Never Get Busted (2025), Barry Cooper

Director and Screenwriter David Anthony Ngo and Producer/Writer Erin Williams-Weir appeared at the 56^th Nashville Film Festival in support of their film, “Never Get Busted,” an Australian film about an American ex-narcotics officer, Barry Cooper. Also listed as director was Stephen McCallum for the 105 minute docu-drama that is described as “a rootin’ tootin’ bag of weird s***” by Travis Boles (one of the many who pointed a camera in Barry Cooper’s direction during his rise and fall). It was the film’s Southeast Premiere.

THE BEGINNING

Cooper’s early career as Barry “Silvertooth” Cooper, a top-ranking drug-busting cop, gave way to turning against his former comrades-in-arms when he realized he was “the bully.” Cooper began embracing weed with the approval and participation of second wife Candi. Barry launched a second career releasing a series of YouTube videos and other instructional materials about how to better hide your drugs entitled “Never Get Busted.”

Barry Cooper began his journey as a gung ho cop who excelled at drug arrests in Texas. His parents, Ralph and Brenda Cooper, describe him during an interview as someone who, once he got hold of an idea or a goal, became obsessed with finishing what he started. What Barry vowed to do was to become the best drug-busting officer in the state of Texas. To achieve that goal, he sought out the very best officers in that field and apprenticed under them, making over 100 drug busts on a stretch of just 3 miles of highway. Barry even trained his own dog, Toby, to help him sniff out drugs, since professionally trained dogs command $5,000 that Barry didn’t have. Toby did so well under Barry’s training that he placed 13^th out of 300 dogs in a trial drug-sniffing competition. [As someone who once sat through an FBI presentation at the NYC FBI offices about how these dogs are trained,—aimed at the writers of thriller novels— trust me, it is a rigorous and thorough process and would definitely require dedication, determination and diligence. FBI dogs are only allowed to be fed by their handlers; food is a motivational tool, not a treat.]

Barry’s skill with training dogs would lead him, eventually, to training rescue dogs in the jungles of the Philippines, a country he ultimately fled to after the Texas Rangers raided his home. This finale might be entitled “He fought the law and the law won.”

EUREKA MOMENT!

As for Barry’s original love of busting those with drugs, particularly dealers transporting marijuana, he had a Eureka moment after a particularly bad drug bust and gained compassion for the lives blasted by the trauma of a typical violent drug bust. Said Barry, “If they didn’t have the veneer of the law behind them, this would just be a bunch of guys with guns taking your shit.” He admits that some of the drug money often lying about during a drug bust might have found its way into his own pocket.

NEVER GET BUSTED

Director/Producer David Anthony Ngo and Producer/Screenwriter Erin Williams-Weir at the 56th Nashville Film Festival.

Thus began a long saga of Barry attempting to gain redemption by making videos that would tell drug dealers how to avoid ever getting busted. Among his tips were some involving where to best hide the cannabis and others suggesting that having a cat or another live animal within your vehicle would deter drug-sniffing dogs. He even advised dealers to spray their tires with the various spray products meant to deter bears or raccoons.

MARRIAGE NUMBER ONE

Barry’s first marriage to a pretty blonde, which made him father to two little girls, crashed and burned when he changed sides. He had a nervous breakdown and took up with a woman named Candi, who would become his second wife. Candi convinced Barry to come live in “Candyland,” where marijuana was the plant of choice.

MARRIAGE TO CANDI

Soon Candi’s face was adorning red shirts for a TV show called Kop Busters, when Barry’s emphasis moved to trying to help seek the release from prison of a woman unjustly framed by the cops, whose heartbroken father financed Barry’s wild scheme to free his daughter, Yolanda Madden Smith, who had been framed by the cops and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

THE CHURCH OF WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW

Before Yolanda’s case aroused Barry’s sense of outrage, he had a brief stint as a preacher. Three good old boys sitting on church pews characterized Barry’s church as an R-rated “nude church.” Disillusionment regarding spreading the Lord’s word was short-lived. Barry definitely had his ministerial presentation down cold, including a crowd-pleasing Benson Boone carthwheel move when taking the stage.

Upon learning that his ministerial mentor in Barry’s R-rated church of choice had feet of clay and was pulling a con known as the “okie dokie,” the discovery drove Barry out of church work and into helping Yolanda’s father Raymond Madden, a Marine veteran who spent 7 years in Vietnam. Raymond—whose motto is “The truth is always the truth”– was trying everything he could to prove that Yolanda’s conviction for transporting methamphetamines in his company truck was bogus.

THE STING

Erin Williams-Weir of “Never Get Busted” at the 56th Nashville Film Festival.

Barry laid out a very ambitious plan for busting crooked cops, setting up a drug “trap” house and waiting for the offending crooked police to kick in the door. Initially, this turned out a bit like Geraldo Ravera’s opening of Al Capone’s vault. Nothing much happened. At one point Barry even attempted to run for Attorney General of Texas, which, given the current occupant of that position, Ken Paxton, would make him a superior choice for the office. But “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away” and the Powers-That-Be were moving against Barry, not at all pleased that he had betrayed them. You might recognize the pattern from the current occupant of the White House. Retribution and revenge become the name of the game for whoever is currently in power and the defense of the targets is bringing public condemnation down upon the bully. That is currently not working well at the national level, or, at least, not working any better than it did for Barry Cooper in Odessa, Texas, (or for comedians targeted by Putin in Russia, or comedians targeted by Trump in the United States.)

YOLANDA MADDEN-SMITH

The Kop-buster action with the staged drug house did bring public attention back to Yolanda Madden Smith’s unjust imprisonment, which eventually got her an evidentiary hearing in Midland, Texas, and a dismissal of the rest of her 8-year sentence (4 years). However, no official action was ever taken against the police who framed Yolanda. One particularly malevolent figure is former Barry buddy Joe Commander of the questionable Permian Drug Task Force, who consented to be interviewed, but caused the Australian filmmakers, (who had looked over all of the evidence that proved Yolanda was innocent) to declare Yolanda’s conviction as “an incredibly egregious injustice.” Her case was “swept under the rug.”

Director David Anthony Ngo said that getting Joe Commander to participate might have been “flying a little too close to the flame.” Ngo confirmed that the police in Texas (Odessa) really did NOT like Barry revealing their trade secrets. Barry is still living in exile. He lost his livelihood, his wife, his kids, his belongings, and his country. The film is dedicated to second wife Candi and, although the audience asked, “What happened to Candi?” the film crew clammed up, saying that “Candi is in the series process.”

AUSTRALIA

The fact that it was a film crew from Australia that made this film (along with a bit of help from the Hole in the Wall gang of Austin,Tx), is but one of the mysteries of the entire project. The documentary had a gonzo filming style with loud musical accompaniment that held your interest and entertained. Barry Cooper is a real piece of work. He’s the kind of guy you suspect has some serious mental issues that would require years on a couch, but you can’t help but like him and be mesmerized by his out-there actions.

THE PHILIPPINES

According to the film this night, Barry is currently in hiding in the Philippines where he trains rescue dogs, although, in a separate post Barry described living 20 places in 4 years, including Venezuela and Brazil and detailed the fight to regain custody of Candi’s son, Zach, who was taken by the courts in Williamson County, Texas who accused the couple of teaching Zach distrust of authority.

TARGETED

Director/Producer David Anthony Ngo of “Never Get Busted” at the 56th Nashville Film Festival.

After Barry betrayed his brothers in blue by revealing their trade secrets, he became the target of harassment. That precipitated his move to the Philippines, where he continues to check in with the filmmakers every six months or so over a 6 and ½ year period. Producer Erin Williams-Weir and Director David Anthony Ngo, with the help of editor Julian Hart, combed through over 350 hours of archival footage that Barry and others provided. It was cut as a 4-part series and a feature film. The process took three to four years. The continuation dealing with Candi’s story is an ongoing process. (Candi, then Barry’s ex-wife and one of his three wives, was murdered in Florida on August 4, 2017, by 51-year-old Billy Baker of Lindale, Florida).

SOUND

This film had an extremely loud and lively soundtrack, supervised by Duncan Cam. At film’s end in the theater the night of its Southeast premiere, there was some additional loud noise that assaulted the audience’s ears for a few seconds at film’s end. The entire documentary, based on extensive online postings by Barry Cooper, was described early in the film as “Breaking Bad/Ozark shit.” When one of Barry’s lawyers, Adam Reposa, is listed as “attorney/weed dealer,” a description that sounds like it would be perfect for a second hire for the TV series lawyer Bob Odenkirk of “Better Call Saul,” Adam’s declaration (after being let out of handcuffs after being held in the back of a police car without cause) was, “F*** this effing batshit bull****. I am out of here.” Language was salty throughout. Be warned.

CONCLUSION

That Adam Reposa statement sums up the overall tone of this enjoyable and nearly unbelievable portrait of a true American original, Barry Cooper, defender of weed, righter of wrongs, random dude. More to come. Stay tuned.