Barry Minkow heads back to prison

The one-time ZZZZ Best wunderkind is reporting to a facility in Lexington, Ky., where he'll begin serving a five-year sentence for securities fraud. "I deserve it and will be fine," he wrote in an email to the LAT. At this point it's hard to know what Minkow is all about. He's gone from successful entrepreneur, to convicted scamster, to remorseful pastor, to dedicated gumshoe, and finally, to careless schemer. From the Times:

Last March he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to damage Lennar Corp. by attacking the Miami-based home builder in reports he acknowledged were filled with falsehoods. He had been hired by a San Diego County developer whose partnership with Lennar in Rancho Santa Fe had soured. Minkow told U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz in Miami that he had become addicted to narcotic painkillers he used to treat his migraine headaches, finally kicking the habit when he realized he was under criminal investigation.

Minkow would have preferred a minimum-security facility (that's what a federal judge had recommended), but looking on the positive side, he said his wife and kids will only have to drive three-and-a-half hours from the small Tennessee town where they live.