FLORENCE, S.C. (WBTW) — The police lights shined behind the getaway car that then-19-year-old Jeremy Wilson was driving. His heart was beating out of his chest, and he couldn’t shake the disappointment he knew his family would feel.
“I knew I wasn’t supposed to be in that situation when I saw those lights,” Wilson said. “It was kind of like an out-of-body experience. I felt so many emotions.”
Wilson was the getaway driver for a group of friends who stole items from multiple homes over several months in 2011 and 2012 in Chesterfield, Darlington, Florence and Williamsburg counties.
“I never went inside the homes to take anything,” Wilson said. “I would just drive them.”
Wilson’s upbringing was not one of crime. Raised by two hard-working parents, Wilson said he knew deep down that a life of crime was not for him. Yet, he was attracted to the streets.
“I grew up good,” Wilson said. “I mostly got in trouble by hanging with the wrong people and being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I would often visit my grandma, and she was in the hood. That is the connection to the streets.”
Wilson was sentenced to three years in jail for his role in the string of break-ins, and when the jail doors slammed shut, and he was left with a cellmate, a toilet, and the spirit of defeat, Wilson said he had to look deep within himself.
What he found was something that had always been with him — a love of art that grew from his relationship with his grandmother.
“We used to draw our conversations,” he said.
To find his peace in jail, Wilson returned to his old love, drawing pictures of inmates’ girlfriends, mothers, or anything to better his craft.
One day, one of his prison buddies got him a tattoo gun and encouraged him to take his talent from paper to skin. As a result, the style he learned is realistic and gritty.
“They encouraged me to do it,” Wilson said of his cellmates. “They just told me to tattoo them, and they didn’t care if I messed up. They just wanted me to get it, and I am forever grateful for them.”
Jail proved to be a place for rehabilitation that Wilson said took him from rock bottom and changed the trajectory of his life. While things seemed to be on the rise after he got out of jail in April 2016, the struggle with the stigma of being a felon proved real.
Wilson said some members of his family wrote him off and stayed away from him; others expected him to stay in the felon lifestyle. Wilson’s back was against the wall.
He was forced to overcome one hurdle simply to face another.
He told his parents about his dream of becoming a tattoo artist but said they weren’t on board. They didn’t see his passion as a sustainable option.
“My parents are old school,” Wilson said. “They didn’t believe in that. They just wanted me to get a regular job.”
Wilson believed in himself, and despite the odds, he kept his faith, working a regular job and doing tattoos on the side. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Wilson was left without a job, forcing him to figure out what he would do next.
Using the same grit that served him while in jail, Wilson said he asked to tattoo people for free to create a portfolio of work. People soon began to seek him out.
“It’s like I just woke up one day and people were asking me for tattoos,” he said. “I never thought it would grow like it has.”
As Wilson’s reputation grew, he said he worked at Porkchops Tattoo Studio and Dripping In Ink before starting his own shop, WitDaInkks studio on Third Loop Road in Florence.
Along the way, Wilson has done tattoos for several NFL players: Xavier Leggette, a wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers; Cobie Durant, a wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams; and Xavier Thomas, a linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals. He has also done them for University of South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers.
Now 31, Wilson said his life has changed since he changed his surroundings and the people he associated with. He’s now a father, a businessman and a very active member of the Florence community.
“I just took pizza to the alternative school before school let out for summer,” Wilson said. “I like to speak to at-risk kids because a lot of them feel like their path is already set, and I want them to know that they have the power to change things.”
Through his journey, Wilson said one important lesson sticks with him.
“You can overcome any situation” he said. “Your mistakes don’t define you. Everyone has their own journey, and I always tell people about the story of the tortoise and the hare. People tend to forget that the hare lost, and the tortoise won. I move at tortoise speed, and just because it’s not here yet does not mean it won’t come.”
“It’s such a blessing to have my mother proud of me and not praying for me to be better,” Wilson said.
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Taylor Ford is a digital journalist for News13. She joined the News13 team in January 2023. Taylor is a Florence native and covers the Pee Dee out of News13’s Florence Bureau. Read more of Taylor’s work here.
