Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - NYC Model Becomes Fraud Queen

Episode Date: July 30, 2026

After chasing status and belonging through New York's fraud scene, former model Jaimee Robinson shares how years of crime and consequences ultimately led her to rebuild her life on the right path.⁣ ⁣ Do you want to be a guest? Fill out the form https://www.insidetruecrimepodcast.com/apply-to-be-a-guest⁣ ⁣ Connect with Jaimee - ⁣ Instagram: @msjaimeepaige⁣ Threads: @msjaimeepaige⁣ Tik Tok: @mejaimeepaige⁣ Website: www.thejamespaigeagency.com⁣ ⁣ Get 10% sitewide for a limited time. Just visit https://GhostBed.com/cox and use code COX at checkout. ⁣ ⁣ Shop my merch: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MatthewCoxCollection⁣ ⁣ Send me an email here: [e-mail]⁣ ⁣ Do you extra clips and behind the scenes content?⁣ Subscribe to my Patreon: https://patreon.com/InsideTrueCrime ⁣ ⁣ Check out my Dark Docs YouTube channel here -⁣ https://www.youtube.com/@DarkDocsMatthewCox⁣ ⁣ Follow me on all socials!⁣ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetruecrime/⁣ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@matthewcoxtruecrime⁣ ⁣ ⁣ Do you want a custom painting done by me? Check out my Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/coxpopart⁣ ⁣ Listen to my True Crime Podcasts anywhere: https://anchor.fm/mattcox ⁣ ⁣ Check out my true crime books! ⁣ Shark in the Housing Pool: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851KBYCF⁣ Bent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV4GC7TM⁣ It's Insanity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFYXKK8⁣ Devil Exposed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TH1WT5G⁣ Devil Exposed (The Abridgment): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070682438⁣ The Program: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858W4G3K⁣ Bailout: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bailout-matthew-cox/1142275402⁣ Dude, Where's My Hand-Grenade?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNFHBDF/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678623676&sr=1-1⁣ ⁣ Checkout my disturbingly twisted satiric novel!⁣ Stranger Danger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSWQP3WX⁣ ⁣ If you would like to support me directly, I accept donations here:⁣ Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/MattCox69⁣ Cashapp: $coxcon69⁣ ⁣ Chapters: ⁣ 00:00 - Adoption & Early Life⁣ 06:02 - Ballroom Scene & Crafting (Fraud)⁣ 18:01 - Escalation, Arrest, and Consequences⁣ 22:39 - Fraudulent Checks, Fake IDs, and Retail Scams⁣ 33:11 - Payroll Check Scheme ("Crunching Cookies")⁣ 45:06 - Arrest & Realization⁣ 1:00:10 - Jail Transfer and Isolation⁣ 1:09:47 - Credit Card Fraud and Designer Theft⁣ 1:17:08 - Sentence, Jail, and Drug Program Entry⁣ 1:30:19 - Arrest in Woodstock and Jail Time⁣ 1:34:41 - Probation, Curfew, and Turning Point⁣ 1:38:17 - New Career in Events and Writing a Book Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So I started walking balls. They kind of introduced me to this lifestyle, which is called crafting. We would get the fake credit cards, the first swipe. As soon as it went through, I was like, whoa. Now I'm going for gusto. You can't tell me anything. I was adopted in a Caucasian Jewish home as a multiracial child that didn't even find out that she was biracial until I was like in high school college.

So it was very interesting. So the family photo is there's like three Jewish boys and you got like an afro? No, no. I mean, that's exactly what it was. You didn't know. Well, they had to tell me when I was five because I was in a predominantly white school. Right. And my hair started growing crazy.

I didn't look like my family. I probably didn't see black kids until like middle school. I mean, how was school? Like your brother's sisters? Like how was growing up? I mean, other than, you know. School was, I want to say school was okay, but it was mentally tough. So I grew up in, we were pretty much all middle class or upper middle class.

So I grew up, I had a great, great life. You know, I didn't want for anything. Like, you know, my dad was an attorney. My mom was a school teacher. So it was great. But I think mentally, I was called the chia pet, the brown boiled eggs. So, you know, like kids, they're so harsh, you know what I mean? So it's like growing up like I think it was more of the the mental thing of it that was kind of tough for me.

And I think that's what made me explore. And I was a rebellion and I wanted to sneak out and try drugs and all, you know, like all the things that I like the taboo stuff of like what I guess I don't want to say rich kids. But like rich kids do when they're in high school like with the drugs and stuff. Yep, that was me. Did you go to college? So I did go to college. I went to university. College? No, I went to university. No, no, no, no, no, no. I went to University of Coastal Carolina,

which is 30 minutes from Myrtle Beach. I went there because, number one, I wanted to get away from New Jersey and from my parents. My parents were pretty strict. Like, I had a curfew and I just was always breaking it. So any chance, like any school that was going to take me. I love how your parents are strict because they don't want you to sneak out at one o'clock and do glow, right? And then you, and then you still. They're such assholes. They really. So any school that I got accepted to that was far away. However, the caveat to that was we were 25 minutes away from Myrtle Beach, which was party. Yeah.

I mean, the beach was always a party. So I did not finish college, unfortunately. I was going to say that's probably a working model. Yeah. Yeah, it was fair. So what you flunk out at what second? Did you make it two semesters? I did.

No, I made. it almost a whole year. Nice. Yeah, I made it almost a whole year. And then I was dating this guy. He ended up being abusive and almost took my life and I just came home. Like I was like, yeah, I'm done. So you go, so what are you, 19 now?

And you go home? Yes. Yeah. I left everything in the apartment and just called my mom. She put me on a bus because this guy like literally broke into my house and almost took my life. So it was just, yeah. Yeah, I watch a lot of true crime.

So you get it. Oh, I'm always, you know, it's so funny because I'll, you know, some women was like the, like the signs are there. And they're like, no, but he wouldn't. What do you mean he wouldn't? Like, you need to watch more true crime. He will. Yeah. You have no idea what a guy's capable of.

And then so finally it was too much. So I broke up with him like, but you're in more danger than ever. Yeah. You know, you're really. Well, honestly, his was very, it was very unexpected. But he had an accident. He came from a wholesome family, and his family owned like a string of funeral homes, like very well known in the town. He was very, you know, straight to-do guy.

It's even worse. He started selling drugs. He knows how to get rid of the body. Right, right. But he started selling drugs. And someone owed him money. We went to go pick it up. I was with him.

Someone went to, he went to go pick it up. And the guy hit him in the head with a piece of plywood. And just blood started pouring out of his head. He was in a coma for months. It was insane. So when he came out of the coma, he was so foggy. He was not himself. He started putting dust in his blunts.

And he just became, you know, addicted to the product, basically. And he assumed the worst of me like, oh, you're sleeping with my friends. You're, you know, just accusing me of everything. And he just snapped. So you go home. So once you go home, what do you start get a job? And then I started hanging out with one of my friends. friends from high school, who happened to be a drug dealer.

I was hanging out with her, and her cousin was coming over to her house all the time, and her cousin is a woman. And I've always been curious about women and dating women, and I've always been, my sexuality have been curious. So she piqued my interest, and we started dating. And it's just so middle-class Jewish family. Listen, it really is, it's really interesting. Like, when I tell people my story, they're like, how did you get here?

Because when they see my parents, they're like, what? You can see your dad barely graduated. Sneak it out, doing drugs, barely gets through high school, drops out of college. Well, it can't get any worse. Oh, wait. No, no. There's another. Oh, listen.

We're not even close to the basement. No, no, it's layered. You thought she were disappointed before. Yeah, so I met her and we started dating. And she introduced me to the ballroom scene. I don't know if you ever heard of the ballroom community. It's LGBTQ. The Vogueing.

Have you ever heard of the show Pose? Have you ever heard of the show Pose? Okay. You'll have to look it up. I grew up on country music. What year is this anyway? I was probably in jail. No, you probably were.

This was 1990, so I started walking balls in 95. Oh, yeah. No, I was, I was graduating college. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, so it was 95. And so the ballroom scene is basically, it started as an underground community. And it's a competition.

So you have different houses. Think of it as like fraternities and sororities. So you have different fraternities, sororities, but that they're called houses. And they're named after a. famous fashion designers. You have like the house of Gucci, the house of Chanel, the house of Valenciaaga, you know, so, and there's a parental, like a mother and a father of each house. So it's like the leaders. And you go to these balls and you compete in vogueing. You compete in runway. So I started walking balls competing in woman's face, which is I just, you know, for my face.

You compete with other women and you get judged. Like you either get tens across the or you get chopped. Right. So she introduced me. And now keep in mind, like, the majority of this community, it started back in the day because drag queens, they couldn't walk in pageants. Right. So they started this ballroom community so they can have their own way to show off

and compete. That's pretty much the gist of it. It's a lot more layered, but I'm giving you the A to B. So it's a majority men, though, gay men. So, and it's very heavily Latina and Black men. So, I can only hear the comments, bro. So I come into this ballroom community. And of course, like my eyes light up.

I grew up watching all the fashion shows, the award shows. I had models on my wall. So here I come into this community, seeing all these people dressed up, walking the runway. and I'm like a kid in a candy store. I'm like, oh my gosh, I want in. So I started walking balls. And then I got with the group of guys in the house I was in. And they kind of introduced me to this lifestyle, which is called crafting.

And basically, crafting is going into the store, writing fraudulent checks, or using credit cards and getting merchandise to either walk these balls in. Right. Or take it back and get the cash. Well, I mean, and it's called crafting? Yeah, they call crafting. That sounds so much better than fraud. Yeah.

We were calling it fraud. Right. People weren't signing up. We were lining up to do some crafting. Ridiculous. Yeah. So my mom got me a job at Fleet Bank because her, her, I don't want to say friend, but her colleague was working.

and I ended up getting a job as a customer service rep. I wasn't a teller. I was a customer service rep. So I had access to everyone's account information. And again, I don't think like at the time I knew going into it. Like I was like, oh, yeah, I'm about to run some game on this bank. I think just getting entangled with these guys that were in this house, they opens me up to a lifestyle where it was like,

okay, let's get this fast cash and get some clothes. Because originally just started as like, let's get some clothes to wear it to the ball. So this was my first taste of fraudulent activity. And you're still dating the chick. Yes. Oh, we were together for almost eight years. What's her name?

I love this. I love this secrecy. Give her a name. Let's call her Tracy. Okay, Tracy. Yes. So you're still dating. It's Tracy.

also doing this? No. So Tracy... Is she trying to dissuade you from doing this? Absolutely not because she was benefiting from it. Okay. You know what I mean? Like, you can do that. Right. You're like the crash. And so like, so remember I told you about her cousin that was selling drugs. Right. So she was selling drugs a little bit too. But we all live together. So it was me, her and her cousin. Okay. We all lived together. So back then, in the bank, you know, you can go in with your debit card and they you a temporary card right then and there. I don't know if you remember back in the day, you go in and... What I remember is, this is funny because I remember when I had, I'd open a Bank of America as a fake, using a fake, it wasn't a fake idea. It was a real ID from DMV. It just,

it wasn't my, right. So I went in the DME and got, stole someone's idea. Right. But this was in, like, 2005, because I went in and they took a photo of you and they would put it on your, they give you a debit card and you had it and actually had your photo on the debit card. Okay. That was after. These were like literally just plastic cars that we, that already came with like temporary numbers on them. So we would punch it in at our desk, like a customer service wrap.

If you come in and you say, hey, I lost my debit card, you show your ID. And it was that simple back then is that like, oh, we see your ID. We grab a card from the drawer. The drawer was locked up. Type the numbers in. But we had keys. Only three of us would have keys. get the card,

swipe it, and we put the pin or whatever the code is that the computer gave us. The computer would generate the car, the number. So that's how easy it was.

So I came up with a plan where, so I would take a customer's account that had someone that had over 100 grand in their account. And you know, back then 95,

that's kind of a substantial amount of money to us. Like, we're like, okay, 100 grand? That's, you know, oh my gosh. And I... It's a substantial amount now.

Right. I mean. So I would take the card and I would assign the card to these people's account. Now, the issue is that I couldn't go take the money out off the ATM because of cameras. Yeah. So I would have the guys that I was hanging out with that introduced me to this crafting lifestyle. They would go to ATMs and I would put the limit at $1,000 a day. So they would go to the ATMs and pull out the $1,000 a day.

Is this one, did you try it first with just one account? Yes. Okay. Yes. And we tried it. And it worked. And it worked. And we just kept going.

And we would take out not, we wouldn't just hit the account once. We were hitting that account like five and six times. Yeah. Like we would do it for like five days straight, like $1,000 each day. And then I started doing multiple. accounts. Like once I saw it working, I was like, oh, okay, I could do two a day. So for, so the way that the bank worked though as well, so it shows like it logs you in like when you're giving out these numbers, like you're, because you're logged into your account. Yeah. So my sneaky ass,

the guy that sat behind me, I noticed that he keeps his pin to get into the thing under his his keyboard. So the days that he was out, I would take his PIN number and I started logging in under his account. Under Jim's account. Yeah, under Jim's account. Or Jim. Well, I mean, he kind of figured it out. I think that's how I kind of got caught was because they started. The FBI showed up and they were like, you know, say FBI. You're here to talk to Jim, aren't you? You know, he's doing fraud. No. No, no, no, no. You talk to him. I'm surprised you haven't been here earlier. Yeah. No, but we were doing this for a while. Like, I mean, this literally was going on for, I promise you, like, it had to be going on for at least like two to three months. But then I started

running out of accounts. Like, I couldn't, like, it was only so much I can look up people's accounts. Right. How are people every once while coming in and saying, hey. Oh, yeah. But it was FDIC, like, you know, it was insured. So like, they're just like, oh, you know, and then back then, of course, it was just like, okay, sure, we'll re, you know, we'll reimburse you, whatever they go through the process, we file an investigation. It's not as deep as it is now. Like back then it was like a piece of paper, you fill out, you send in inner office, uh, in those yellow envelopes, you know, and it was just like, they get their money back.

They get their money by that night. Yeah, within 24 hours they got to return. Right. Right. Right. So we were just breezing. The electronic transfer act. Yeah.

So we were breezing. So how many accounts did you have like at once going on in that month period? Like, are you guys pulling out four or five in the day? or? I would say we were pulling out maybe. I would probably do at the most three to four accounts at one time. Okay. So you figure a grand a day on each account,

we're pulling out now like four to five grand a day. Right. Yeah. So are you concerned at all? I mean, are you thinking this is going to come back on me? Four people have come in this week. Not yet. Is your manager saying, listen to what's going on here?

No, not yet. Like nobody was really on. yet. So that was the thing that, like, I was like, okay, I would like, it was like tipping my toe in the water. I can see the weekly meeting which she says, listen, something's going on with the bank, somebody's taking stuff. You're sitting there going like this to Jim. Have you talked to Jim? Right, right. Have you checked his PIN number? I think he's on drugs. Right. That's what I think he's trying to support his habit.

So, so I started kind of dwindling. running out of accounts. Right. So this is where I fucked up because now... This is where... So now I involve a teller that I'm cool with. Like, we would hang out every now and again. So I tell the teller, like, you know, I think I can trust her.

So I'm like, hey, look, I got this thing going on. Do you want to make some money? Do you want to make some extra cash? You know, I knew she had kids. Like, you know, she... She was kind of, I don't want to say struggling, but I knew like she could use extra cash. So I was like, you know. Do a lot of people turn down extra cash?

No, no. So I ended up bringing her into the fold. And at first she was with it. Like everything was going well. So what would happen is people would come in to deposit. So she could see the accounts, the tell her, like when people come in for deposits. And she started writing down the account numbers of people that had over 100 grand. So my thing in my head was I'm not going to take money from anybody that's under 100 grand.

Because in my mind, I'm like, oh, they won't miss it or, you know, it won't hurt them. You know, like, that's, I guess that was my mindset. They're all going to get the money back. But yeah. Right. But my mindset was like, I'm not going to touch someone's account that only has 10 grand in it. You know, like, I don't know if it was like the morality. Well, or are you also thinking that if they have less than 10 grand, then they're probably

checking their account more often. Right. Right. Right. Right. You know, so like somebody, again, who has, you know, and then people had like multiple accounts where they had these money markets and a lot of times we would hit the money market because that's, to your point, like, that's not, they're not checking that every day. Right. So she would write down these accounts that had over 100 grand and she would give me the accounts.

And I was, I'm still doing the ATM thing with the, with the debit cards. So now, after that's going well. this gentleman comes in and he applies for a loan, a $10,000 loan. And he gets approved. And then he calls me and says he doesn't want it. However, the paperwork was already signed. So I take the paperwork to my teller that I've been, you know, we've been running and shaking with her. Yeah.

And I'm like, hey, I need this check. The check, the check, because back then we printed the checks out, we did the cashier checks, and I said, I need this cash for this loan. This guy got approved for a loan. I did all the paperwork because it was already signed. He had signed it, but then he decided he didn't want it. But I'm like, well, they don't know that. So she looks up at my desk, and she's like, well, where's the guy at?

And I was like, oh, he's coming in later today. She was like, she kind of like got a red flag. And I guess in her head of like, well, why isn't anybody sitting at your desk coming to collect this money? Right. So I was like, listen, girl, I was like, he's coming in later. He's going to be coming in when the bank's about to close. Like, I'm just going to lock the cash in my drawer. So she hesitantly didn't want to give me the money, but because I think we had this, you know, thing going on.

You already had, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Already got her. So she gives me the cash. She gives me the 10 grand. And I took it home. You know, like I'm like, in my head, I got away with it. About three or four days later, I was called to the office. Like, there's like this back office.

The main manager called me up and she said, you know, I need to speak to you. And I was like, okay, so we go to the back. And there were two police officers there. They were there for Jim. Yeah. So. And Jim was. there that day. That was just so funny. Because I remember when she called me back, he was looking

he wore glasses. So he was looking over his glasses like, mm-hmm, they got you, girl. So we go to the back and there's these two officers there. And I'm like, okay, I'm fucked. Like, I already knew, you know. So they didn't say anything there. They're like basically like, we're not going to handcuff you, but we need you to come to the station because we have questions and, you know, yada, yada. So, But I still had to walk through the front with the cops. But I wasn't handcuffs. So I don't want to say it was embarrassing, but at the same time, it kind of was. Because, again, my mother's friend worked there as well.

Right. So, you know, now she sees this. So I already knew, like, ah, like, that was the first thing that was going through my head was like, fuck my parents. You know, like, because I know for a fact she probably got on the phone and started calling people, you know, the town gossip type situation. At least called your mom, right? No, actually, I ended up calling my mom. Yeah, I had to call my mom from the police station. Yeah.

So I got arrested when I got to the police station. They had proof, of course. Like, they had something on the camera and the girl ended up. They questioned her. She told on me, of course, because she didn't want to get in trouble. She ended up ratting me out. And this was like the loan. This wasn't even the ATM card.

Like, they didn't even have the ATM cards what they were questioning me at. They were questioned me about the loan. Right. So they questioned me about the loan. And I kind of got off. Like, my parents ended up having to bail me out. They had to put the house up, which my mother was in shambles. Like, she was just a complete wreck.

And my dad was very calm. But, of course, they came and got me. And I got, I want to say, six years probation. I had to do community service. and I had to pay. A lot of probation. How much money was it? It was 10 grand.

They only got you for the 10 grand? Yes. Six years probation for 10 grand? Yeah, it was. What about the cards? No. They never even, that was never even. Yeah.

So they got me for the loan. Right. So, and not the cards. So. You're a felon? Yeah. At that point, you're a felon? Well, yes.

So this is, yes. A felony. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. It's a felony. Yeah, for sure.

and I had to do community service and pay restitution, had to pay it back and all that. So you'd think that I learned my lesson, but nope. I jumped right back into it. And now I got introduced to writing checks, fraudulent checks. So we started writing checks. We would have the checks printed up. I never really knew some of the times where the checks came from.

Like, I guess whoever, like, the guys I was hanging out with, they were connected with, you know, the fake IDs. Like, it just was there, you know, like, oh, hey, give me, you know, we're going to give you this information and here's the checks and here's the ID. This is what you're going to do. You're going to go into the store, write this check for this amount, keep it under this amount, which was usually like we'd go into like Costco's. I think it was Costco's or Sam's Club, one of those. So we would go in there, write these checks for under $400, buy a vacuum cleaner, and take it back the next day and get the cash. But we were hitting like four Costco's in a day. Like we were on the road all day.

Right. We would get up at like 9 o'clock in the morning, go hit like four or five Costco's, each at like 400 apiece. We would have like a car full of vacuum clean, like those Dyson, the Dyson vacuum clean. vacuum cleaners that are like $400 and we'd have a car full of them and then the next day they would take them back and give you cash. Like no questions. Right. So that was like... Are you using a fake ID?

Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So these... Okay, okay. Sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we had the fake IDs, the checks. So after a while, though, the ID connect that we did have ended up drying. out. So I ended up, because I was doing graphic design as well, I ended up starting making IDs as well. I learned how to make, like, I would scan the ID in and change the numbers, and we would literally, like, rip the, I don't know if your IDs, if in New Jersey, like, they

were, like, the plastic, so you could just pull them apart. So we would pull the IDs apart, put the ones that I made in there, like the photocopies, and glue them back together. Yeah. So. That's how I didn't mind the first. What I actually did was I would go to the DMV and get an ID. Yeah. I mean,

there was a point where I probably had a dozen IDs issued within six months. Oh, wow. And they just kept saying, you know, and eventually they started asking you. Yeah. I was like, my fucking girlfriend's crazy. She throws it. She gets my ID. She doesn't want me to go out drinking with my buddy.

They throw it stodes away. She said, asshole. I'm dating an asshole. And they'd be like, I get it, bro. Yeah. You know, eventually that you're not going to be able to get an ID or this is going to be a problem.

Right. So what I would do is I get the ID in Florida and it had the actually this is back when it had it said Florida across it at an angle. Okay. Florida, Florida, Florida, Florida, Florida, you know. And so I would take 220 grit sandpaper and I would sand off the information, just Matthew Cox, the whole thing, the address, everything. And I would print whatever information I wanted in reverse on a piece of thin laminate. So now it's facing up. If you look through the laminate, it's correct.

Right. And so then I'd take literally a glue stick. Yeah. A clear glue stick. And I put it down and I'd squeegee out the glue, flip it over, take an exacto knife and go around the edges. Yep. Peel it off, you know. And it'd still be a little rough.

So then I'd take the 220 grit sandpaper and just lightly sand it and it sand it perfectly around the thing. So now I've got this perfect. Now, you literally would be really difficult. You'd have to really get your thumb. your fingernail to try and peel it off. But, and then I'd buff it a little bit, but you could still see bits and pieces of, of the hologram through it.

Yeah. So if somebody grabbed it, because everyone was once in a while, somebody would grab it and go like this, they'd see, you know, right over my face and shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And maybe it'd be broken in a couple spots, but it also looks like a used,

it looks like a five-year-old ID that's been in your pocket or whatever. So it gets worn off. So they'd go, listen, the first time I saw somebody grabbed it and go like that, heat, shoot. Right. I'm like, oh my God. Oh,

Oh, butterflies. Yeah. And they were like, okay, yeah. Go ahead. And I thought, no, no. So, but yeah. So I, I mean some of the things that people accept are like, what? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. There's, yeah, there have been times. Yeah. They just don't even, you're, I almost felt like, like where they would look at it so quickly and barely glance at it. And I'd almost feel like going, hey, who, whoa, whoa, whoa, you look at this again. This work is immaculate. How fucking long it took me to do this. Work is immaculate.

Can you please look? Yes. Yes. But we were doing that. We were doing that. I mean, later on, we were doing that with the IDs, but we were also doing it with the checks. Right. Like, we would literally change the routing number.

We would cut and we would have like the microse, the magnifying glass and we would take the tweezer. And we would switch like one number on the check number. And it would go through the machine. And of course, it wouldn't go through. And then they have to call it in. So people back then, they were calling it. in and of course like now it's going through because they're calling it in they're like okay and they just manually put it in yeah i mean back then like listen we got away with so much because i think you know

like the system it just wasn't it wasn't it what it is now so you're going in with these checks yeah and so it's it's you and the crew of drag queens are going into play well no no no no so these are you've seen the movie like they've got the hair and they're walking in with a six-foot two. Just gay guys. Just the gay guys. You're all walking in. Glitter.

No. We know it's the, we know, we know who it is. Why? All the checks have glitter on it. Right, right. No. No, no, no, no, no. No, it was these two guys that I hung out with on the regular.

So, yeah, we were doing the stores. So we were doing Costco. We would do Best Buy. Like, we would do the stores and we'd buy, like, big ticket items. But we knew we had to keep it under a certain amount before it was flagged. And even some of these stores, if it was like, Like for Best Buy, if you're writing a check over $500, they have to get a supervisor. They have to get an override from the supervisor.

That's what we didn't want. Yeah. You know, we would like kind of map it out too. Like, we would see a young kid like, oh, let's go on that register because we can probably swindle in if there's a problem, you know. And sometimes if the check gets declined, I don't know if you remember it was like telecheck. And I forgot what the other one was, but you can call in and they give you a code and you put

it in and the check goes through. Right. So sometimes. There's acute check. Yes. Telecheck. Yes. And there's one more.

Yeah. Check systems. Check systems. Yeah. Yeah. So sometimes if it got declined, you know, here we are. I'm going to call real quick. So we'll call and we'll step to the side and I'll call my friend who's waiting in the car.

And I'll say, hey, I just got declined. I need a code. Da, da, da, da. And I'll pass it to the register and say, hey, this is telecheck. Like they're saying, you know, I'm good. And again, that's why we would go to people that were look ditsy. Right. And they're like, okay, what's the code?

Or like, they would be in the car, oh, can you confirm, like, you know, just play it off. Yeah. Like, can you confirm the routing number and this and that and give a code and it will go through? Sometimes it wouldn't go through. But once we learned the system of like, I think Telecheck was like a five approval code. Check systems was like a four approval code. But once we learned, kind of learned the system, we kind of played into that. So we had that one, I forget who it was.

They were making the, they were make, like, whatever. They made the cards in the number on the back of the card was her friend's number. Yeah. And so if it got to get to collect, they couldn't run it. And they were like, it's not running. And they'd go, what? And they said, well, can they go, well, here. Can you call?

Oh, yeah. Hold on. Oh, yeah, here's a phone number. They'd call. So they'd call. And they'd pick up, you know, they would pick up and they would be like, oh, cool, I'll transfer you to such and such. And you know, beep.

That is clever. See, we didn't think about that. And then they, they'd go, okay, what is the card? Can you confirm this? Can you, okay, and what is the amount? And they'd go through it. Okay, hold on a second. They'd do it.

It was perfect. She actually did the imitation on, I think, on the video. Hello, somebody said it. Like the whole, like, she did the whole thing. It was like, fuck, I'd probably fall for that shit. Like she was so professional. She said, what was funny was, she said, they were a couple times when literally they would tell me to call and I would call.

And then they'd say, well, what's, what's, oh, it went through? What's the number? Yeah. And it's like, don't you want to talk to this person? Yeah. I've gotten them too. I have a whole. Just give me the number.

Yeah. I have a whole elaborate thing set up. You need to be a part of this. Yeah. You should hear you. Yeah. You know. Yeah.

We've run into those two where they're like, just give me the number. Yeah. Like, okay, cool. Sure. And walk right out the door. Yeah, and she was doing it for like, God, $15, $20, $50,000, you know. Oh, wow. She would do it with, like, diamond.

Like they would get, and she'd sit there for hours looking over multiple diamonds and looks clarity. So they knew, she said, the big part of it was that they knew by the time we were done and I'd looked at everything that I knew everything about the jewelry. I was a professional. Like, I really knew what I was looking at. And they were like, wow, you really, like, you're not some 20-year-old kid buying it. Right. Like she knew her shit. Yeah. And so by the then when they said, she said, okay, go ahead, ring it up $35,000. And then it didn't go through.

They would, oh, well, well, no, something's wrong. I, I call, call, because that's not right. That's not right. And they call. So it was perfect. They were like, she seems super legitimate. Yeah. She's not in a hurry. She's hanging out here for an hour. You've been here for a fucking hour and a half. So, you know, yeah. A lot of it is like kind of the confidence game too. Well, it is. Yeah. If you walk in there like, you know, like, yeah, it's your own shit. And that's the scary part is like, when I look back at it, I'm like, oh, my God, like, I was really acting. Yeah.

You know, and like, these people believe you. Like, you give them stories like, oh, my God. You know, like, especially like if we go, a lot of times you go into grocery stores and, oh, got to feed my baby at home, you know. So, it got not one kid at home. So, yeah, so the check, the check thing went on for a while. And then there was a group of guys, a group of gay guys, that I started hanging out with in North Carolina. And they introduced me to a whole new check scheme, which was payroll checks, where you would take the, they would get these payroll accounts. They make the fake check.

You go into Walmart or like Food Lion. I don't know if you're familiar with like Food Lion. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. a food lion. And they cash payroll checks for you. So now I'm involved with these guys. And it was a big group of them down in North Carolina. I want to say like eight to ten guys were doing this.

Like it was like everybody would, it's like meeting of the minds. Like everybody would meet at one house. You had somebody in one room printing out the checks. You had somebody in another room making the IDs. And everybody would go their separate ways. So like you'd go out with like three. or, you know, two or three people. And they call it crunching cookies.

Like, because so, like, the payroll check is a cookie. So they'll be like, I'm out crunching cookies. So I know, the code is. I don't know. I don't know. It's like, you know, the story that Matt was just telling about the bank, they're going to the bank with the phone number of the back of the card. They called the bank the candy store.

Oh, yeah. So, like, we'll go into the candy store. Yeah. Must be a thing. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. Because I never even asked. I'm like, oh, we're crunching.

cookies. Okay, cool. I called it defrauding the bank. What you do? I'm going into the defrauding. I'm going to crunch some cookies. So, yeah, so that was, I was, me and Tracy, we would drive down to North Carolina. We would spend the weekend and I would go out with the boys. She would stay at the house with, you know, other people, you know, it's just a whole bunch of people in and out the houses and stuff. And I would go out and do these payroll checks. And we were doing the payroll checks now. We had to keep those under 1,000.

Because once they hit 1,000 or over, for some reason, they wouldn't go through, or they would get flagged, or they would have to call them in. So we kept them under 1,000. So we're hitting now on the IDs and the accounts. Usually you can get like two payroll checks off per ID and per account number. Before what, it kind of flags that person in the system.

I'm like, no, no, no, no, we got two bounce checks from this person. Yeah. Yeah, or it's just you're cashing more than two payroll checks. Like, you know, sometimes, like, if you had, like, the confidence or the nerve, you could try to cash two at one register. Right. And just say, like, they're different weeks or, like, we date them. So it's, like, two, two week payroll checks. Yeah.

But after that, yes, they flag them. And I don't know if it was maybe, like, to your point, like, it's either the account went bad or why are you cashing more than two? payroll checks at one time. But we would hit like three or four stores in a day. So now we have these checks that are like $800, $900. We're doing two at each store or one at each store. We're hitting four or five stores. And then we're coming in for the night, going back out the next day, doing it again.

Okay. So this was going on for almost, I want to say like four or five months we were doing this. What is your probation officer think you're doing? this is where this is where things start getting a little hectic my probation officer didn't know anything about this of course no of course of course not you're a long-distance truck driver i mean you're like all over the place well probation you know it's not parole so it's not like i couldn't leave the state my probation was just i had a check in i had to have clean urine right um make sure i was paying my restitution which i was making money clearly i was paying my restitution

That's the least of your problems. Because I didn't want to have anything on me. Yeah. So we're in North Carolina. We're in Wilmington, North Carolina. And it's me and two other guys. And you have to cash the checks before 8 p.m. And I promise you, it had to be like maybe 750, 7.55.

And the person driving was speeding. we got to get there. We're going to cash these last couple checks. And we're like, hey, it's not that serious. Let's go back out tomorrow. No, because this account might be dead by tomorrow. Like, this is the conversation we're having in the car. In the meantime, they're smoking.

Yeah. And then suddenly, woo. They're smoking, but like, and then, yes, we get pulled over. I don't know why they pulled up. Why are they pulling us over? Well, I mean, you're doing 80 and a 50, number one. And then there's like smoke coming up. Yeah.

going out of the car. So we get pulled over, and everybody's like, okay, let's hide everything, you know. I'm sorry, I just picture. I just still, like, for some reason, I still picture. Drag queens. I picture like a black guy with a blonde wig. There's glitter. Get the drag queens out of your head.

You're in the back looking terrifying. No, no, no, no. These were cisgender men. Okay. So. The cops are like, they meet the description. So we get pulled over. And in our minds, we're like, okay, we're just going to get a speeding ticket.

We'll go home. You know what I mean? Like, because everything we hit everything, you know. It was that got us. Yeah. So there's another car that pulls up behind us. And I'm like, oh, fuck. Two cops is not good.

Yeah, no, it's not good at all. So my instinct is kicking because, remember, I hung out with some drug dealers, you know, Tracy's cousin. And I slid my fake ID down the, you know, like in between the window and the car door. Right. So I slid my fake ID down and my checks. Yeah. And then I put some of my checks in my pants.

Right. So I'm like, okay, if they ask me anything, I'm Jamie because I have my ID. And if I get hit for probation, I get hip probation. But I didn't want to get another charge. I'm thinking in my head, like, I don't want to get another fraudulent charge. Yeah. So now they're telling us all to get out of the car. They're going to search the car because of the week now and everything.

But there were no women officers. So they couldn't search me because, you know, they needed a woman, woman officer to search me. So they're searching them. They pulled me to the side. They call for a woman officer to come. Now, in the meantime, while I'm waiting for a woman officer, I see the other two boys getting put in handcuffs.

So I'm like, like, I'm literally like sweating. So again, in my mind, I'm like, I'm Jamie. Like, okay, they got arrested and somehow I'll talk my way out of this. You know what I'm saying? Like, I've talked my way out of situations or I'll use my pretty privilege. You know, they call it pretty girl privilege. So the woman officer comes and she's like, all right, I'm going to have to search you. And I was like, look, I was like, I'm letting you know right now.

I have my period. I was like, you know, can I use the bathroom really quick? I'm bleeding really heavy. So she lets me go and use the gas station of bathroom. I flushed the checks down the toilet that I had in my pants. They were not flushing down the toilet. I was freaking out.

Now she's like, she has the door cracked. Yeah. So she didn't close it because she's like, I have to keep the door. You know, she's like, I'm not closing the door. Yeah. So I'm like, oh my God, I think the toilet's clogging. My pad got stuck in it. Now I'm like freaking out.

I'm still flushing. And finally the checks finally all go through. She comes in behind me and checks the toilet. Right. So there was nothing in there, thank God. But they still arrest me. Yeah. They still arrest me.

And they bring me to the station. Now, we're, again, in Wilmington, North Carolina. But for what? I mean, if you got anybody for anybody, you might have these. You might have found some stuff on these guys. You didn't find anything on me. So when they get me to the station, they let me know why I'm there. Oh, okay.

They ended up finding in the back seat a bag of IDs and a bag of checks. There was about 10 fake IDs in there. Is your face on any of them? No. Oh, okay. However, because nobody would claim them, we all got arrested for the same thing. Okay. Well, I'm going to get out of that.

Yeah. Well, I think I am. Right. Well, are these guys pictures on any of them? Yeah. Sounds to me like it's theirs. Yeah. Yeah.

But it wasn't that easy. It wasn't that easy because come to find out, like, there was this whole FBI investigation surrounding these guys in North Carolina that they've been watching them. That's their problem. officers. I want to help you guys. I wish I could help you. I got to go. I don't even know these guys. Well, basically, that's what it came down to is like when they did interview me. You know, I was like, I just met them. Like, I don't really know anything about them. You know, and I was honest with them. I was like, hey, I'm on probation. You know, because I already knew like they were going to run my finger. I knew they were going to find out. Yeah. So they were, they gave me bail. And Tracy comes to bail me out.

out. And I think I sat in jail like that night. Tracy comes to bail me out. They let me out. I literally see Tracy across the street. Like I see her across the street. Hey, I'm out. I'm like, I'm so excited. As soon as I like literally stepped off the sidewalk, I feel the handcuffs on my hand again. And they came and arrested me again. For what? Because I was on probation. I violated probation, the checks. So they couldn't get me on the IDs. They didn't. So on my charges, it wasn't the IDs. It was the checks. So no one will claim the checks. There was a bag full of checks, the IDs. They got pinned with the IDs and the checks. I got pinned with the checks. And I violated probation. Right. So now I'm locked up, no bail.

Did you ever been in jail before? No. No. I mean, I was in a holding. cell. Pretty cool, huh? Yeah. Well, so I go to jail and I'm freaking out. Like, I'm literally freaking out because any other time I got caught with anything again, I'm talking my way out of it. You know, I'm using what I can use to get out of it. Not this time. So in Wilmington, their court load, their court cases are backed up anywhere from like eight to 10 months. You know, now I'm getting really scared because, you know, when you get, so you get into this holding cell where it's, say, like, 20 women, but then they have like the individual cells inside. So you sleep in the individual cells, but it's like a pot, you know, so you're, and the

women are scaring me now because they're like, I've been sitting in here. I've been sitting in here for four months and can't even get a court date. And I'm like, fuck, I'm going to have to call my parents. I'm like, I'm going to have to call my parents and I need an attorney. Like, I can't use a public defender. These women have been sitting in here for God knows how long. And so that night, I got up in the middle of night and I threw up. Like, I threw up for like almost an hour straight because I, like, the realization hit me that, like, I'm not leaving tomorrow.

I didn't know something like that. I knew you weren't pregnant. No. No. If I was pregnant, listen, this would be a totally different podcast. But so now, like, the realization sets in that I'm like, okay, I'm going to be here for, in my head, I'm still like, okay, I'm going to be here for a couple of days. So I'm like, okay, so I stayed to myself, you know, you know, still I wasn't really eating. And then I get my arraignment.

I go in front of the judge. Right. And still no bail. Still no bail. And they asked me, you know, like the, oh, do you want a public defender? You know, all that stuff. Does anybody say that, yes? I mean, like a private attorney.

Some people have no choice. Yeah. So my dad, I called my parents and my dad ended up. getting me a private attorney. And it's like, as soon as my mom, like, picked up the phone and she heard I was in jail, like, all I heard was, ah, like the, like, what did I do wrong? How come I didn't rent? And I'm like, listen, dad, you know, like, get her off the phone.

Like, let's talk. You know, my dad was a little bit more chill, you know. I don't want to say chill, but he was a little bit more. Okay, let's focus. Let's get direct to the details. So, Tracy helped my dad find an attorney in Wilmington. How Jewish are the, or are your parents? So they're not strict Jews.

They're not like, we were conservative. There's not orthodox. No, not. No, no, we're not, we weren't orthodox. Like, no, I got bat mitzvah. Okay. Yeah, I definitely got bat mitzvah. So we were considered more like.

I'm just picturing all this in my head. No, we were more like conservative Jews. Right. We did go to temple a lot. Growing up, we don't go anymore. Like, no one in my family goes anymore. But growing up, we did go to temple. I went to nursery school at a, at a, at,

I went to Hebrew school. I got about misfit. But no, we're not Hasidic Jews or, yeah. Yeah. So my dad did get me an attorney. So I ended up talking to the attorney. I didn't really care for him. He was just a slob.

He was a slop. Like, I mean, came to meet, you know, one side of his pant shirt tucked in. And I'm like, I was like, what the fuck is this guy going to do? That was this, you know, that was his thing. That was his, what they call it, this shit? Or schick. Schick. It was an act.

It was an act. So I go meet him. And then he comes back like a couple days later. So this is still like within all like the first like week that I'm in jail, like the first week or two. You haven't been given bond? No. They're all probation. Yeah.

Oh yeah. You're on probation. They don't usually give you bond. No. No. Yeah. I don't think they don't have. No sense of humor.

So, well, no. They don't. So that's what he says to me. He's like, yeah, he's like, we're not going to be able to get you bond. He's like, they contacted your probation officer in New Jersey. And I'm like, fuck. You know, I'm like, I'm screwed. So he was like, well, we can't get a court date for like at least like 30 days.

And I'm like, like, what? Like, what's the point of hiring a private attorney? He said the courts are backed up and we just can't, we can't see the judge for at least 30 days. So I'm like, oh my God. So real quick, just so that not everybody knows, too, that typically if you're private attorneys get, they get preferential treatment. Yes. Typically, like if you're going for like first appearance and there's 25 people, like the people

with private attorneys get seen first. Yes. You know, same thing with, I don't know, everywhere, but something like with a bottle of hearings and stuff, like you have no money. You got a private or you got a public defender. you can wait, these people go first because they're paid attorneys. Right. And, you know, they're being paid.

They get to go first. And so it's preferential treatment typically. Right. You know, I don't sound like in this case. It doesn't sound like, well, maybe they are getting prefer. Maybe a month is preferential. Maybe some other people are waiting months. No, they had.

They had been waiting. That's what I was saying. Like, the girls were scaring me because they were like, oh, we've been waiting here three and four months just for a court date. And like, their charges were like light. Right. Like shoplifted. Like, I mean, crazy stuff.

Yeah. You know, like, that wasn't even, like, close to what I was charged with. And I'm like, you've been sitting here for how long? Yeah. So I'm like, okay, now I have to make do. And of course, I hear stories and see stuff on TV about jail. And now I've got to put this tough girl act on, you know. Tough girl, I don't.

People really have in Snickers bars on my pillow and. Well, that was, that, listen, that was my. saving grace, though, a lot of times. How tall are you? I'm five, nine, five, ten. You're fine. You're probably one of the tougher chicks there. Yeah, but look at this face.

I mean, do you see this mug? You get a word daddy? Well, listen. So, yeah, of course, now the girls start talking to me and asking me questions. And when I said I was from up north, from New Jersey. now they're like, oh shit. You know, like that almost that was like like a token of like, oh, she has all this power because she's from New York or New Jersey.

So now like everybody's, you know, underneath me like, oh, what's popular up there? You know, like, what's the fashion like up there? You know, like these girls are like really country. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if you ever been to Wilmington, North Carolina, but really country. But I've been through North Carolina. Well, yeah. I mean, Charlotte, North Carolina is very.

very different from Willington, North Airlines. Oh, yeah. I was in Charlotte. I lived in Charlotte. It's very, very different. So these girls were, I mean, like, really country. So I kind of, like, took key to that. And I was like, you know, let me make some friends and let me just make the best of this.

So 30 days, we're coming up on 30 days. And the lawyer comes to see me. Court day got pushed back. I'm like, okay, now we're going into holiday. This was like in this, this happened like in the beginning of December, end of November. So now we're going into the holidays. And it's 1999 going into 2000. So in my mind, I'm like, I'm not getting out for the holidays.

And everybody was like, why 2K? The world's going to explode. And I'm in jail. Like, I'm going to die in jail. I was like, this is how I'm dying. So they had to extend it again, the court date again. So now the jail is overcrowded. And they're like, we have to ship you.

We have to move you out of the jail because you don't have a court date. So we need to free up these beds for people that have exact court days or people that are staying for, you know, a day. You know, like they're getting out the next day. Yeah. So they transfer me out of this jail. now I'm going to Rutherford, North Carolina. Like, where the fuck is Rutherford? You know, I'm like, what the hell is going on?

And the country girls are like, ooh, that's, that's, that's country. That's country. I'm like, what? That's backwood's country. What? Yeah, yeah. But they're like, you're going to Rutherford. That's like, no man's land.

And now I'm like, they're writing me off. I'm like, they're sending me here and I'm never coming home. The jail's making a log, gets a log cabin. Oh my gosh. And it's like, and it's a far ride. It's like North Carolina, you had to go through like Tennessee to come back in North Carolina. It's like in the mountains somewhere. And you're, they handcuff you, you know, your ankles and you're sitting for three hours on this hard bench in this van.

I'm aware. Did you give you a polony sandwich? Did you get a bag lunch? You're trying to eat the bag lunch? Like, but what's crazy is. like, so it's me and another woman, and we're in the front, and then there's like the, the, the, the, uh, cage. And then there's like eight or nine guys behind us. So, three hours, three hours of, oh, let me just see something. Turn around. Give me your tongue.

Papa Titty for the boys. Stick your tongue through the gate. Like, what? What's so funny is like, every, everyone. Once in a while, you'll be in a van, like, they'll actually put, like, a guy and a girl sitting together. And, like, they'll be, like, the girl will be grabbing, like. Right, right, right. Maybe they'll be making out. You're like, what are you savages? And I'm like, I'm not sticking my tongue in this metal, dirty metal gate.

What's that going to do? These guys are, they're so fucking perverted. Yes. But the women will be, too. No, for sure. For sure. Like, well, yeah, because even so when we. got to Rutherford,

um, it was almost New Year's Eve. And there was, it's like two days before. It's allowed? No, it's like two days before New Year's Eve. And so now this cell is like, like four little cells and,

but like we're still in one cell together. It's not as big as the one that I was in. But the one, there's a chick in there that she's like hot and heavy for me, like hard body, you know. Like, okay girl. You know, and she was like very, I don't want to say aggressive, but she was just like flirting all the time. She was at it.

And like now we're just, it's the four of us. So it's like, I can't go run in the corner. I can't like try to, you know, conversate with somebody else. Like now I'm stuck here with you. And so New Year's Eve comes. And we're all like in one cell because the guard let us watch the ball drop. Like they brought a TV in and like they put it outside the. Yeah. So they let us watch the ball drop and we're all like, we're all like, oh my God, are we going to die in here?

You know, because again, Y2K, the world's going to end. The lights didn't. And as we're laying there, we're all like, and it's colds up there because now it's like, you know, we're in the mountains. And the four of us are on like one of the girls' cots. And I feel like this girl's hand like sliding up my fucking thigh. I'm like, what? And I'm like, okay, she's bigger than me. let me like maneuver the situation where I can kind of like slide away because I don't want to make it a big deal that she's trying to slide her hand up my thigh.

Right. So I finally was able to kind of like. Is it sliding or she walking? No, she was like it was like every like every 60 seconds it was like she'll never. know what's going through her mind really if you think about it oh my god are you fucking are you mental like oh my gosh so finally the ball drop we survived we lived you know wait a second i have i have a question yes let me think about this okay okay okay do you know what y2k is do you know what people thought the world was going to end no no wait stop don't say anything why 2k why do you know why because

some type of calendar ended in 2000 because at that point, most things were running on computers. And when they were writing these initial programs, they were putting like the year, instead of putting like 1995, they were just putting 95. So lots of programs were just, so their fear was that it would get to 2000 and the computer wouldn't know what to do, you know, because it would flip to zeros and then it would, they'd shut off or something. There were certain programs.

So, like, for years ahead of time, they were running and they were having to rewrite programs and they were concerned and they were, it was so fucking stupid. Yeah. But you had people that were just. And they took it to the limit. Yeah. They're going to do you. The nuclear reactors are going to melt down and like, how? How are you feeling that's going to happen?

Yeah. The world's going to end. All the appliances are going to crash. Yeah. And the media was fucking, they were doing their best to see her. They're living shit out of everybody. Yeah. Yeah.

But yeah. It worked. I mean, well, especially if you're in jail, it works. I was I was just like everybody right at it everybody like this is so this is so bad Of course I was married at the time So I was like I was like let's just hope I think I was thinking of the Mayan calendar

Yeah that was 2000 I think it was 2010 The mine calendar said the world's gonna end Yeah yeah or 2012 There's like a couple of them There was a couple of them And there was one recently too that was like 2024 There's always Yeah

There's always some apocalyptic something happening. Since I was a little kid, there was. Right. You know. Yeah. So, okay, so, so she didn't get lucky. No, she did not. There's no sex story.

No, no. Prison female sex story coming. No, no, fortunately, no. Well, there goes, there goes that thumbnail. Yeah, no. Yeah. I mean, we'll get to that part. I mean, it wasn't a full sex story.

But, yeah. You stayed true to Tracy? Yes. For now. I did. So New Year's Eve comes in, and then, like, shortly after New Year's Eve, they call my name, and I'm like, oh, yes. You know, like, I'm getting out. They drive me all the way back to Wilmington.

I get there. I go to court, and it was still postponed. Like, for lack of evidence, there was something that, like, was missed. I don't know. There was something that they had to. postpone it again. Are you telling your lawyer this whole time? He's there with me.

No, I know. But when you talked to him, are you saying like, I have nothing to do with this? Yeah. I met these people. They were doing some kind of check thing. I have nothing to do with it. My name's not on any of these fucking things. There's no ID.

There's nothing to tie me to this. Well, the thing was too was that, like, they wanted me to, like, tell on them with stuff that I really didn't know anything about. Right. So that was like a big issue, too, with the boys because one of the boys, not both of them, But one of the boys stayed in jail for a while, too. And he thought, like, I ratted on him and he spread a rumor. But then when they got the discovery and they realized I didn't.

I wouldn't be here if I was rat out. I wouldn't be gone. Yeah, because his girlfriend, like, she, like, his girlfriend was walking balls as well. And she was running dirt on my name. And then when she found out, she apologized to me. She's like, I'm so sorry. I was like, yeah, I was trying to tell you. Like, I'm not a snitch.

Like, that, like, that wasn't happening. I'm here too. I'd have been out there the fucking first day I'd have been out. And he got out before us. He got out before us. That's questionable. Right. Go ahead.

No, you're fine. So now I'm back in this general population back in Wilmington because I didn't get out. So they had me there for about two weeks and they bring me back again to Rutherford. So now I had to do this ride again. And I'm like, oh, this is just like, it was dreadful. It was dreadful. Because at this point, like, I had no clue what, when I was going to get out, what was going on. I really had no contact.

At Rutherford, you can only use the phone once a day. At the other jail, Wilmington, there was a phone, like, in the cell. But they turned it off at, like, I think, like, 8 o'clock at night or 9 o'clock at night. But if I wanted to make a call in the middle of the day, I could. Right. So I was able to stay in contact with people, you know, at least I still had some type of, of communication with Tracy, my parents. But at Rutherford, they only let you use the phone once.

And you only get one call. So it became very dreadful. It became very dreadful and very lonely. Again, we're with only these four girls. It's like, I have to look at your faces every day. There's no, you know, at the other jail, people were coming in and out, interesting stories. You meet women that you're like, oh, what are you in for? women would come in there like call girls, like people that like were hookers, they would come in there when they got their period.

They would like literally get locked up on purpose when they had their period so they can sleep in the jail and they didn't have to sleep on the street. If you sleep hot at night, you know how disruptive that can be. When you're not resting well, everything else feels harder. Your focus, your mood, even your recovery. Ghostbed is here to help you fix that. They've spent decades perfecting how to build a bed that's comfortable, durable, and designed to actually help you rest. Every ghost bed mattress features premier materials, proven cooling technology, and their exclusive pro-core layer, a targeted support system that reinforces the center of the mattress where the body is heaviest.

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Just go to ghostbed.com slash Cox and use promo code Cox at checkout. That's ghostbed.com slash Cox promo code Cox. Upgrade your sleep with Ghostbed, the makers of the coolest bed in the world. Some exclusions apply. See site for details. Like, the stories I heard and they were crazy. So I don't want to say enjoy, but I would have liked to have stayed in that general population rather than Rutherford. So this was like the end of January.

And again, like I had, there was nothing in sight. And then finally March rolls around. And I get called, I get called to Wilmington. I get called to go back to Wilmington. And I see my lawyer and he said, I think they're going to let you out. He said, I think we got it this time. You know, like we got the everything in alignment. He said, but he said you're on probation.

So the deal was I ended up having to pay restitution. When I went to court, they were putting me back on like double probation pretty much. But the probation would have been transferred back to New Jersey because I lived in New Jersey. New Jersey probation had 48 hours to come and get me, which we already knew that they weren't going to come get me. They weren't going to pay. Yeah. They weren't going to pay to come get me. So once that 48 hours was up, they did tell me I had another 48 hours to turn myself in back in Jersey.

So basically, they ended up giving me probation. I had to pay the restitution. I would go back on probation. They gave me, I want to say maybe four years of probation, which would be tacked on to whatever New Jersey added on. Give me on probation for a decade. Oh, listen, it gets worse. It gets worse. So, but that was the limit.

I ended up, yeah. So, and that just canceled out at COVID. So they didn't come get me. I ended up, they ended up having to let me out. And Tracy came, when she found out that they were going to let me out, she caught the bus down. And at this time, she was struggling a little bit because I wasn't there bringing in money. She wasn't, you know, like, we didn't have an apartment. We didn't have anything.

She was staying with, I think, like her mom or something. So she caught the bus down to come meet me. I got out and like none of my clothes fit because, you know, in jail food is like straight up carbs. So here I am. I'm like busting out of my clothes. I get out in the middle of March and it's hot. We're in North Carolina, but I got locked up when it was cold. I have this like heavy sweater on Timberlin boots.

And they give you a check. Like I had a check for like $36 or something like that. And I was just so happy to be out. Like I didn't give a fuck. Like my boots didn't tie up. I was sweating because I had this sweater on. And they let me out. And I literally ran to the corner.

And I was like looking back because like the last time they came running after me through the cuffs on. Right. So I'm looking back like making sure. Nobody's behind me. So I had to get out and someone had to wire me money. I can't remember if it was my mom and dad or if it was Tracy, but I had to get a hotel room because by the time I got out, it was too late. I was waiting for Tracy to come on the bus to come ride home with me.

So I get a room, like a cheap room down the street from the courthouse. It wasn't like, and it's like one of these motels, like the outdoor motels. and there's a bunch of guys out there. And of course, harassing me. So finally, Tracy gets there. Now, Tracy's not a feminine woman. Just, FYI. She's not a feminine woman.

She finally gets there. And all night long, like, we had to take the phone off the hook because we're getting phone calls from these guys that are staying at the motel and calling us all types of dikes and, you know, we'll come run through both y'all. like we literally like pushed the chair in front of the door like we did not sleep that night it was called the police i mean what were we i mean what were they going to like you know threatening phone calls yeah but who are they going to say it's coming from i mean we knew it was coming from someone

in the hotel but yeah we got through the night and then um i had to like call into the probation lady and i was telling her i was going home and she was like okay you have 48 hours to check in with new jersey so we caught the bus home. And I got home and I went to probation in New Jersey. They locked me up just for that day. And they gave me bail. They ended up giving me bail. So I got bailed out of there, but I was still on their probation.

So now I have the four years from North Carolina and I still have the six years. So I ended up going to court for that. But to be honest, when I went back to court for that violation of probation, they didn't give me any time, which was very shocking. And I don't know if it was I had a good attorney. I don't know if it was, again, pretty girl privilege. But I ended up like they just reset the probation. Like it wasn't even like I got any time for that.

Okay. So it's almost like I got a slap on the wrist for that. Right. So instead of taking that opportunity as like, okay, Jamie, you got away with this. God let you get away with this. Go get a job. Go live a straight life.

Nope. What did I do? I pivoted to credit cards instead of check rating. That's where you messed up last time. That's where I messed up. It was the checks. Wasn't the fraud. So now I pivoted to credit cards.

So one of the guys that I was hanging out with, knew some people that had like the credit card machines where they can change the cards. And they were like literally printing the cards themselves. And again, I don't think at that time, like I was still walking balls. And again, these balls are like very fashion driven. Fashion's expensive. And it's not that you wanted to do this, but you had to do it. Well, because, you know, again, the way I grew up watching these red carpets and stuff.

The designers. No, I get it. It's your parents' fault. Go ahead. So, but there is a category during the balls that's like, like they have best dress and they have label categories and foot and eyewear where you have to wear designers. Some people live their whole life. They even, they even know this exists. They don't.

You're going to have to look it up once I leave. Those poor, those poor slabs. So. With the credit cards, I wasn't even really thinking about the money aspect. I'm like, I want these Versace shoes. I want these Giuseppe Zanati shoes. I want, you know, this is now my mindset is like, I want to walk these categories. I got out of jail.

I need to make a, I need to make a mark in ballroom. I need to, you know, like this is my mindset now. Like, so my bold ass, and especially now I have like the gay guys amping me up. Like, oh, yeah, you look. you look rich and, you know, you could pass for white and you could go right on to Madison. And I'm going right on to Madison and I'm going into these stores. Like I'm going into the actual label designer stores. Like I'm not going into a department store and doing this.

Like you're going now, now you're going into these designer stores where there's maybe one other person in there. Because, you know, they're expensive. So like you're getting weighted on hand and foot. So it's not like you're in a crowd. It's like you're singled out. So I would get done up. Not like Walmart where you're you're searching for 20 minutes to find someone to answer a fucking question.

No, as soon as you walk in, they're like, hi, are you looking for anything? Yes, I am. I'm looking for that $2,500 shoe. Thank you. So I would go in and like we would get the fake credit cards and I was going in and swiping them. And I mean, the first time like you said, you know, you're like sweating and the first swipe as soon as it went through, I was like. like, whoa, you know, and I'm walking out the store with like, let me see, the Roberta Cavali boots at the time.

Those were probably like $2,800. Dolce and Gabana. Like, I had the Dolce and Gabana boots that Mary J. Blige had a pair. There was only like, I want to say like 3,600 pairs made. So I'm going in there. Like, now I'm going for gusto. I'm like, oh, you can't tell me anything. You know what I mean?

So I'm going into these stores, getting this stuff. I'm walking these categories. Everything's fine. I ends up connecting with another guy that's in the ballroom scene that works for Nordstrom's. And so now Nordstroms, you know, they have their own credit card. And so we had a thing going on where he would give me the card numbers and I would make fake ID. We would make the fake IDs. Now, at this point, I'm making my own IDs

because I'm doing the graphics. I'm making my own IDs. And I'm going in and I'm saying, hey, I don't have my card number, but here's my ID. And of course, in the department stores, they work off commission. So they're like, oh, sure, Ms. Baker.

Like, what do you need? And I'm running up people's, you know, these Nordstrom cards. I'm running them up. Because at the end of the day, like, they want their commission. So I'm probably walking out with like maybe four or five grand worth of merchandise. Now with Nordstroms, they had a thing that they put their own little sticker on the back of each thing that they sell.

So they put the sticker on, they scan that sticker, and then they scan the price tag. As long as you have that sticker, you can return the merchandise without a receipt. And they'll give you the cash. So some of the merchandise I was keeping, of course, but now I'm returning this merchandise for cash. So now I'm getting a bag, a designer bag for like two grand, and I'm getting the cash for it. Now, a lot of times they would have to get approved,

but the manager's approving it because, like, why not? That's your policy. Yeah, yeah. So now I'm like, I'm burning it out. Norstrom's, of course, has a camera. system, but now my face, I'm going in and out of these stores, like, like Tick-Tac. You know, like, I'm going in and out, in and out. Like, I'll go into one Nordstrom, sometimes the same day.

I'll go into one Nordstrom and then go drive 40, 50, you know, an hour away and go return it the same day. Yeah, they'll never put this together. Go ahead. Right. No. No. Never.

So, I didn't even see this coming. Don't laugh. Because I didn't. I mean, the way I got called to court, they didn't come and arrest me. They literally sent me something in the mail. And I was like, why am I getting, you know, like in my head, I'm like, oh, did I violate propate?

You know, I'm not thinking Nordstrom because I would have thought they would have came to the house. You know, I thought they would just come arrest me. So I go to court and, And I go with an attorney. We get the discovery and all that. And all I see is Norstrom, Nordstrom, Nordstrom, Nordstrom. I'm like, fuck.

Where do you see that? In the discovery. Oh, okay. Whatever the lawyer, when they get the packet, yeah, yeah. Everything's Nordstrom, Nordstrom, Nordstrom. And he's like, they also have camera footage of you. So at first, because at first I'm like, what? I'm like, what are they talking about?

Norstrom, you know, like. I've done anything. Oh, wait a minute. No, oh, what? Oh, Nordstroms. Oh, forgot about that. Right, right. But they were at least 30 miles away from one another.

Right, right. How do they put this together? Wow. Yes. So, I'm like fudge, you know, like, they got me on camera. And he's like, they got you on camera. Like, let's get a plea. Let's get a plea.

Let's get a plea bargain. I'm already on double triple probation. I'm already, that's what he said. And the judge was like basically, like when we went to the judge, the judge was basically like, you're going to have to do some time at this point. You know, like you're on probation. You know, we have video footage of you. So the deal was that I think I got like a year and a half.

It was supposed to be a year and a half. And then so whatever the deal was was going to knock out the other probation. So the deal was a year and a half in jail. And then it was like, I think maybe three or four years probation when I came out, restitution, you know, the whole, the whole ring of a row. So I'm like, oh, my God, a year and a half in jail. Like, I just, like, I did four and a half months. I didn't kill anybody. I'm like, a year and a half in jail.

Like, what am I going to do? So they gave me, they gave me, like, I think two weeks maybe to turn myself in. So I ended up, like, going to Atlanta to go to a ball. I was like, well, fuck it, I'm going to go out with a bang. So I went to Atlanta, went to a ball, had a blast, you know, partied. And then I came back and I turned myself in. And I ended up getting, they put me in, I want to say I was in Elizabeth, New Jersey. I was in the jail and Elizabeth.

And when I got to jail, one of the girls that was in my bunk, you know, in my bunk, she was like, you know, we were talking. We started talking. She was like, what are you in for? And I'm like, I got a year and a half. And she was like, if you tell them that you're on drugs, she was like, don't put you in a program and you'll get out of here sooner. Ding, ding.

I was like, really? She was like, yeah. I was like, okay. So I went to go meet with my counselor. And she was like, well, you know, why do you do these things? You know, like I see you have a wrecker, you know, all this fraudulent activity. And I was like, I'm on drugs. It was the painkillers.

Yeah. No, I told her, I was like, I was addicted to Molly, the euphoria of it. I was doing blow. I was like, you know, I wasn't in my right mind. Like now I'm like, you know, so she puts me. She's thinking she heard about the drug program. No, no, no, no. Well, I don't know.

maybe. But she puts me in this program where now I have to see a counselor once a week. So I guess it's like a preliminary type of situation before they put you in the program. So it must have been like, okay, well, we have to record that she needs this. You know what I mean? So yeah, so I saw this counselor every week. And every time I went to go see the counselor, I brought up drugs. Every single time I went to go see her. I'm like, Jamie, bring up drugs. Jamie bring up drugs. So you can get out of I waited and I waited. I was there. I was there April?

I want to say like three months, three, four months before I got accepted into a program. So I was supposed to go to a halfway house where, you know, I would live at this halfway house. However, they didn't have room. I lucked up and they didn't have room. So they ended up putting the bracelet, the monitor. on me, the ankle bracelet. So I had to go out. They let me out. So I didn't do the year and a half.

I ended up doing like maybe three months, luffed up. They put the bracelet on me. And I had to go to a program. I had to go to like N.A. I had to go to N.A. And I had to go to class every day. So it was like eight to four during the day. But it was like class on how to like,

live like a normal lifestyle and how to get back into the workplace, you know, those type of classes. So I was on the ankle bracelet for almost a year. It was a long time. I had that ankle bracelet on. And now I'm still living with Tracy. So we're still together. Through this whole thing, we're still together. And trooper. Yeah. Well, because like, again, she was benefiting from it. Like, you know, like all the, all the things, all the, you know, she was wearing fly clothes, too. When I was going into the stores, I always grabbed her something. I never came home empty-handed.

So, yeah, so now I'm on this, the house arrest. Got off of that, and then I was on probation. Had to go to probation. You know, I had to check in with them every week. had to get a job. So for a while, I want to say I was kind of living like a straight, narrow lifestyle.

Like I ended up getting a job. I was working in retail. But then me and Tracy broke up. Why? Been so long. She became abusive. Okay. Yeah, she became abusive.

But I was, listen, not, I don't want to say I deserved it because I did not. Like, no one should ever put their hands on on anybody and no one should ever tolerate that. I was a mess. I was cheating. I was out in the streets. I was still exploring my sexuality. Like, she was my first girlfriend. Right. And, like, I was around a lot of hypersexual guys and trans women. And, you know, I found myself attracted to some trans women and transsexual men. And, like, I was just trying to find

myself, but she was so overprotective and so hovering. I think it was just like, I couldn't do anything. Like, I really couldn't hang out with, I couldn't hang out with any women. She was making the cheating difficult? I'm not in the where this is going. No, she was just making it difficult for me to be myself, you know, so. I want to be on your side. You do?

want to. So be on my side. So you guys break up. So. Who got the Subaru? Just joking. We did not have a Subaru. No.

So we broke up. And shortly after that, I moved to Atlanta. And when I moved to Atlanta, I moved with one of the original guys that. that I met when I was working originally. He was like one of my good guy friends that stayed my friend throughout the years that I started with. We ended up packing up a U-Haul

and we just moved to Atlanta. We're like, we're out. Like, it's dry up here. We're out. Let's get out of here. So we moved to Atlanta and we start our ship back up. We start the check writing back up.

It's going so because it's going so well. So we start the check. writing back up. And then we got put on to a new scam, a new scheme. So the shopping malls were taking checks for like the generic gift certificates. Right. They would take checks for mall gift certificates where you can use them in any store. Right.

So we would get the gift certificates. certificates and we would take them into the store, use them. And of course, when you return the stuff, because it was a mall gift certificate, they had no way. And these were like the paper gift certificates. Right. So they had no way to put it back on another gift certificate. So they gave you cash. So most stores gave you cash. Some stores would say, hey, we got to give you our store. Gift certificate. But we would kind of talk them out of it and say like, well, why should I be obligated, since it was a mall gift certificate, why should I be obligated to purchase something in your store. You know, we had the gift of gab. So we would, you know, and then we would talk them out of

and they'd be like, okay, fine, we'll give you the cash. You know, because at the end of the day, why should we be obligated? Right. You know, it's a generic gift certificate. So once we figured out that they were paid, the paper ones, we ended up making them ourselves. We were like, well, okay, we can make them ourselves, print them out. We don't even have to go purchase them. We'll just bring them in the store and buy the stuff. So it was working for, while. But the Westfield malls, again, there's but so many of those Westfield malls. It wasn't like we were going to travel to Texas.

We're still like in the Atlanta area. Sometimes we would drive up to New Jersey. We would go back and forth just because we were familiar with New Jersey. So I'll never forget, we were at a mall and it was, we were in a U-Haul. So like, that was the big thing, too. It's like, we get these U-Hauls. You could get U-Hauls with a fake ID, and we would take the U-Haul and keep the U-Haul for like weeks until they would try to come look for it. We just dump the U-Haul in the mall parking lot because all you needed was, you know, you pay the $1999.

We get these U-Haul vans. You pay the $1999, you get the fake ID, you get this U-Haul, and we're just driving around like it's our car. But it's a van. Yeah, but it's the U-Hao van. It's not the big truck. No, no, no, no. Sometimes you get the, you know, you get the mini-box one. Right.

So we're at the mall in a U-Haul. It's me and two of the guys. Me, one guy stays in the car, and me and the other guy go into the mall, and we're getting, we have the gift certificates, and we're just running through stores, running through stores. So all of a sudden, I come out of a store and I see security like, you know,

I want to say a distance enough for me to, like, know that they were looking for me. Right. But they weren't close enough where they can, you know, snatch me up. So I see them and I start walking faster and I see them walking faster. I'm looking back and I see them walking faster. And I see my friend coming from the other side of the one of the wings and he has a security guy following him. And we look at each other and, I mean, we start booking it.

Like we are booking it. And we get out the door. We get in the U-Haul. We get the U-Haul. The guy, he's already driving, and he's like, what's going on? And we're like, drive! And now all of a sudden, we're trying to get out of this mall parking. You know, mall parking lots are not easy to get out of.

Yeah. There's not easy to get out of. So now we have security, two security cars. Now, but keep in mind, they're not police. They're security. Yeah, you can run them over. But even though now, like, we all have records. Like, the three of us in the car have records, you know. And if they catch us on mall property, they can.

hold you. Right. But they can't arrest you. They can't hold us. Like if they would have boxed us in and waited for the cops to come, we were done. So we're in this U-Haul, like the three of us in the front seat, because you know, U-Haul's only, and the three, like, we're all like, and he's driving and we're like, right, left, right, left. And he's going. We go over the curb. We go through this, like, little fence over another curb, and we finally get to, like, a side street. And they can't follow us because now we're off of mall property. So we finally, we got out of, we got out of that. What are they in?

Like a golf cart? I mean, what are they? They were in cars. Oh, okay. They were in cars. But again, like, they were so far. They weren't like really like literally on us. And I think if one would have came, I think if one would have, if they would have boxed us in,

they would have got us. Right. But they were all behind us. So if we were driving, the way we were driving, and I mean, he was going over Kurt. Like, we were just telling them, like, right, left. Like, we're telling them where to go. Like, we're trying to look.

Let's get out of here. Like, we have to get out of this parking lot. So we finally get out of that parking lot. And I want to say I was done because at that point, I'm like, like, Jamie, come on. Enough is enough. Like, why are you putting yourself in these situations? So I'm in Atlanta. and me and my friend we were living together.

And we had like a year lease. And we finally part ways because I ended up moving in with my partner at the time. And he got his own place. And he called me up and he says, hey, you know, at this time now I have a job. Like I was working at, I want to say, I was working at the mall. I was actually working at a, it was called Metro Park. I was working at Metro Park, which sold, like, designer jeans. I remember, like, the true religion and all that stuff.

Yeah. So I was trying to live a straight life. So he calls me up, and he's like, hey, I got to go make a run real quick up in North Georgia, because we never did anything. We were in Atlanta, so we were like, we can't do anything around here. So we went up to Woodstock, Georgia, which is like, I want to say almost two hours away from Atlanta. And it's interesting because I just reconnected with him. And he swears, like, I swear I just went with him for the ride.

And he was like, no, bitch. He was like, you had stuff too. And I'm like, did I? I'm like, I don't even remember. I just remember he wanted to ride up to Woodstock. And to go grab some stuff and make some returns. Because, like, he was still doing, like, we were all still doing, like, the little returns, like Best Buy.

and we would go into home goods and buy stuff like a comforter and take it back for cash. And again, I don't remember that I was doing anything, but he says I was. So that's still to be determined. But we went up there. We drove up in our other friend's car who happened to be locked up at the time. He had the car. And we got pulled over. And the car was reported stolen because he hadn't been making his payments.

the car. So the cops checked the car and they said like, you know, they got a call from Best Buy or whatever. They checked the trunk. They found out there was like, you know, stuff in the trunk. And honestly, I want to say we got arrested. At first, we got arrested for property of stolen items and drive, you know, in possession. Possession of, yeah, possession of stolen property. and he got charged with the car, the car thing, but they ended up dropping it because he was able to prove that it wasn't his car.

Right. Yeah. So we end up going to jail, and my bail was very, very high because I had a track record. So my bail was very, very high. I called my friends, and they were freaking out. Now, my new group of friends in Atlanta,

they didn't know anything about this lifestyle. Right. They didn't know anything about the crafting, the fraudulent stuff. Like, they knew I did stuff, but they didn't even know. So when I called them and told them I'm locked up, they're like, what? Like, what are you locked up for? Like, they didn't comprehend. Like, my one friend started crying.

She's like, oh, my God. Like, it's not that serious. It's not that serious. I've been down this road many times. I've been down this road. I know. So I knew, you know, I knew I had to call my parents because, again, the bail was too high. Why can't you just meet a nice Jewish boy?

That's what my mom says all the time. Why couldn't you just meet a nice Jewish boy? Yeah, so my bail was too high, and they were trying to get the money together. They ended up calling, like, a couple of my friends and people that they knew had, you know, some money, but they just couldn't get it together. So they had to call my parents. And, of course, my mom was like, if it had anything to do with that check writing, and that the credit card. stuff, we're not bailing you out. You're going to sit there and you're going to learn your lesson. I was like, whoa. So, tough love. Luckily, the charges again said possession of stolen items.

Right. So I told my mom, I was like, mom, I was just in the car. I was just riding and we got pulled over and this is what happened. Like, we were just in possession of stolen goods. Like, nobody was doing anything. Like, I'm telling my mom, nobody was doing anything. Right. It happens all the time. Right. I said it was just the straw of the luck. You know what I mean? So because we were able to prove that, you know, like because that's what it said. Yeah. My mom was like, okay, we'll give you the money. You know, so they gave me the money. But I had to go back to court.

And when I went back to court, this is when they implemented the three strike rule. And George was being really strict about it. Like, we went to court and like anybody that was locked up three times, oh, you're getting a year. You're getting two years. You're getting three years. So I went to, when we went in front of the judge, I had an attorney. And I told him, I was like, hey, I was just, I was in the car. Like the, we were, we, that's all we had, you know, like, we weren't doing anything. Like, I'm still sticking to my story. So they gave me 10 years probation. They gave me 10 years probation. And I had to do, I think it was like 40 hours of community service. It was a lot of hours of

community service, which somehow I've had some like really interesting luck with some of my stuff. So they did that and they said that I couldn't have any parts with my friend. Like I had to cut time. Like there were communication. They were like no communication, you know, you have to stay away from him. Which he didn't know. Like we just reconnected like recently.

We found out we live in the same city like literally two years ago. We're like, holy shit. We're back together again. But not. No, we've moved on. We've moved on. But yeah, so I got the 10 years probation. And my probation officer, she, like, because I had curfew.

So I had curfew. They gave me curfew for six months where I had to be in the house. But I think it was like 7 p.m. or something like that, like Sunday at 6, 7 p.m. and my officer, she literally came to my house at least once a week to pop up on me. And I remember a couple times, like, I would be like rushing home or on my way. And, you know, they would say, like, I'm in the shower. You know, like, it was just because I had a roommate at the time, too. But she literally, she was very strict.

Like, she came, she popped over at least once a week, at least, maybe sometimes twice a week. So I think it made me kind of like sit my ass down for real and like say like, okay, Jamie, what the hell are you doing with your life? You know? Because this can't go on forever. And things were starting to change then too. Like, you know, it wasn't like it was when we were able to like write these checks and do the credit cards. Like now systems were changing. Technology was getting better.

And I was hearing stories from like, you know, my. previous, like, the people I would hang out with, they're like, yo, it's not like it was. We can't crunch cookies like we used to. We can't go do these payroll checks. So I'm like, okay, I guess I got to get a job. Like, I guess I got to get a job. This is the first time it dawned on. This is crazy.

So I'm like, I guess I got to get a job. How do people do this? No, for real. I know. So, no, but luckily, you know, well, it was tough at first because I did have a record. And even though they say like, oh, we don't discriminate. Yes, they do. It was very hard for me to find a job.

Like, the jobs that I wanted, I should say. Of course, I could probably go to McDonald's and go here and get a job. But I was like, it's really hard to get those CEO positions. When you have four or five felony. What do you mean? I can't. What do you mean? I can't be the manager of a bank.

That is bullshit. No. Is this because of the felonies? That's crazy. Do you see what I look like? I would be a great representation of your company. Nobody told me this. Nobody.

No, but it was tough. But then I ended up one of my friends that was, he was a manager at the Georgia World Congress Center. and he ended up getting me in. Congress? No, I was going to say. No, it's a convention center. You're fine. No.

But I felt it. It's Congress. Maybe I should go run for office. No, but it's the convention center down in Georgia. It's called the Georgia World Congress Center. And my friend was a manager there, and he was able to get me in. and I started doing, running this restaurant that was at State Farm where they did the basketball games. And I ended up loving it.

Like, I ended up getting into events. And I feel like all the craftiness and all the scheming that I did, like, figuring out how to call in checks and call in all these fraudulent things. Social engineering. Yeah. I started using that towards events. Right. And I became really good at it. So then I ended up getting promoted.

I ended up moving from State Farm to, it's like all like a, it's like these three buildings on the properties, the football stadium, the basketball, and the convention center. So I ended up moving over to the actual convention center where I became a catering sales manager. And I was like, I am really, really good at this. And somehow, like, they had to do a background check when I became a catering sales manager, but somehow, like, I passed it. Like, I don't know what kind of background check they did. And I was shitting bricks for, like, like, two weeks.

Because I knew the job was good pay. It was a manager role, benefits. And I'm like, okay, like, I'm actually entering the working class. Right. And then somebody in HR said, yeah, as soon as your background check, clears, you'll be fine. Excuse me. Right. No, I was literally shitting bricks the whole time because now I had already been with the, in the company, like a year already because I had started at the other property.

And I'm like, well, shit, what if this comes back and now I lose my job completely? Yeah. You know, because the first portion of the job before I got promoted, they didn't do a background check. So, I mean, they probably did, but it was probably like a light one. This one was more extensive being a cantering sales manager because now you're dealing with these big conventions that come in. We're dealing with money. We're dealing with budgets.

So they had to do a background check. So again, I'm like, shit. You know, like, I don't want to lose my job altogether. So it ended up passing. And I ended up doing that. And I got really, really good at it. And I just started doing events on the. side. And that's to this day, like what I'm doing, like event production. And don't get me wrong,

like, I've been approached with people from my past of like doing schemes or, you know, is there a good lick out there? And I've, I've definitely been tempted and I'm not going to say that I haven't dipped once or twice. I'm not going to say I didn't put my toe in the water once or twice. But yeah, I mean, I think at, what, I'm 50 now at like 37, 38, I finally learned my lesson. I thought you were going to say, I got another run in me. No, no. But yeah, I mean, so, I mean, that's pretty much like my experience. I mean, but it was like a pretty long run of like in and out of probation and out of like living on the edge. And I don't say I regret it, but it was not the best way to live.

And when now like I look at the things that I do now with events and the people I deal with. And I'm like, wow, like I'm really smart and I'm really like creative. And I'm like, no, just what if I would have realized? Don't say so myself. No. I'm really kind of amazing. I mean, I am. But I just look back at like, damn, what have I applied all of this back then?

And, you know, you can't hold on to, you can't hold on to that. You can't look back. You can't keep saying, what if, whatever. Yeah, yeah. It'll kill you. But I don't regret it, but I do think about it sometimes of, like, the things that I'm doing now, I'm like, wow. Like, what have I applied this to that, you know? Don't laugh at me.

What do I started a corporation and funneled some of this money to my own catering company? I mean, not that I've done that. I mean, no. Why are we paying Blackstone catering $12,000? Well, they're doing all the, they're polishing the plastic spoons. Yeah, right, right. But, I mean, it's been difficult because, like, even now, like, with my spending and my money, like, I'm just now learning at this age of the past couple of years how to really budget because I was so used to fast money.

You know, I was so used to, oh, I could just go out and make it. I'd just go out and write a check. I could just go out and, you know, make an ID and go make a quick thousand dollars and pay these bills real quick. But it's not like that anymore. So I had that mindset for so long, oh, I'll catch up. Right. I'll make it back. But no, in the real world, you're not.

Like, you have to actually sit down, budget, do your, you know, so it took me a while. but thankfully, you know, and I just got off probation in 2020. Yeah, yeah, over COVID. Over COVID. I finally got off of probation. It was, yeah, it was 10 years. I finally got off of probation. So I'm scot-free now.

Yeah, and I'm grateful for that. And now, like, I'm actually able to sit down. I'm writing a book about my life, like what it was like in this ballroom lifestyle and about, like all the crimes and all the things, you know, because in the ballroom scene, too, like, there's not a lot of women. There's not a lot of cisgender women. So my story is very unique, you know. Here I am this biracial Jewish girl in this heavy populated gay male ballroom scene doing

crime. So I think my story needs to be heard. So it took me like two rewrites. And I'm finally, almost at the end of this book. and it's going to go into edit and the world can read my story and, you know, it'll be out there. I don't have anything to say. You don't have anything to say? Yeah, because I did the mental pictures.

What? The mental pictures of all the drag queens? The drag queens. Are you going to go to sleep thinking about drag queens? I'm fucking die. I'm going to tell Jeff when I go home. Listen, totally picture her with two drag queens behind her with the fucking big hair. That is so funny.

They're holding checks and they're right. And it's so funny. Because the working title of my book is my life as a queen. So it's basically a play on, you know, because the gay guys call themselves queens. So it's a play on that. And then actually me being a woman and being a queen in this, you know, so it's a working title. I'm still thinking about it. But that's what it'll be called.

So just, you know, look out for that. And I'll send you a copy once it's, you know, all said and done. All right. All said and done. Yes. Hey, you guys. I appreciate you watching. Do me favor.

Hit the subscribe button. hit the bell so you get notified of videos just like this. Also, if you want to follow Jamie on her social medias, we're going to leave them all in the description box. She also has a website for her event production company. And we're going to leave that link also. So you can go there. You can get in touch with her. You can follow her. And also, if she sends us her link to Amazon, when her book comes out, we'll include that link too so you can check out the book. Thank you very much. I really do appreciate you guys watching. See you.