Ya, I know such stories. There's this guy I went to elementary school with. He was a class bully but last year when he was only 18 I heard that he moved to a flat in our "little ghetto"...it's a part of our main street where the most persons receiving welfare aid live. So I once saw him there with his gf. She was pregnant and he had a broken arm. I heard that he works as a construction worker. And a few weeks ago I saw him again with a baby carriage. I would never have believed that he could change this way.
But it also works the other way round like you told. There is a girl. We once were friends but then she left school after 9th grade and is known as a little hobby hooker now.