Katrina victim gets jacked in tha Yay Areeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

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Sep 27, 2005
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Thursday, March 16, 2006

Trina Gary thought she'd lived through the worst disaster possible when Hurricane Katrina swept her and her five children out of New Orleans last year. But the past three weeks have made her think again.

The 42-year-old single mother, who landed in the East Bay after the storm flooded her home, received a large payment last month from the federal disaster agency to compensate her for all the family's losses -- and she planned to use some of the money to return to Louisiana.

With the check in hand and her future seeming bright, Gary walked into a check-cashing outlet near her temporary home in Hayward. After employees there made sure it was a real check and she was the correct recipient, Gary received the payment in cash -- $17,975.

She went home and hid the money for safekeeping, then drove to buy groceries. When she returned, three masked gunmen who police say apparently had followed her from the check-cashing outlet grabbed her and forced their way into the residence.

They held guns to Gary's head and the head of her 2-year-old daughter -- and took all the money, she told police. Gary's 15-year-old son broke an arm when he jumped out of a second-floor window in an attempt to get help.

Two-and-a-half weeks later, Gary and her children are surviving thanks to the good will and financial support of East Bay residents, who have donated more than $6,000 to help her. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it could not reimburse her for the loss because the check had been cashed.

News of the family's plight sparked a flood of cards and checks from residents around the region. Gary's family also has moved into a new home and was embraced by members of an Oakland church that is leading the fundraising effort.

"The outpouring and the donations coming through, it's really been a great thing," said Maurice Scott, pastor of Great St. John Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church in Oakland, whose members have pitched in $2,000 to help the family.

Church members have grown close to the family. Scott eats meals with them after church services. And among the many cards and letters is one from a San Lorenzo man that begins with "Dear Friends" and includes a check for $100.

A Hayward woman's card sends her apologies -- and disbelief -- to the family: "I am outraged that it happened in the city where I live," the woman wrote.

"There is a heartbeat in the Bay Area," said Scott. "I'm so pleased. She needs that support now."

Gary hopes to leave for New Orleans eventually, perhaps as soon as in a month. But the theft of the FEMA funds has made that more difficult. She is figuring out how much she will need to move back to Louisiana.

The home invasion on Feb. 27 on the 200 block of Cherry Way was just the latest hurdle faced by Gary and her five children -- ages 24, 15, 10, 5, and 2 -- who came to the Bay Area in November.

"It (the robbery) set me back," said Gary. "In Katrina, I lost everything. It's been hard."

Alameda County sheriff's investigators have made no arrests in the crime, which they say was committed by three to four men between 18 and 35 years old. Investigators suspect Gary was targeted from the time she left a local check-cashing establishment, the thieves following her home. The outlet was about three miles from Gary's home.

Katrina evacuees in other cities, such as Houston, have been victims of similar violent crimes. But this is the first time evacuees living in the Bay Area have been targeted for their cash, according to sheriff's investigators and officials at FEMA's regional office.

"This is the first time we've heard of it in the Bay Area," said Alameda County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Carroll, who added that investigators do not believe Gary made up the story of being robbed. "Right now, we're still looking for the suspects. We're relying on the help of the public."

One of the three attackers grabbed Gary's youngest child and put a gun to her head.

"It was a (brutal) assault," said Carroll. "These guys were determined they weren't going to leave until they got what they wanted."

Gary said she cashed the check to pay bills and prepare for her family's return to Louisiana. She was carrying cash because she had not set up a checking account in the Bay Area, she said.

Even now, Gary doesn't like recounting the details of the attack. "Mentally ... I still have nightmares of it," she said.

This is what she told police:

She spent 45 minutes at the check-cashing counter, watching several people come and go as the female cashier, and then the store managers, examined her FEMA check.

"Every time a person came, she stopped with me and she started dealing with the other customers," said Gary.

When she got home from the grocery store, she was jumped. "I turned around, and all I saw was a gun in my face," she said.

The men pushed her inside. Her children started screaming and ran to hide. Then the gunmen screamed at everyone to come out of their rooms. In the confusion, Gary's son, Tyrone, ran into a bedroom, then jumped out a window to get help.

"He said, 'Momma, what about you?' I said, 'Don't worry, just go,' " Gary recalled.

As the robbers broke down the door to the room where she was hiding, Gary said she found the money and threw it at one of them.

"I said, 'All the money is there. Please take it all and go,' " she said.

When one of the gunmen realized they had all the money, he signaled the others to leave, she said.

After the robbery, Gary contacted FEMA and was told the agency couldn't reimburse her for the loss.

"What they took from me, I can't get back," said Gary.

But with help from the community, the family moved into another home elsewhere in the East Bay. The Cherry Street residence had been their first real home since Katrina.

They lived in a hotel after arriving in California on Nov. 3 from Texas. They spent five days on a bridge in New Orleans after the hurricane struck in late August, then were flown to a military base in Arkansas and later to Houston.

Gary, who worked for the last six years as the manager at a McDonald's restaurant, hopes to return to Louisiana -- but she's not sure exactly how she'll pull it off.

The three-bedroom house she rented in New Orleans was filled with water after the hurricane struck. She's not sure where she would stay if she returned, but she wants to get an apartment somewhere in the city. She had relatives there but is not sure whether they have made it back.

"I still want to go back home," said Gary.
 

Defy

Cannabis Connoisseur
Jan 23, 2006
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#5
thats fucked up...but who the hell gets a $17k check cashed at a check cashing spot? she had to have seen the news sometime since she's been out here and realized its not a very safe place....she should've been smarter...open up an account at BofA or wells fargo or someshit
 

Arson

Long live the KING!!!!
May 7, 2002
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#11
The bitch is a dumb fuck for cashing the check, "at home for safe keeping" is a oxymoron, she was gonna waste all the fucking money, or she woulda put it in the bank, i hope them cats dont get caught.
 
May 9, 2002
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#12
Base4esteban said:
i should be banned for stating an opinion rite...you should be banned for this uncontrollable outburst.
SO its cool to jack kids?Put a gun to they head?Breakin a CHILDS bones???Wow...youre a bitch...and thats my opinion...

THe fuck outta here...low life chmup...only a BITCH would pull some shit like that....

Jackin is the HIGHEST form of "hating"...you jealous of another mans shine...so you decide to take it...now multiply that time 100 via a child...

Clown...
 
Dec 19, 2005
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#13
Mr Arson said:
The bitch is a dumb fuck for cashing the check, "at home for safe keeping" is a oxymoron, she was gonna waste all the fucking money, or she woulda put it in the bank, i hope them cats dont get caught.
i agree wit you...that was pretty stupid. but i wont go as far as to say i hope the people dont get caught. thats some bad shit
 
Jan 9, 2006
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Oh Coy!Ocerto said:
SO its cool to jack kids?Put a gun to they head?Breakin a CHILDS bones???Wow...youre a bitch...and thats my opinion...

THe fuck outta here...low life chmup...only a BITCH would pull some shit like that....

Jackin is the HIGHEST form of "hating"...you jealous of another mans shine...so you decide to take it...now multiply that time 100 via a child...

Clown...
i never said any of that...look at my posts above...your hatin on my opinion...your the biggest drama queen ever...ASSCLOWN
 
Dec 27, 2004
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#16
Oh Coy!Ocerto said:
SO its cool to jack kids?Put a gun to they head?Breakin a CHILDS bones???Wow...youre a bitch...and thats my opinion...
the mom was a fuckin dumbass for keepin that much cash on her shoulda put it in the bank n yee its fucked up that they put a gun to the kids head but they didnt throw the other kid out the window.....
 
Feb 4, 2005
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#17
That fucked, but VERY STUPID! Think about how much people woulda seen or known about the amount of cash she got paid after 45mins of waiting. I woulda expected to get jumped a couple blocks away from the office, im suprised she even managed to get that home to hide it in the first place.