EXCLUSIVE: Man with the Golden Voice tells how he narrowly dodged being sucked into a drug smuggling scheme - after ex-manager was arrested at airport with $500,000 of HEROIN

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Ted Williams, 'The Man With the Golden Voice' who shot to fame after being discovered begging at an intersection, has averted disaster once again.

The former homeless drug addict became an international superstar thanks to his mellifluous tones.

And now Williams believes he may have narrowly avoided being caught up in a drug smuggling scheme by turning down a 'job' offer from his former manager, Daily Mail Online can reveal.

Last month Williams, 58, who is having money trouble once again, was approached by his ex-manager Alfred Battle with an attractive but vague gig in Ethiopia, Africa. 

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Williams shot to fame in 2011 after a video of him begging in his sunny baritone voice went viral

Battle, 60, promised Williams that he'd be 'treated like a king' and rewarded at least $10,000.

Williams was tempted by the lucrative offer and almost agreed.

That was until his current manager Scott Anthony stepped in and put the kibosh on it, demanding Williams to stay in Ohio to concentrate on a different project.

Lucky for Williams he listened.

So dramatic was Williams' rise to fame that in a matter of weeks he found himself on the Jimmy Fallon show. Voice-over work flooded in, including for Pepsi and Kraft Mac and Cheese

Williams' former manager Alfred Battle, 60, was caught at Newark airport with $512,000 of heroin

On July 21 Battle was arrested at Newark airport carrying 18 pounds of heroin, with an estimated value of $512,000.

He was found with the contraband after disembarking from a flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, said Port Authority police.

According to a release from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, ‘Officers noticed that the bag was heavier than normal and found that it had a false bottom’.

Williams is now convinced that Battle was planning to ensnare him in an allegedly criminal scheme.

Williams told Daily Mail Online: ‘Why else would he want me there?

'He could have planted some drugs on me…or maybe he would have used me as the fall guy or something,' he said.

'Maybe I would have been some kind of decoy or distraction,' added Williams, who perpetually turns heads with his booming voice, large teeth and gangly 6'1" physique.

Williams has undergone a dramatic transformation since his begging days, even publishing a book about his story - although the star still has money problems

He believes that he avoided a lengthy jail term by turning down the offer of a 'job' in Ethiopia from his former manager 

‘He’s in jail. He’ll probably be there until he dies. I feel so thankful that isn’t me.

'They would have thrown away the key, I’d be done for.'

Battle is charged with possession of a controlled and dangerous substance and distribution of heroin, said Port Authority spokesman Joe Pentangelo.

'Even if I had no idea what he was planning, even if I was just walking next to him…they would have locked me up for life,’ said Williams.

‘Who’s going to believe that a former crackhead wasn’t in on that deal?’ he asked.

‘I’m angry and sad at the same time, I’ll pray for him’.

Former radio presenter Williams was catapulted to fame in 2011, when a video of him showing off his resounding baritone voice while begging at an intersection in Columbus, OH, went viral. 

At the time he was wrung out from drugs, living in a tent and begging with a sign which read: ‘I have a God given gift of voice, I’m an ex-radio announcer who has fallen on hard times. Please, any help will be gratefully appreciated’.

Lucrative voiceover work for Kraft and Pepsi flooded in, plus a $375,000 book deal and numerous TV appearances, but he struggled to get clean and sober and tens of thousands of dollars were squandered.

‘I signed a lot of things I probably shouldn't have signed back in 2011,' said Williams, who claims he is now about to celebrate five years of sobriety.

‘I was still getting high, making poor decisions…being irresponsible’.

The Dr. Phil show paid for his rehab, but poor money management left him struggling to buy a car or furnish his new house.

Royalties trickle in from his book, ‘A Golden Voice: How Faith, Hard Work and Humility Brought Me from the Streets to Salvation’, but it’s not enough.

The father of nine lives with one of his daughters, Tangela Pullien, and his longtime girlfriend, Kathleen Chambers.

Chambers, 55, has also battled addiction, and also attended a rehab program paid for by Dr. Phil McGraw.

‘She’s my best friend, we’re both taking it one day at a time, that’s what every former addict does,’ said Williams.

Life is still tough, so a carrot stick of $10,000 from his former manager was attractive.

‘Who wouldn’t want to get that amount of money for two days work?’ asked Williams.

'He made it sound like I’d be in Africa to greet fans and inspire people who need help in life’.

Williams with his long-term girlfriend Kathleen Chambers. The star says he is clean now 

'Al was my friend, my best friend for a long time, I wanted to believe it was a legitimate offer,’ added Williams.

Williams has new manager Scott Anthony to thank for avoiding possible jail time.

'I’m going to be honest, personally, I don’t like Al Battle,' said Anthony, 37.

‘I think he’s a bad influence on Ted, he’s trouble.'

Williams claims that Battle has led him astray in the past, but he hoped he’d changed.

‘He used to buy crack cocaine for me when he was my manager,' he claimed.

'I was going through about $100 worth of it per day, it was part of my rider if you will.

‘He never did it with me, he just used to buy it for me,’ he alleged.

Williams is currently looking for more voiceover work and has set up the Ted Williams Project, a non-profit serving homeless shelters.

‘I have a checkered past but I’m clean now. I want to do God’s will, give back and help people’.

After a brief stint on a gospel music channel he hopes to launch a chat show with his local radio station WKVO-AM in the autumn.

‘I was lucky to get a second chance at life, I want to inspire other people to make the right choices and never give up’.

Alfred Battle has pleaded not guilty and his bail has been set at $500,000. 

He has not made bail, according to Katherine Carter, spokeswoman for the Essex County prosecutor's office. 

Williams with a caricature of himself. He hopes to return to his radio host days by launching chat show with his local radio station WKVO-AM in the autumn