The San Diego native known in his biker gang as Nasty Al had controlled the California gang's drug trafficking in the Sturgis and Rapid City areas for two years before getting caught.

South Dakota man who went from outlaw biker and drug dealer to ordained minister says a presidential pardon made him cry and bolstered his desire to help others.

The Rev. Al Peratt Sr. of Sioux Falls was sentenced in 1990 to 2 ½ years in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. The San Diego native known in his biker gang as Nasty Al had controlled the California gang's drug trafficking in the Sturgis and Rapid City areas for two years before getting caught.

"I was ready to die man. It was a bullet or a needle," he told KELO-TV, adding that he was addicted to drugs and alcohol. "I was doing so much bad things that I just figured nobody wanted me and God didn't want me. I was just ready to settle for that."

Peratt entered prison with a reputation that brought him respect from some of the most hardened criminals in the system. A church took in his homeless wife and daughter, helping bring him to the realization that he needed to turn his life around.

"That kind of started my thinking that there has to be some spiritual thing I have to do here to be in tune," he said.

Peratt has spent the past 20 years helping others fight addictions, and helping addicts and criminals transition back to society. He returns to the penitentiary once a month to minister.

"I have a good following in here," he said. "Even one guy knew me out on the street in Rapid City and we were ready to shoot it out a couple of times and now he sits in the front row, almost. He was one of my old crime partners. Now a Christian brother inside the walls."

Peratt was one of eight people pardoned by President Barack Obama last week.

"I just started crying man," he said.