Raised in a strict but loving Christian home with his mother and sister after his parents divorced Charles started to lose his way and eventually became addicted to the street life and drugs, a lifestyle that landed him eventually in prison several times for a total of about 7 years.

It was during one of those violations in San Quentin that the Gospel of Jesus Christ started to truly take hold of him while filling in as the bass player for the San Quentin Mass Choir. While in San Quentin he meet Chaplin Earl Smith who advised him to continue to grow in the faith and to attend the San Francisco Christian Center upon his release and by the grace of God has been clean and sober and a productive member of society since 1992.