One of the 39 people pardoned by President Joe Biden’s administration is a Utah woman who has turned her life around after struggling with substance abuse.
Stevoni Doyle of Santaquin is a wife, mother and grandmother who also fosters animals and volunteers.
"I'm a therapist with Wasatch Behavioral Health, with the jail transition program,” said Doyle.
"If you would have asked me 20 years ago if I would be here today, I never would have imagined that,” said Doyle.
She has come a long way.
"In 2000, I was introduced to meth, and I instantly become addicted,” explained Doyle. “It was the one thing that I felt like just completed me. Within a year, I lost custody of my 4 kids to DCFS and I had racked up a bunch of charges."
Doyle served time at the Utah State Prison and then at a federal prison in Arizona. There, she decided to make some changes.
"I started to take accountability for my actions and realized that I didn’t want to live this lifestyle," she said.
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Doyle started helping people who were struggling with substance abuse and even went back to school to study social work.
"I never thought I would graduate college, let alone get a master’s degree,” Doyle said.
On Wednesday, she got a special phone call and was pardoned by President Biden.
"I was like, no way, I can’t believe this is happening.” She said. "I won’t have to explain myself all the time. Even though I don’t have a problem sharing it, it’s part of my story, it’s part of who I am, it’s still nice to not have to do that."
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This story was originally published by Mythili Gubbi at Scripps News Salt Lake City.
