Tracee Sioux Robbed, Stranded. HELP
We need help. On 4th of July, we were robbed IN our hotel room in Los Angeles by a stranger who had a KEY to our room. He stole my purse, car key, work laptop (my entire business), phone, my son's backpack with all his clothes and money, credit and debit cards, cash and all identification and some very sentimental earrings that my grandmother had given my daughter.
Around 1 am he barged into our room saying he was with hotel management and there was a barbeque downstairs that we should go to while he paced the room. My son and I were sleeping in the room near the door, my daughter and her friend were sleeping in the next room. I could lift my head enough to tell him firmly to get out of our room, my son was telling him to get out as well. But, I couldn't move my body, which is why I believe I was roofied (drugged) when I was at the pool floating.
The 3rd party site we bought the room from, Agoda.com didn't return our emergency phone calls, leaving us stranded. They rated the hotel a 6.1 and put a bunch of fake reviews and misleading photos on their site. The hotel management was dismissive, refusing to refund us or even let us tell them what happened. They told the police that there was no video footage though there were two cameras pointing at the door. The police filed a report and told us that the hotel was a known criminal hotspot and to get the hell out of there.
Luckily, I had put a credit card in the glovebox between the pages of the owner's manual or we wouldn't have been able to make it to my parents' house in Utah.
We can't go home for another week or so because our house is rented to airbnb guests and that would just displace another family.
But the fallout is pretty bad. I had taken out our cash for the vacation. My laptop was stolen and with it weeks of work that has to be recreated and all of our family photos, etc. That laptop is basically my business. My phone was stollen. I've spent five years working to get out of credit card debt accrued during my divorce and just paid off a bunch of cards through a house refinance only a few weeks ago, only to find myself in debt again as a result of this mess.
We have no money.
As we drove away from that hotel (after paying a locksmith to make us a $275 key - and not even the clicker kind) we listed all of the things were really, really grateful for-- what didn't happen.
We weren't raped, murdered or kidnapped and sold into sex slavery. We weren't beaten. The sentimental things can't be replaced - oh how my daughter cried over those earrings - but, the objects that make up a functional life in 2017 can.
Many of you read our horrible story on Facebook and offered to help. You contacted your friends in the area, posted our need for a place to stay on your FB newsfeeds, reached out to your contacts and sent us your love and light and concern.
THANK YOU SO MUCH. We're grateful and we feel loved and cared for. Many of you have asked for a way to help and a friend suggested I try to salvage what I can through providing an easy way for people to help us. Thanks so much if you can, if you can't, I totall get it and thanks for reading this and sending us some love.
Love,
Tracee
www.traceesioux.com
