Grant Washington, his is a powerful sounding, but cliche name.
He hasn't done much with his life, but he's young and there is plenty of time to get it right.
Grant is 26, he works a lot.
He has Champagne tastes, strives to emulate the wealthy in his appearance, speech, mannerisms, and as much as possible possessions.
He hasn't done much with his life, but he's young and there is plenty of time to get it right.
Grant is 26, he works a lot.
He has Champagne tastes, strives to emulate the wealthy in his appearance, speech, mannerisms, and as much as possible possessions.
To that end, Grant shops at consignment stores, Online and physical, and he buys from shoplifters regularly.
Doesn't see it as wrong.
It's not as if he's doing the stealing.
The stores that are stolen from have insurance.
The stuff is already stolen he's just buying it.
Grant works full time.
He is a Customer Service Rep.
He also is a bar back at club Illusions 3 nights a week.
Working at club illusions is a blessing and a curse, a blessing because it is another few hundred dollars each week, a curse because it puts the type of people Grant aspires to be, in his face a lot.
It reminds him of the things that he doesn't have the things that he wants.
He has to see all the nice cars.
The expensive watches.
Nice clothes.
Diamonds.
Let's be frank, the women that drape on those types of men's arms are for sale as well.
Grant wants all of that.
His current vehicle is a hybrid.
Not the electric kind.
It has the 2016 BMW 740Li frame, it's motor and transmission were pieced together at the junkyard, the car looks immaculate but has a salvage title and is worth $2200 according to his insurance company.
Each weekend Grant is reminded of the things that he doesn't have.
He spends almost his entire barback pay with the shoplifters or boosters as they are known.
Snookie has been his contact for over a year.
She can steal anything.
80% of Grant's wardrobe has been under Snookie's clothes at some point.
Things first changed when Grant decided to move into the heart of the city.
Decided that he needed to be in a highrise.
Of course, $16 hourly doesn't quite justify a Highrise apartment in Buckhead.
On any floor.
Snookie knows somebody that knows somebody.
She's sure she can help him get what he wants.
All it requires is that he use credit cards to purchase clothes and return them for cash.
Sounds like a plan, especially if he gets to wear them first.
Things started off according to plan.
Grant is able to floss the nice things that he is buying, women are impressed by his location and the contents of his apartment.
Then things get a little bit more complicated.
Now the guy that Snookie knew approaches Grant directly.
He is to get cable at different addresses then order bogus cellphones, credit cards, etc.
All Grant has to do is pick up the packages and keep using the credit cards.
Truly doesn't understand everything that's going on.
He just knows that he has somehow made connections at all of the right places.
Print store employees bend the rules for him and he has some convincing-looking Dali and Picasso reproductions.
He's bootlegged more artists for the hangings in his bedroom.
Rugs.
Furniture.
Kitchenware.
He sees Snookie plying her trade often, soon it makes sense for him to quit his CSR job and use the bogus credit cards full time.
Grant is making about $7,500 a week.
Mall staff is starting to recognize him.
Time to expand his territory.
Cumming, Dahlonega, Gainesville, Birmingham.
His 2019 Escalade is racking up the miles.
Snookie is feeling the heat.
She's had one too many close calls in Atlanta.
Lennox, Phipps, Northlake, even Cumberland Mall have her picture hanging in the security office.
She contacts her client and friend Grant.
They are a force of nature.
Malls and shopping plazas within 8 hours of Atlanta in every direction are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Snookie moves into the building across the street and gives Grant an idea.
Soon he has three other empty apartments and crooked doormen and concierges all over.
That's when something important happened.
At that point, Grant went from a dupe, just a cog, a stooge, to an active participant.
He became part of the criminal management team.
Grant has recruited more team members more with more addresses even more doormen at more buildings are getting a cut because of providing empty unit addresses, and handing off the cable boxes, cellphones, and credit cards.
Life got much better.
Grant starts washing his money out of necessity.
He feels himself becoming the man he always wanted to be.
The man with the name of two of the dead presidents is a somebody of his own right and his on making.
He begins dating women befitting someone of "his stature."
Remembers his grandfather saying "Boy if ya wanna bass, ya caint fish in the catfish pool."
Goes to the proper pool.
The pool is deep in Atlanta.
She not only had to have a certain look for Mr. Washington, but her head also had to be right in more ways than one.
Shops around takes his time.
Thinks of another one of his Papa's sayings "Don't nothin hairy but a fool, take ya time."
He does.
The procession of women could be related.
All of them between 5"8-5"11'
Latinas, Indian, African, African-American, his cosmetic dentistry has been on display beside them all.
Thinks he's gotten the winner.
The woman on his sleeve makes Instagram models weep in envy.
She's the only one that has been able to stick past a single night or two.
She understands what he does.
Appears to respect his hustle and her head game was on point.
A keeper.
The whole crew is together for the first time, the kitchen, barbacks, and waitresses are being tipped well, the liquor is flowing and the fraudulent charges are being made
The beefy security guard at the front of the VIP has also been heavily tipped to keep out the riff-raff. The barbacks included.
Grant laughs at the thought.
He has come a very long way from the Alabama boy working as a Barback in this very place.
He's an important man.
The kind that can pay for anything he wants from a private chef in his penthouse apartment to his Dodge Hellcat and Chevy Exorcist.
Restaurants move people for him, jewelers have his cellphone number, he hob-knobs with celebrities.
He is a real VIP and he has told "Tiny" the giant at the door to make sure that everyone knows it.
That's why the sudden appearance of several men was initially surprising, the next stunner was the badges, from several different law enforcement agencies, the third and he thinks the most painful shock is Oliva, his first long-term girlfriend flashing a gun and badge.
When he receives his discovery packet and finds out that Belinda "Snookie" Charles is testifying against him Grant remembers something else his pappa told him. "Don't trust nobody, and don't let that city eat you up."
Doesn't see it as wrong.
It's not as if he's doing the stealing.
The stores that are stolen from have insurance.
The stuff is already stolen he's just buying it.
Grant works full time.
He is a Customer Service Rep.
He also is a bar back at club Illusions 3 nights a week.
Working at club illusions is a blessing and a curse, a blessing because it is another few hundred dollars each week, a curse because it puts the type of people Grant aspires to be, in his face a lot.
It reminds him of the things that he doesn't have the things that he wants.
He has to see all the nice cars.
The expensive watches.
Nice clothes.
Diamonds.
Let's be frank, the women that drape on those types of men's arms are for sale as well.
Grant wants all of that.
His current vehicle is a hybrid.
Not the electric kind.
It has the 2016 BMW 740Li frame, it's motor and transmission were pieced together at the junkyard, the car looks immaculate but has a salvage title and is worth $2200 according to his insurance company.
Each weekend Grant is reminded of the things that he doesn't have.
He spends almost his entire barback pay with the shoplifters or boosters as they are known.
Snookie has been his contact for over a year.
She can steal anything.
80% of Grant's wardrobe has been under Snookie's clothes at some point.
Things first changed when Grant decided to move into the heart of the city.
Decided that he needed to be in a highrise.
Of course, $16 hourly doesn't quite justify a Highrise apartment in Buckhead.
On any floor.
Snookie knows somebody that knows somebody.
She's sure she can help him get what he wants.
All it requires is that he use credit cards to purchase clothes and return them for cash.
Sounds like a plan, especially if he gets to wear them first.
Things started off according to plan.
Grant is able to floss the nice things that he is buying, women are impressed by his location and the contents of his apartment.
Then things get a little bit more complicated.
Now the guy that Snookie knew approaches Grant directly.
He is to get cable at different addresses then order bogus cellphones, credit cards, etc.
All Grant has to do is pick up the packages and keep using the credit cards.
Truly doesn't understand everything that's going on.
He just knows that he has somehow made connections at all of the right places.
Print store employees bend the rules for him and he has some convincing-looking Dali and Picasso reproductions.
He's bootlegged more artists for the hangings in his bedroom.
Rugs.
Furniture.
Kitchenware.
He sees Snookie plying her trade often, soon it makes sense for him to quit his CSR job and use the bogus credit cards full time.
Grant is making about $7,500 a week.
Mall staff is starting to recognize him.
Time to expand his territory.
Cumming, Dahlonega, Gainesville, Birmingham.
His 2019 Escalade is racking up the miles.
Snookie is feeling the heat.
She's had one too many close calls in Atlanta.
Lennox, Phipps, Northlake, even Cumberland Mall have her picture hanging in the security office.
She contacts her client and friend Grant.
They are a force of nature.
Malls and shopping plazas within 8 hours of Atlanta in every direction are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Snookie moves into the building across the street and gives Grant an idea.
Soon he has three other empty apartments and crooked doormen and concierges all over.
That's when something important happened.
At that point, Grant went from a dupe, just a cog, a stooge, to an active participant.
He became part of the criminal management team.
Grant has recruited more team members more with more addresses even more doormen at more buildings are getting a cut because of providing empty unit addresses, and handing off the cable boxes, cellphones, and credit cards.
Life got much better.
Grant starts washing his money out of necessity.
He feels himself becoming the man he always wanted to be.
The man with the name of two of the dead presidents is a somebody of his own right and his on making.
He begins dating women befitting someone of "his stature."
Remembers his grandfather saying "Boy if ya wanna bass, ya caint fish in the catfish pool."
Goes to the proper pool.
The pool is deep in Atlanta.
She not only had to have a certain look for Mr. Washington, but her head also had to be right in more ways than one.
Shops around takes his time.
Thinks of another one of his Papa's sayings "Don't nothin hairy but a fool, take ya time."
He does.
The procession of women could be related.
All of them between 5"8-5"11'
Latinas, Indian, African, African-American, his cosmetic dentistry has been on display beside them all.
Thinks he's gotten the winner.
The woman on his sleeve makes Instagram models weep in envy.
She's the only one that has been able to stick past a single night or two.
She understands what he does.
Appears to respect his hustle and her head game was on point.
A keeper.
The whole crew is together for the first time, the kitchen, barbacks, and waitresses are being tipped well, the liquor is flowing and the fraudulent charges are being made
The beefy security guard at the front of the VIP has also been heavily tipped to keep out the riff-raff. The barbacks included.
Grant laughs at the thought.
He has come a very long way from the Alabama boy working as a Barback in this very place.
He's an important man.
The kind that can pay for anything he wants from a private chef in his penthouse apartment to his Dodge Hellcat and Chevy Exorcist.
Restaurants move people for him, jewelers have his cellphone number, he hob-knobs with celebrities.
He is a real VIP and he has told "Tiny" the giant at the door to make sure that everyone knows it.
That's why the sudden appearance of several men was initially surprising, the next stunner was the badges, from several different law enforcement agencies, the third and he thinks the most painful shock is Oliva, his first long-term girlfriend flashing a gun and badge.
When he receives his discovery packet and finds out that Belinda "Snookie" Charles is testifying against him Grant remembers something else his pappa told him. "Don't trust nobody, and don't let that city eat you up."
