Former gang member fired by car dealership after local newspaper publishes success story about turning his life around

The story was updated at 5:15 p.m. to include new details from the dealership manager who hired, and fired, Quante Wright.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- On Monday, Quante Wright went to work at Lowery Brothers Chrysler Jeep. He sold a 2015 Jeep Cherokee. Then he was fired.

Wright was let go a day after he was featured in a story about the barriers he's faced on his path from prison to college graduation and beyond.

Related story: Who's the speaker at this graduation? The man who sent him to prison

Steve Spector is the manager at the car dealership who hired and fired Wright. He said he hired Wright based on an interview with him and his resume. He did not ask Wright if he had any criminal convictions during that interview and Wright didn't offer up the information, Spector said.

Spector said Wright had been hired and was working there for about a day before Spector had him fill out an application form. That form asks if the person has any criminal convictions. Wright checked yes and wrote what he had been convicted of.

Wright's conviction is a violation of the federal RICO law, which covers organized crime. Federal prosecutors used the law to break up the street gangs in Syracuse. The crimes Wright committed that violated the RICO law included attempted murder and dealing crack when he was a member of the Brighton Brigade.

Spector said he became aware that Wright had a criminal past and that he was living in halfway house after Wright filled out the form. But Spector said he didn't know much about the nature of Wright's crimes until he read the Syracuse.com story.

Wright said he is also facing trouble with the halfway house where he was assigned to live for two months. He didn't go directly back to the residence after he was fired, so the management there is writing him up for "escape." Wright said he could be sent back to prison for it.

After Wright began working at Lowery Brothers, he said the job was his "dream job." He was making a middle-class salary and putting his sales skills to work.

Wright spent a little less than six years in federal prison for his conviction.

Since he left prison in 2012, Wright has held internships, including one at Syracuse's City Hall, and a job at a call center before being hired to work at the car dealership. He graduated from Bryant and Stratton in April with an associate's degree in business.

Wright is on probation until 2017 and he, like many, has struggled with those rules. His most recent violation, the one that sent him to a halfway house for two months, was when a friend took him out to celebrate his college graduation. The friend happened to be a felon. Wright is not allowed to be around felons as part of his probation.

Marsha Weissman, executive director of the Center for Community Alternatives, said she has seen Wright's story over and over. Her group advocates for sentencing reform.

"There is so much stigma that attaches to a criminal record, so much stereotyping of people who have records that it's so hard for them to really get a second chance," Weissman said. "I really do hope that as a community we step up and really give him the second chance that he seems to be working so hard to get."

Quante Wright's resume

Contact Marnie Eisenstadt anytime: email | twitter | 315-470-2246

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