Former auto dealer .
Antoinette Frink's sen­
tence was commuted by
President Clinton and
now she tries to put the
past behind her and
rebuild her life.
by M aty M. Chapman
The night before she got
word, a nervous Antoinette brink
nibbled pizza with cellmates at a
federal prison in Lexington, Ky.,
barely allowing herself to think that,
after more than 11 long years, she
could soon be released:
"I’d gone up and down with the
possibility that my sentence would be
commuted,” Frink, former president
of McFrink Chevrolet-Cadillac Inc. in
Delaware, Ohio, said in a telephone
interview from her sister's home in
Georgia.
"I was sort of hopeful, but not too
(hopeful). Then, when 1 couldn’t stand
it anymore, 1 called a relative and
asked them to go online to a newspa­
per, and that’s how 1 found out. My
name was on that list, and I thank
God.. I was out by 6:45 that night.’’
Frink, 49, was indeed one of 140
pardons and 36 commutations grant­
ed Jan. 20 by President Clinton. She
had been indicted in December 1988
and convicted that next May, sen­
tenced to a mandatory 15 1/2 years
for, basicallv. selling cars to drug deal­
ers. Federal officials contend that she
knew that those vehicles would be
used to transport drugs.
Frink, a former teacher who has a
master’s degree in school psychology,
was sentenced under guidelines that
prohibit parole but subtract time for
good behavior, or "good time,’’ as it's
often called. She had been scheduled
for release in 2003. For her part, Frink
says she didn’t do anything wrong.
"I think the whole thing was unfair.
In fact, it was indescribable as to how
unjust it was,” she said. "There’s a fine
line in business. You're trained all vpur
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