The ‘McBee Dynasty’ star will report to prison on Monday, Dec. 1, after pleading guilty to one count of federal crop insurance fraud
As he prepares to report for prison, Steve McBee Sr. is finding support in fellow reality star Todd Chrisley.
The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys star, 52, tells PEOPLE he was connected with Chrisley, 56, through a producer on his show who’d previously worked on Chrisley Knows Best. The two quickly bonded over their similar legal ordeals: McBee was sentenced to 24 months in prison in October after pleading guilty to one count of federal crop insurance fraud, while Chrisley and his wife Julie were found guilty of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax fraud in 2022.
While serving their prison sentences, Chrisley and his wife were fully pardoned by President Donald Trump in May.
“I cannot say enough good things about Todd,” says McBee. “After I did a podcast with Todd last Thursday, we went and had lunch. We walked in to the restaurant, and there was a beautiful young lady as a hostess, and she looked at Todd and just started crying. She was like, ‘Mr. Chrisley, we love you. I just got out of prison Oct. 9., and the changes that you have made for my sisters that are still in there of getting treated like a human — you’re changing everybody’s life.’ It was a powerful moment.”
After their lunch, McBee says he called his son Cole to tell him what had happened.
“I said, ‘When I get out, I want to do something like that,’” he says. “It was such an inspiration. My path forward when I’m done with all this may be really trying to lead this next generation to keep family farms [alive], and it really comes back to the consumer. There’s a lot of pathways that they could support local farms.”
McBee was ordered to self-surrender to federal prison in Yankton, South Dakota, before 2 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 1. He says he and his family will drive to Yankton on Sunday and stay the night “so they can see the town and get comfortable with everything.”
