal every single day in order to feed your addiction,” the Rochester man added.

He’s since turned his life around and helps others going through addiction.

Cimino says part of the problem is judicial reform. He believes those who are addicted and doing the stealing do not face the proper punishment.

"An appearance ticket for a petty larceny is telling an addict that no matter what happens you're not going to go to jail today, so that opens up a whole lot of chaos and a whole lot of opportunity to go and steal with no consequence,” said Cimino.

He believes his jail sentence is what saved his life.

"One of the reasons that I'm able to stand here and talk to you today because of the timeouts I was given,” Cimino continued. “Going to jail for a month, two months that gave me time to get clean and think about what I was doing and maybe start over again."