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A homeless single father told Ben Fogle how he was suspected of kidnapping his own son because of his rough appearance.
Rob, 49, known as ‘Pirate Rob’, hails from Oregon but told Ben Fogle’s New Lives in the Wild how he has traveled all over the United States with his son Damian, now 18, and their dog Lucifer. .
The homeless duo spend their time between Slab City, a lawless community of other homeless people in California, and a small island near Rainier, Oregon.
He has revealed how society judges him based on his appearance and admitted that he has been arrested countless times and is also suspected of kidnapping his own son in the past.
Despite having few resources, surviving by fishing for crayfish and selling cans collected from city bins to survive, Rob told the show, which airs tonight on Channel 5, that he would turn down a house if someone offered it to him. .
Homeless Rob, 49, known as ‘Pirate Rob’, hails from Oregon but told Ben Fogle’s New Lives in the Wild how he has traveled all over the United States with his son Damian, now 18, and his Lucifer dog.
In Slab City, where Ben first met him, Rob runs the Pirate Camp, a large settlement he created from scratch eight years ago, and is a respected member of the community, which includes murderers, drug addicts, and criminals of all stripes.
Rob spends the other six months of the year on Oregon Island, where he has a makeshift camp and sells cans for 10 cents each to earn some ‘dime’.
Rob was born in 1973, just a few miles from the island, and grew up a shy boy who was bullied at school and struggled to fit in, always happier in nature.
In his early 20s, he worked various jobs, including as a fur trader and factory worker, and married and raised children with his wife.
Soon the marriage fell apart and Rob began to struggle to hold down a job. He eventually ended up on the street, but not before taking sole custody of Damián.
Damian has two sisters, who were mentioned on the show. However, it was not revealed where they live.
Although he doesn’t own the island where he and Damian live in Oregon, Rob told Ben, ‘I think it’s public land. I understand it’s like a two week thing: you can stay but then you have to get away for a little bit every couple of weeks.
Rob set up a camp out of sandbags and a few items he found on the side of the road, including an outdoor cooking area.
Damian, 18, has grown up traveling with his father and says he loves spending time with his father.
Rob said he has been judged for his appearance over the years, and that people have called the police thinking he had kidnapped his own son.
Damian goes to school on the mainland during the day, and he and his father share cooking duties at night, making macaroni and cheese on their open fire.
Rob, who is not a real pirate, admits that he buries some of his possessions around the island, to prevent them from being stolen or damaged by the elements.
He told Ben that he earned his nickname after moving to Slab City, because he had a pirate flag on his tree.
In Slab City, which he admits is a dangerous place, Rob said that he “absolutely” protects people, who “can’t fend for themselves”, adding that he has no problem dealing with many people at once.
Joking that he’s a “misfit king,” Rob added with a laugh that he’s “never been afraid of a fight, that’s for sure.”
Ben heard how Rob wants to live to do what hw wants to do, and how he tried to fit in as a single dad and “couldn’t take it.”
While homeless, Rob is still proud of his home, and he and Ben start the day tidying up, before going to set crawfish traps in the river that surrounds the island.
Rob receives food stamps from the government and relies on the river as his other source of food the rest of the time.
‘It tastes better when you catch it yourself,’ he quipped to Ben.
After school, Damian joined the two men and they had a serious conversation by the campfire.
Rob recounted how he tried to fit in with mainstream society for the sake of his children.
‘I tried to stay, try to get the apartment, have the job. Being a single parent is almost frowned upon, like nobody can believe that a father is actually raising his children,” Rob told Ben.
“I’ve made the police think I’ve kidnapped him more than I can count,” she said, explaining that’s one of the reasons she decided to move into the wild.
“A lot of people who call the police, they just see a crazy looking dad, there’s no way he’s taking good care of his kid,” she said.
The presenter noted that despite his tough exterior, Rob was a kind man with his heart on his sleeve.
Rob joked that he’s a ‘bum’ and he won’t change to change people’s perception of him.
The single father, who in addition to Damián has two other daughters, said he would be a drug addict living under a bridge if he did not have his children.
“I always wanted to be a dad, I always wanted not to be my dad. My dad was quite authoritarian, he always disapproved of things; my first son, I realized he was being my father,’ he told Ben.
After realizing this, Rob began to think about parenting in a different way.
Speaking to Ben, Rob’s son Damian admitted he feels different from the other kids at school, saying: “It’s pretty easy to see that the other kids were brought up the same way.”
He added that the biggest difference between him and the other students was ‘moving all the time.
‘All the kids at school know each other, whereas I go to a new school all the time. And I’d like to meet someone that well,” she said.
Damian admitted that he is very shy, but when he makes friends, they become very good friends.
Meanwhile, Rob said that without his kids, he’d be living under a bridge, ‘drunk or drug addict’.
“I put all the nonsense away when it came time to take care of business,” he said.
Rob won sole custody of his son Damian, after the teen’s mother “stopped coming home.”
The single father said he believes his son is safe living with him in the wild.
It’s safer here. A lot of people try to push it away from me when I’m out there,’ he said referring to society.
‘And it’s so overwhelming that I really wish he would get out into nature. I raised him here,’ she told Ben.
‘I had to do all these things, I felt much more comfortable here. Actually, he and I can be closer here, because we don’t have people trying to separate us.’
When Ben asked who he meant by ‘they’, the single dad replied: ‘Everyone, the old lady driving down the road and sees me and my son, she says ‘she must be up to something or something.’ Or Child Protective Services (CPS), the police.
Damn said that he enjoys spending time with his father, though he joked that he is “far from normal” and added that Rob taught him to help others.
“The police took us to the police station and put us in different rooms. and he’s just a little boy,’ he told Ben, while Damian said that he remembered going through those moments with his father.
Rob claimed that the officers told him they would take Damian from him if they could,
“We have a good time out here, we actually forget what’s going on out there,” he said of the island.
Talking about the way he was raised by his father, Damian told Ben: ‘I guess by definition I’m homeless. I consider the places I go to be home, I never really felt like I had nowhere to go.
He jokingly added that his father is a “quiet person,” before saying, “He’s far from normal, I can say that.” It’s definitely a bit off at times, but I love it.
“Most of the things he gets in trouble for are things he did as a teenager. It’s a bit complicated that 30 years later, trying to live with his son, being hounded by warrants and his criminal record,” he added.
The teen went on to say that his father taught him that you have to help people first if you want their help.
“I love hanging out with my dad, he’s a great guy to hang out with, he’s a good person,” she added.
Ben told Rob at the end of the episode, “There’s this tough man, and I don’t doubt you can be tough, you can be edgy.” But you really do wear your heart on your sleeve, where does that come from?
The single dad replied, “It could be because I try hard to show my son how to do it right.” When you’re serious, you’re serious.
Despite not having many possessions, Rob told Ben that he would now refuse to live in a house.
“I think if someone gave me property and a house, I wouldn’t even take it,” he said, adding that he tried to be a member of mainstream society and “couldn’t stand it.”
Having a criminal record for misdemeanors as a teenager means Rob can’t pass the background checks needed to get an apartment or a job.
Some of the arrests on his records stem from his use of marijuana, which only became legal in Oregon in 2015.
“When it was very, very illegal, they treated it like heroin,” he told Ben, adding that he was “indicted more times than I could count” for having marijuana on him.
But at 49, the drifter said he has no intention of ever changing.
“I find it amusing to see women grab their children as if I were going to take them from them because of my looks,” she said.
“I feel that I have to be how I want, how I want to be,” he added.
Rob also added that some people envy him his freedom.
“A lot of people see the freedom in me and they crave it, but they can’t, because they’re stuck in their 9 to 5 schedule,” he told Ben.
“I feel sorry for them, they are like beaten dogs,” he added.
Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild airs tonight at 9pm on Channel 5.