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Lock, Stock, and 48 Smoking Barrels

A year ago Wayne and Danny Dagenais stole guns from a family friend. In an effort to keep then-16-year-old Wayne out of jail, their parents tried to retrieve the weapons. But the plan didn't work.

A A A Comments By Harris Meyer Thursday, Sep 2 1999

Firestein isn't willing to wait for the restitution payments to start. He vows to sue Ken and Roxann on the grounds that they're responsible for their sons' actions, even though he admits that they "don't have two nickels to rub together." Then why sue? "You tell me why not. I'm the victim," he says. "No one has done anything to help me."

Ken Dagenais now delivers air conditioning equipment by truck for $8.50 an hour. Because he can't read road signs, he drives his tricounty route with the help of a detailed pictorial map drawn by a coworker. He hopes the extra income he makes from overtime will help keep his marriage together. "I like being married," he says. "But I know that if she found another man, she'd leave."

Melissa Jones

Roxann and Ken Dagenais (top) are distraught that Wayne (pictured with his girlfriend, Louise Beck) was sentenced to four years in prison. Meanwhile Danny (upper left) is serving his juvenile sentence at home.

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Roxann more or less confirms that. "We'll stay together until I get over the shock and decide that I want my life back," she says. But under the strain of her sons' legal problems, she's regained the 25 pounds she'd shed to get back on the dating circuit. She has some money set aside for a tummy tuck but is resigned to spending it on Wayne's continuing legal costs.

She wonders why her life didn't turn out quite as she had hoped. "Remember the Leave It to Beaver family on TV, where everyone is united and the grandmother bakes cookies?" she asks. "Does that ever happen anymore?"