42 The Sleuth
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Jamie: [00:00:00] Woohoo. And now and welcome to the pod. What is this? The Sleuth podcast. Woohoo. We are in the building today at podcast Carrie and I am your favorite sleuth. My name is Jamie and I am here to give you the truth when you really need to know. Welcome to the show. So I have a fantastic guest that I am super excited to [00:01:00] introduce to you guys.
Her name is Micah. Hello? Hello. Hello. Sexy sultry voice there. Oh my. On the other end. . Wow.
Mica: Okay. And she's already the best guest 'cause she brought me a cookie. . See cookies. Know how in Starbucks. You didn't want my Starbucks this morning. Think
Jamie: I see salt on the top of it. Excited to eat it. You,
Mica: you
Jamie: do.
Absolutely. We're gonna talk about these cookies. Why
Mica: do you have cookies? Because I'm a baker. You're a baker. I am the goat in Raleigh Bakery.
Jamie: Yes she is. This is Micah of Micah's Sweets and Treats. She has a bakery here right around the corner from me. And she is here because, well, for multiple reasons.
One, she's a friend of mine. I love her to death. I love you. She actually got me I always say she got me my job between you and God. So funny. Yeah. How we're working things out for me. He made me a vessel. He did. And she had, she's an entrepreneur out here in Raleigh and she's got a fantastic company.[00:02:00]
We're gonna talk to you guys about that and kind of share some craziness from our lives. And I'm so excited to have you here.
Mica: Yes. For those of you who think I'm just gonna be sharing baking tips today, that's not it at all. ? No. But hopefully
Jamie: one or two. Maybe. Maybe. I just want that pcan pie. . I just had a flashback.
That thing was fantastic. Thank you. Okay, so, Micah, where? Jamie? So I met and I can't look at you. Okay. Don't look at me, . I'm like, you're throwing me off. I'm sorry. I'm like, get in that corner.
Mica: No, I'll put my coat over my head. .
Jamie: Okay, so how I met Micah? So Micah. Was a, was a mutual friend of mine and a friend of mine that I went to bible study with.
She's doing great by the way. Love it. I waved at her the other day at church. Yay. I didn't get a chance to talk to her 'cause she was busy, but Hey Leslie. Hey. And she's listening. And Leslie had a birthday party at the art museum.
Mica: Very, a very strange [00:03:00] place to have. Yes, I do. . I thought it was nice.
Jamie: A lot of people do
Mica: stuff at the art museum. Yeah, I know. It's, but I don't know. Midday lunch at the art museum. I don't know. I didn't feel rich enough to be there. Oh, I don't know who cares Until I got my lunch and it was like a couple of crackers and some cheese and I was like, oh, I fit right in
Jamie: here. I don't remember, remember what I had.
But we had a lunch there. Mm-hmm . For a birthday party and she thought I was badass. 'cause at the time I was doing bail bonding and she ended up introducing me to Mr. Blackman via BNI. Yep. Which is. One of the greatest networking BNI is my life. Tell, no, I'm kidding. Talk. But it it's good. It kind of is your life.
It kind of is. Tell me, tell us a little bit about BNI. 'cause I always love to give b and i a plug.
Mica: So I, I will say that, you know, the first thing I always talk about is the fact that I dissed it for so long and it, that was one of the most incredibly bad decisions I had ever made, especially in [00:04:00] the job that I was in, the industry that I was in.
I thought, you know, screw me and I, I can do it myself. I'll run my own networking group and I'm out here in the sticks. At the time I was in payroll and I had Carrie Morrisville Qua Arena, Holly Springs, and some other place around here I can't even remember anymore. And had I had BNI. The outcome of that whole thing would've been completely different.
I had to work 70 times harder to get the work, the jobs and the business than if I'd had just joined b and i, and I don't know why I felt that way. I think I was just, B i's heavy. It is
Jamie: heavy. It feels like a job. It does if you, in my opinion mm-hmm . If you are not a new entrepreneur and you are trying to figure out how to get your company out there, or if you are the only person working, you have so much going on, it's really hard to be committed to it.
But [00:05:00] being committed to being I is what makes it great. It's, it's what allows your business to soar. Because you, they do teach you the importance of having a good connection with, you know, a certain group of people that are able to refer you. And it just, it works out really well. There's a lot of checks and balances on there, but it all works.
So, yeah. So anyways, I met Mr. Blackman at the networking event. Y'all were at what? The Foxing Hound, which isn't even there anymore in North Hills. Yes, there were wraps. Oh my God. There's a lot of place with grosses.
Mica: I have never seen a man jump from sitting on a bench seat to the bench without bending his legs.
Before when this guy was, he was our carpet cleaner. Edward's carpet cleaning. I just love this guy. Oh. And he was sitting there
Jamie: Who Thad. Yes.
Mica: Get outta here. Yes. And you know, he's hot. He's got a body all day long, baby. I, anyway, I was his kid's lifeguard at the daycare. [00:06:00] He's such a nice man. But he takes care of his body, baby.
Yeah. Spencer, shout out to Spencer. That's what we call him, Spencer. Okay. If I'm talking about your daddy, I'm sorry, Spencer. Don't listen. Okay. . But anyways he was sitting on the bench and we're having our meeting and all of a sudden something scurries. Dare say across his feet. It may have been in front of his feet.
Doesn't matter. He just, I don't know, levitated, . That's really all he could do onto the bench seat. And we were all like, where is it? We're getting on the chairs. And he screamed like a girl. It was so funny. It was so funny. I have
Jamie: got to call him as soon as we get outta here, . You do, you do.
Mica: Sound will be like, what?
So yeah, that was the beginning to the end of our time at Fox and the Hound. We realized, I mean, that and the disgusting stuff underneath the tables, and we'd put our, you know, rest our arms on the table and then we'd have to pry 'em off.
Jamie: Yeah. 'cause
Mica: of the ketchup. They didn't wipe off the, oh, that place was restaurant life [00:07:00]
Jamie: between beer and servers who don't care to clean up.
Oh, it's so nasty. Guess that's what you get. That's what you get. Okay. So question. Were you mm-hmm . Did you start? Micah Sweets and Treats. While you were in BNI, did you just switch companies or like how did that work? Basically?
Mica: Yes. Okay. I was, I was in there with a, another business that I had started and so I switched went into Micah Sweets and Treats in January of 2020 and COVID.
Mm-hmm . Okay. And then we went virtual after that. And that's basically when I had made the switch was January, I think.
Jamie: Okay.
Mica: And because I remember doing our virtual meetings and I was icing cookies while I was doing the meetings and they were like, hello, hello. And I was like, what, man, I got cookies to do
It's not that I'm
Jamie: not paying attention. How did that go? Starting a company during Covid? Not during, well, at the beginning of,
Mica: yeah, before, but, because I bought black actually was [00:08:00] really good,
Jamie: like November of 2019. Mm-hmm . And I was, I was like, oh my God, what in the world? I know. But he sustained. Okay.
Mica: Yes. Praise Jesus. DIY cookie saved my butt. So I had DIY cookie kits and I, I threw the idea out there of you know, doing a DIY cookie kit and a bottle of wine. Okay? Because, you know, folks couldn't stay with their kids longer than five days during Covid, and then all of a sudden they couldn't handle it anymore.
Oh God, who are these people? Give the baby some
Jamie: cookies to
Mica: decorate. So here's, here's their cookies and here's your bottle of wine. You'll live. Okay? And that's how I got started. Do your girls like
Jamie: some cookie kits, Joe?
Mica: I believe so. Yeah. They, did
Jamie: y'all do a cookie kit at any point?
Mica: I mean the holidays or others?
Of course we did the, the fancy gingerbread house kind of stuff. Or decorate cookies. Yeah.
Jamie: [00:09:00] Nice. How are you doing today, Joe? I'm doing well. How's life
Mica: been? Good. Been busy working on building the third studio here, so I've kind of been burning the candle on both ends, but it's getting there.
Jamie: Okay. Growth.
Growth. We love that. It was all about thriving in 2025, right?
Mica: Sure. Thriving. Yeah. . I would like 2025 to be about napping, right? , that's,
Jamie: I walked in, I was like, happy Friday. He is like, no, . And it's like, how did I miss five days?
Mica: What,
Jamie: what month are we in? Well, it's always nice to podcast on a Monday. This is a new feeling, so it feels
Freeing, even though I know that the week has just began. Okay, so I'm gonna talk, tell you guys more about my friend Micah. So tell, tell us about you. Where are you from? How in the world did you get into baking? So, I'm
Mica: from Virginia originally and ended up in North Carolina in 1983. Oh. I wasn't even here yet because my family like, you mean [00:10:00] boring North Carolina?
Shut up. Oh my God, that just threw me off, Jamie. I'm sorry. What a
Jamie: terrible thing to say to someone. God, I'm about to turn 40, so I'm trying to be the youngest thing everywhere for a minute. You just
Mica: keep getting younger. It's not fair. Thanks. I'm trying you.
Jamie: Okay. So you used to work at, so I, when we were talking about preparing for this podcast Yeah.
You know, I was like, what can we talk about that's fun. And you, so you used to work at Reed's Jewelers? Yes. . That's where I started my jewelry career. . And there was a robbery. Tell us about the story. Goodness. How many people have been involved in a armed robbery? Not, I,
Mica: you know, and, and I still to this day, it kind of just, you know, just one of those things.
But yes, I worked at Reed's Jewelers in North Hills. Oh. And so for those of you who are not seven years old and remember North Hills Mall I do. I I used to have trick or treat there. Oh, how cute. Yeah, . Oh my God. So we were on the [00:11:00] bottom floor and we faced the back doors to the doors that opened up to the food court.
We faced that direction. I wanna say. July 2nd. We had a normal day. The manager was there and I was the assistant manager, and he always stood at the front of the store and I always stood at the back of the store. And just because that's where they wanted us to stand. And I had a client who needed a battery changed.
And so I changed his battery and he had a caretaker with him. And she had sat him down in front of the diamond case and came up to the register to pay for the battery. And I'll preface this by saying that we had just let go. God bless her. She was a retired veteran from the military because her meds got [00:12:00] wonky.
She was. She had PTSD. I don't know what her deal was, but we just couldn't work with her anymore.
Jamie: Yeah.
Mica: And so, don't tell me she retired that day. Well, no, it had been a couple of weeks. Okay. So, you know, but we still saw her around the mall and we couldn't figure that out. But that was weird . And so I'm sitting there changing the battery.
I get up and you know, it's really, it really sucks being short sometimes , and this was one of those days, because when I stood up to go to the register, the computer terminal was actually taller than I was . So I, because it was on top of like a case, and then it was sitting on top of the CPU and then there was the monitor.
Right, right. So it's already like . Three inches above my head. Right. And it was big. And so I'm sitting there and I'm ringing this lady up for her battery [00:13:00] and she just, I don't know where I was, but I apparently wasn't there because in my head, because I could hear what was happening, but I didn't, it didn't make sense what was happening.
Mm-hmm . But she backed up very quickly away from the register. And the next thing I know, glass is being shattered up at the front of the store and it's all kind of coming together, what is going on? And I move to the left so that I can see what's going on. And I see this man coming up to the, to the register.
And so I, I froze, I'm sure. And he lays his gun down on the counter and he says, yo. This is a robbery , get on the flow. Such an informal robbery. .
Jamie: Oh
Mica: no .
Jamie: I'm like, are you punking me ?
Mica: And I just look at him and they said that it's when you look at the video, when they showed the video from from the store, you could see [00:14:00] me just kinda cocking my head a little bit going, what?
So he repeated what he said to me and I was like, okay damn. Alright , so let's do this. So I laid down on the floor and you know, they say that your life passes in front of you, right? When these things happen. And I was married and I hated the man I was married to. And all I thought about was my cat.
So I knew then at that moment that I was, he wasn't the one, he wasn't the one, it wasn't gonna last . So, but the dude tried to come in back where I was. You wonder if he was gonna feed your cat if you did get killed? Well, you know, yeah. But I, it, it, I, I was hoping somebody else would feed us, get the cat, because I'm sure the cat hated him too, because the cat was mine.
So, so the guy tried to come in to back where I was at and thank God we had this special lock, right. And you had to stick your finger up in the lock to [00:15:00] unlock the door. Actually, it wasn't like a, a. A knob turn of any kind. Right. Well, he grabs the knob because there was a knob there, but he grabbed the knob and turned it and turned it and turned it until it fell in the floor.
Oh Lord. Off of the lock. And he got really pissed then and I was like, son of a bitch. And the guys that he was with were like, dude, come on. We gotta go. We gotta go. So there were multiple of them, there were four. Oh, wow. And so they shattered six cabinets, I think. And so they got the diamond earrings.
The diamond bracelets. They didn't go for any of the shit. Okay. Of course they knew what they wanted. Right. And engage Ring probably cased the place before they got there many times. Yeah. They figured out many times. Yeah. And they all ran out and then . You know, we had the best of the best protecting us at North Hills Mall.
God bless him. He's, he can't be unless he's like 110 . But she might be, he might be like the oldest person and they just don't know about him yet. . [00:16:00] But Barney comes running down the escalator and he ha is trying to get his gun out of his holster. Is this Dave really Barney or are you making a Barney Fife shirt?
It's Barney Fife. Yeah. , I'm sure. I I, it's probably worse than that. . It's probably worse than that. He gets about halfway down the escalator and fires his firearm. Were bullets start going everywhere 'cause all four of those guys had guns. My god. And yeah, I'm surprised he wasn't killed then. I mean, it was crazy.
So, geez, he skipped the day on deescalation. Really? ,
Jamie: right? I'm like, why would you fire the gun? Was it an accidental fire or you think he No,
Mica: I think he was shooting at them coming out of the store because they knew. They had, it's funny because everybody has their processes, right? And it took me a minute to figure out what was going on.
The person up at JC Penney's that these guys had gone upstairs, they come into the mall with ski jackets on and mallets and clear Dillard bags, and they go [00:17:00] up the escalator to JC Penney's and they bought pantyhose to finish their ensemble. Are you serious To finish their outfits? Swear to God, the guy from JC Penney's had to testify.
Absolutely.
Jamie: mother trucker, dumb criminals. And so, hold on, stop. Lemme stop by ladies wearing, getting some hose. Yeah.
Mica: And then they're putting on the hose as over their heads as they're coming down the escalator. And nobody thought they were up to No good. What? I mean, I know it was like a fast Still was.
It was fast, but it was also a dead, dead mall at that point. I mean, we might have seen five people in one day. What year was this? 97. Okay. So July 2nd, 97 I want to say. Okay. And so they ran out and Glenn ran behind them and lowered the gate. And then we were just like stunned. We didn't, I mean, you know, you gotta have protocol.
He called, you know, home [00:18:00] office in Wilmington and then they started telling him what to do. And so we had these sweet girls next to us. Some kid store next to us. Well, for some reason they paper taped up the door, the gate. They put brown paper all over the door, all over the gate. I don't know what that was about.
I don't know if anybody asked them to do that or not , but so they did. What was that supposed to be doing? Well, I guess keeping people from seeing what was going on. I don't know. Inside, inside. Who
Jamie: put the tape up,
Mica: put the ladies in the other store. They put the brown paper over the gate so nobody could see through.
Okay. But then out of nowhere, somebody starts screaming, of course my name outside in the mall. My God, my God. And I was like, oh shit. Who? That could be So many people . And all of a sudden the paper comes flying off, ripping [00:19:00] off. Micah, are you okay? Are you okay? Aw, it's this, they were army check on you. It was this army chick that had gotten her medicine all whacked out.
Aw. And she was whacked out. And at the same time, she's trying to make sure that I'm okay, which is really weird. The police are coming. She's got a small infatuation. sh Maybe. I'm glad she lost that quick. The police are coming in. Mm-hmm . Well, they, she thinks that they're. Looking for her, I guess, because she takes off and ends up running up to the top of the parking deck and they tackle her and pills go everywhere.
No. And that's what the TV people get from the helicopter. Is this a video of this chick getting like completely pummeled? I mean, they, this like six guys took her out. I mean, it was so funny. Okay. Did they find the robbers? So they did [00:20:00] on site or elsewhere? Elsewhere. They stopped at the food court and enjoyed some food.
I say. Did they go to Chick-fil-A? They cut a no. Chick-fil-A wasn't in the food court. Chick-fil-A was upstairs. They couldn't go back up there. They cut a hole in their pantyhose and they were shoving some Randy's pizza in their mouth. Or taco Hell no, they had actually stolen a car. From a same day surgery center where some little old lady had been had driven there.
Somebody had taken her and they had gotten out of the car to take her into the same day surgery center off with the , and they jumped in. It's really brilliant. Really, if you just need a ride. But, and drove that car to the mall and then they got in that car and they went to their girlfriend's house and their girlfriends were like, hell to the, no, you not coming here.
And they turned them in, thank God.
Jamie: Okay.
Mica: Yeah. After they pocketed a couple rings, who knows? Did they? Okay. So
Jamie: how much did
Mica: they do you? We have a number. Oh, hundreds of thousands of dollars back then. I'm sure it's like 6 [00:21:00] billion or trillion dollars by now. . I don't know. You know how that is, like, you know.
Yeah. Inflation. Yeah. Inflation. . So,
Jamie: so did you go back to work at the ? Jewelers after that. Hell yeah.
Mica: And I got promoted too because Glen, he was like, peace out . He had just had a baby. And I don't blame him, but I was stupid enough to go, Hey, lemme get a promotion. Woo hoo. So I became store manager like in two weeks.
And so, that was interesting. Very interesting. Is so scary. What was it like when, when you first heard gunfire? Well, that's what I'm saying. What? Yeah. Were you still laying on the, the ground? Go back to the guns? Yeah. So, no, because I saw them run out because he was screaming for me to get up and open that door.
I. And so I had gotten up off of the floor and I was, I, I didn't know what else to do. I was headed to the door to let him in. 'cause he knew the safe was back there. Yeah. And so I saw him dart off. He was not amused with me. I don't know, I don't know what would've happened if they hadn't have taken off.
And
Jamie: they didn't. Okay. [00:22:00] So did they brandish the guns out there while you Not in
Mica: the store? He was the only one that I saw that had a gun.
Jamie: Okay. And then, then, and then Barney comes down, shoots randomly, and bullets went flying. I don't know how many
Mica: of them had guns, but in my mind I see Barney accidentally shooting it while it was in his holster.
That's what I'm thinking. Funny. You know what he'd would, if he'd have done that, he'd have broken the damn escalator again. The fucking escalator was always broken in that mall. Hated it. Hated it. The good thing about a broken escalator is it's still stairs. Oh my God, that you can trip going up the stairs.
Don't ask me how I know that
Jamie: that is,
Mica: that is dangerous. And
Jamie: it fucking
Mica: hurts too. 'cause it metal cuts you up. Trust me.
Jamie: Okay. Well I'm glad you survived from that. Yes. And no more jewelers after that. And so why in the world did you open a bakery? How did you get to baking?
Mica: My granny, my adopted granny saw that I needed more in my life.
[00:23:00] I was not happy. I was working another business that I had started and I had just been confiding in her that I needed a change. And she prayed about it and said, called me one day and said, I want you to start a bakery. And I was like, granny, what are you talking about? I don't, I burned chocolate chip cookies from the grocery store.
What do you mean ? I mean, I used to work at a . And a place called Productivity Point. And they had Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, Uhhuh, you took them out of the frozen box. We had a freezer with a box of cookies in it. That's all that was ever there. Maybe two boxes of cookies, , but boxes of cookies. And you just took 'em one pallet or one tray at a time and you put them on a, a tray that came out of this oven that had nothing but a green button.
You just push the green button. It knew what to do. I burned those damn cookies and [00:24:00] they were like, how do you do this? And I'm like, I dunno. I just, I, it was just something, I'm confused why they even had
Jamie: a.
Mica: So, that's true. I should tell you that we gave the students cookies every day. Oh, okay.
Productivity Point was a, a student led computer training company.
Jamie: Okay.
Mica: Okay. So anyways,
Jamie: it's like having your tea. Yeah. Like they have the little tea. You just push the button and it already Yeah.
Mica: Knows
Jamie: how much water. Okay. So you burn up those cookies. They,
Mica: they burned just to torture me. I don't think it was your fault.
Jamie: I think they had a, I know. Defective.
Mica: I don't know. It never happened to anybody else. But anyhow. . So did your granny bake? So, no, she doesn't bake either. Oh. Bake nobody. Bake. Nobody bakes. Nobody bake. So, I said, granny, I'm just. I can't even draw a straight line with a ruler. What are you talking about?
I don't know how to cut out cookies. I don't watch some videos. This 74-year-old lady telling me to watch some YouTube videos, she's like, get on YouTube. So funny. She's like, figure it out. So she buys the cookie [00:25:00] cutters the state of Louisiana, because I'm a Louisiana girl, okay? And my family's from Louisiana and the Delise and some plaques.
And I proceeded to make these crazy ass looking cookies for her, for the LSU Alabama game in 2018. It was November, remember like it was yesterday? And I baked them and I put 'em on Facebook, right? Mm-hmm . I don't know why. You know, back in the day we shared everything right on Facebook. Well, some people still do.
Yeah, I don't. And I put 'em on there and people were like, oh my God, how much? And I was like, I. For what? . And they were like, those cookies, they're so cute. And I was like, okay. And so people started buying them and I started making them. And that's that story.
Jamie: That's how we are here today. That is okay. So what do you have a famous cookie?
You know, I do. I do. I do. Y'all tell me about it. It's this [00:26:00]
Mica: Carolina Bliss. Carolina Bliss. I thought of the name. You know, it's fun being creative. I never knew that. 'cause I was never creative before I started this business.
Jamie: Creativity is stressful. Sometimes it can be if you're not like just allowing it to happen and just going with it even if it feels crazy.
That's
Mica: true. Yeah, that's true. But I won the state fair with this cookie in 2021. Okay. Had never obviously submitted anything to the state fair. 'cause I didn't bake. I didn't cook. And one second place. I also, one second place with my chocolate shortbread cookie. And I just, it all came together.
I've not, I didn't sit down and ride a business plan for a bakery. I didn't go to school to be a baker. I, you know, this, I'm just riding this wave. I feel like this is a wave that, that God has, I feel, has given me. And yeah. You know, I'm just here to, I'm just here to enjoy it. Yeah, indeed. So you didn just bring us a cookie.
You brought us an award-winning cookie. I did. And I'm still waiting [00:27:00] for you to eat it, Joe. I'm, I'm eyeballing it now. Now I'm reading about what it is. Oh, okay. Good, good, good. I'm on your website. Awesome. Where you can buy them for a dozen, for $50. There you go. I'd micah sweet treats.com.
Jamie: Thank you . Okay, so you do a lot for Mardi Gras.
I was on your site and you have, I. What is it? A king cake? The king cake. Oh my gosh. I don't know much about Mardi Gras. I had to Google last night to like, I'm like, what's Mardi Gras again? But it's Fat Tuesday in preparation for Lent. Right, exactly. For the end of Lent as Catholics.
Mica: Yes. And so, this time period has been lent since January 6th.
Jamie: What?
Yes. Isn't Ash Wednesday like coming up? I'm confused. Maybe I'm confused. Look it up, Joe. I think
Mica: Ash Wednesday, I think, I think we're in Lent. I think it leads up to Easter. It, yeah. Lent leads up to if we already had Ash Wednesday,
Jamie: I'm, this is what happens when you don't go to church. I'm goog anymore.
It,
Mica: and then we'll know for real. Yes. Lin is a 40 day period in preparation for Easter. So [00:28:00] 40 days back. But when
Jamie: does it start? Sometime within, it's like on a Wednesday, like this week or next week. I didn't think it Easter. Well, that's true because Easter's
Mica: really late. Its like y'all, I just completely boxed that.
Sorry. Tomorrow's fat Tuesday. Okay, that's what I thought. That's right. I forgot what hell day it was. It starts tomorrow. Sorry. Yeah, so let starts on the Wednesday. So the 40 days before Easter. Tuesday, yes. Right.
Jamie: So Fat Tuesday is supposed the day that you get to enjoy all your sweet treats and get, then we're giving up all these things before you're not as bad
Mica: a Christian as
Jamie: you thought you were.
I know. I was about to say, I thought I was on it. Now I've practiced Lent for many, many a years. I can't, you know, and I be honest, you know, I'm a little. Jesus girl comes out, I enjoy going to the Ash Wednesday service. Mm-hmm . I like to get my little cross. Mm-hmm . Mark me, I'm one of the Lords. Aw. I that. And I walk around and people go, you got dirt on your head?
You got some little dirt. I'm like, you need Jesus. You, but that's okay. Jesus.
Mica: So I need Jesus apparently. But anyways 'cause I didn't remember, I thought it was [00:29:00] before Lent, but it's, it's the beginning of Lent that Marks. You're right. Right. So maybe cut that outta the show. Joe. Could you, can we please keep it in
No. Can we say it? Can we do it over so I don't look silly? But anyways, I got a lot on my mind. I live under a cookie rock . I'm very, I've, I've sniffed a lot of powdered sugar in my day. So tell, tell me about these king cakes. So the
Jamie: king cakes, hold on. Sorry. Yeah. I don't mean to interrupt. I was on your site and I was looking at your reviews mm-hmm
And somebody said something about. Somebody not eating the baby. Right? And I was like, what are they talking about ? I was like, what baby? So there's a baby inside the king cake. There is, there is. It's a plastic baby. Do you have like hundreds of these little babies at home? I do. Yeah. You can't buy
Mica: just one.
You gotta buy like a thousand lot of plastic babies. I'll have 'em until I'm no longer baking king cakes and have sold my business or franchised it. Please call me if you're interested. Right, . So, the King cakes [00:30:00] come with a plastic baby. I do not put them in the cake anymore because the insurance company doesn't like it when I do that.
Really? Oh yeah. Somebody will sue me over anything, and especially if they crack a tooth or choke on the baby. I'm a host , so I, so I put cashews in my king cakes because that's the way they used to do it 300 years ago before China started making plastic babies. Okay. So I put a whole cashew in the king cake, and then whoever purchases the king cake can put the baby in.
'cause I'm out of it. So what do you
Jamie: have to put it in? Like, I mean, what, I don't even know how this king cake, is it a blunt cake or is it a So the king
Mica: cake is a sweet bread that is braided and stuffed with, normally stuffed with cream cheese and then whatever other flavor you would like to have. Huh.
And it is then you put the, the baby cashew in it, cashew in it, and then it has all of the. It has all the Mardi [00:31:00] Gras beads, so those beads that you see on top of the cake and the and the coin they are throwing those off of the floats during all of the Mardi Gras parades. You gotta show your boobs to get those right.
You do . So, I decorate the cakes with that and package them up, and I, it is just a piece of home to me. Yeah. And it's, everybody loves my king cakes. They're so much fresher than anything you could buy at any of the grocery stores around here. Think about it. Yeah. They've been frozen for years, number one, and then they thaw 'em out and put 'em on the floor, and they're there from the beginning of January till March 4th.
Jamie: Really? Mm-hmm . Like a what you call those little fig, I mean the little fruit things at Christmas.
Mica: Oh, the fruitcakes? Yeah. Yeah. We don't like That's right.
Jamie: No.
Mica: Do
Jamie: you make fresh fruitcakes?
Mica: I do, but mine's very different. Mine doesn't have any liquor in it. I
Jamie: don't
Mica: like those
Jamie: look.
Mica: Ugh,
Jamie: we were talking about liquor.
Oh, speaking of drinks.
Mica: Yes.
Jamie: So we did our little Starbucks run this morning. [00:32:00] Mm-hmm . And you have the Raspberry Bliss. I love anything raspberry
Mica: good. I do. Look at the Lord looking out. I think the Raspberry Bliss and the Carolina Bliss together. Look, my God, what a, what a marriage. We had . We had no idea. Oh my God.
They're gonna have a baby. We gotta come up with a baby name. It'd be like a
Jamie: Raspberry Carolina something.
Mica: A raspberry vanilla swirl.
Jamie: That'd be great. Oh, raspberry white chocolate swirl. That's sweet. Yes. My stomach's already hurting. . I'm the, I'm the cake person that doesn't like icing. Okay. I like, just like dry cake.
Okay. Yeah. So think about, or that pie, I
Mica: got a lot of that stuff. Or pecan pie. Yes.
Jamie: That was fantastic.
Mica: Pies are coming back now. It's spring and people are gonna want 'em for Easter and St. Patrick's Day and. Any other time. All kinds of fun stuff.
Jamie: Mm-hmm . [00:33:00] Okay. So as an entrepreneur, which it sounds like you have created many companies.
Any advice for people out there trying to figure out what they wanna do or if they can do anything? I think definitely in a world where you kind of need multiple streams of income,
Mica: amen. To that sister. Are you gonna be, I think that's number one advice. Yeah. I think that's number one advice. And I've been telling my kids that you definitely need at least three streams of income now.
Yeah. So they have their, whatever it is they went to school for, then [00:34:00] they have whatever pays the bills, and then they need to be building stream three and having it in the works. I think take it. It is freeing. To control your own future and not to rely on . Somebody who at any moment can say, we love what you do and you're amazing, and we couldn't do this without you.
And then the next day they say, Hmm, we've
Jamie: gotta
Mica: let
Jamie: you go. Yeah.
Mica: You're the highest paid person and we gotta let you go. So you hear that one too many times. And you gotta, you gotta make a plan. Yeah, definitely.
Jamie: So very important, no matter what you're doing if you are changing businesses or continuing to gain education throughout that, you're updating resumes and, you know, keeping your eyes open or you know, when something, God puts something on your spirit, you know, sometimes you're really supposed to pay attention to that.
You never know that could be. Mm-hmm . Your next thing. Mm-hmm . So,
Mica: [00:35:00] yep. And networking. Networking. Networking. Yes. And I have my son who is 16, soon to be 17. Woo-hoo. Repeating to me. Now, what do I say to you, Ian? It's not
Jamie: who you know. I mean, what, you know, it's not what you know, it's who you know. It's who you know.
Yeah, absolutely. Yep. Because a lot of times you don't even have to have skills. Mm-hmm . And if you know the right person, they'll put you in the right place. And next thing you know, , we'll call
Mica: granny,
Jamie: and
Mica: Granny will pray for it. She'll pray on it, and then she'll give you
Jamie: your ideas. Okay. So podcasting.
So one reason I love Micah is that she has been a listener of the Sleuth podcast since we've pretty much started. Why do you like podcasts? Are you just a podcast person? I'm in the
Mica: car a lot 'cause I'm doing deliveries and I'm picking up stuff and just, it's my life. I'm on the road. And so I do love podcasts because I learn so much mm-hmm.
From them. And when I found out you had [00:36:00] one, I was like, oh my God, this is gonna be the best . I wanna, I wanna come on all the time and, and just talk whatever we're gonna talk about, I wanna talk about it. She
Jamie: was like, I need to be the co-host. I will love that. Thoughts. So just, you know, being real mm-hmm
From from beginning podcast till now, you know, something that you've liked the best about the Sleuth podcast or you know, random thoughts even though I'm on here.
Mica: And and I appreciate you more than you will ever know for allowing me to be on here. They are really thinking about hiring me guys.
I'm certain , I'm certain, so you guys, five star this thing have like, give a review and say she's the best, she has the best voice. But I really like it when you truly do talk about the situations. That we have, and I think we should totally do a p Diddy. Oh my god. Series . And anybody else you wanna talk about?
But I love it when you're talking about that. I love the comradery. I [00:37:00] love Joe. I love the way they banter back and forth. I think it's, the setup is amazing and, you know, let's get some, thank you Joe Police in here. Let's get somebody in here that can talk, you know, without, you know, giving names. We'll make up names for 'em and all that stuff and give us some serious shit.
Jamie: I wanna hear it. Sometimes. PI workers, I'm in a moment right now where, so we do a lot of domestic, what I've learned about some of the older PIs that have been in the field for a while, they are leaving these domestic people alone and they're doing all workers' comp, personal injury, stuff like that because working with the clients is sometimes pretty stressful, I'm sure.
I'm actually gonna talk to a business strategist in the next little bit because I just need to figure out the stress of these people in my life is kind of becoming a lot. You know, a lot of this I lead with my heart. I'm here to help people. I want to help [00:38:00] people. But sometimes people are very either ungrateful, they don't wanna be helped.
Well, they wanna be helped as you would've never called. Right. But it's, well, but I mean, down to the root of the ci Oh, the real root of the right. They just
Mica: want
Jamie: you to fix their shit. Right now. You should have been. You should. Right. You should have been left that person a long time ago. Right. You wouldn't even be here.
Right.
So I am trying to find other ways to kind of, it's not even tolerate, I hate that word because it sounds like it's something that you don't wanna do. Right. . But I'm trying to find better ways to work with clients to have where their expectation level is just reasonable. And not so. Out of, you know, all over the place.
So yeah, we're gonna tell, you know, jump back into, into part two.
Jamie: Oh, I did wanna talk about one thing. Yes. And I, so do you have a favorite podcast? Who's your Well, I've gotten a podcast from you that I absolutely love. Yeah. The Law of Attraction changed. Mm-hmm . Ma, life, life,
Mica: bitches, . That's my favorite. What's her name? [00:39:00] Do you know what her name? Oh, Anna? Yes. Amber Francis or Francis Amber.
Jamie: Is that her name?
Mica: Yeah.
Jamie: I thought it was like Nastasia or something. No, I made that up. Okay. No, no. I'll, I'll prove it. But she is a, where? She's in London. She's in Great Britain. She's in Europe? Yeah, she's in Europe. ? Mm-hmm . I don't know which one is where she
Mica: used to live in London. Now she lives in the outskirts somewhere with her three daughters.
Oh my God. All you had to say was that, and now I'm in the British voice. She's been in the British voice, but
Jamie: she is a, it is Amber. Amber. Mm-hmm . That sounds right. Yeah. Mm-hmm . But she started off with I guess the Law of Attraction book, and she's created this podcast and it's just all about, you know, doing your thing, being proud of it.
And so, I love to share podcasts with my friends because sometimes I wouldn't necessarily be, I, sometimes I get a little too much into the true crime thing, and I do a lot of like crazy murders and mm-hmm . Women killing their kids [00:40:00] have been on a kick about that. Yeah. So I went to sleep the other night watching this story of this woman who
Killed her children and I had the craziest dream. I had this little baby, a little redheaded baby, and I kept leaving him everywhere. It was terrible. Oh God, I was stressed when I got up. I cannot keep up with this baby
It was funny, but not funny. I went, I went, I went in my dream. I got home from whatever I was doing, and I went on to bed and I was sleeping peacefully. And then I woke up and I was like, shit. I forgot a baby. The baby's still in the car seat. Yes.
Mica: Oh my God. I was telling, were you watching Susan Smith or listening to something about Susan Smith?
No. That was so traumatizing when that happened. I'm terrible with names. Tell me. That was like back in the nineties, she was like early nineties. She drove her kids into the lake. Oh. And that's not the first time that's happened said that somebody had carjacked her. That was before I think they had [00:41:00] carjacking, right?
And she's in South Carolina. And they found the babies holding hands. Oh. And it was so effing incredible. It it was just awful. Freaking awful. And she then admitted to doing it at, because the man that she was having in the affair with, of course didn't want children. Yeah. It always had that.
They made that very clear. That is so crazy. And she just came up for. Parole. Parole. And they were like, Uhuh, no.
Jamie: Yeah.
Mica: Go sit back down .
Jamie: Yeah. Go back to yourself lady. Never. Never. Yeah. No. I think this one was a lady that same situation, had a boyfriend. The man didn't necessarily want the child and they let the child pretty much starved.
Jesus Christ didn't, didn't feed her. And then she had like all kinds of like, crazy lacerations. And then when she finally like passed, they tried to act like, you know, they just . Realized that she was, you know, not healthy and they, they, we just took her to the doctor and she's, people [00:42:00] are sick. And it, you know, and it warped my dream.
So my little ginger baby is somewhere out there. She still in the car seat. I left. I don't ever wanna have any more children, but I'm just like, that is my worst nightmare that I just, you know, my kid's 21, I'm not thinking about any babies. Right. So I, you know, I guess subconsciously, I just can't keep in my mind that I would actually have to, even if I knew that it was my baby anyways.
You would
Mica: never do that.
Jamie: No, hopefully not. Unless I just completely lost my mind. Okay. So we are going to thank you for being here, Micah. Oh. First . Really fast. How do, how do the people order from you besides online? Joe gave your website earlier.
Mica: So it's micah sweetss and treats.com and never ask an 11-year-old to name your business 'cause you'll get a lot of S's in it.
So it's Micah's with an S, sweets with an S and treats with an s dot com and they can text me or call me [00:43:00] (919) 270-2510. Direct access. Absolutely always. Okay. And yeah, she will quickly get you these cookies. Whatever you need. Whatever you need. I cater, I do all kinds of great things, charcuteries and all.
I love it. Hey, I know somebody who has a side hustle in the works, isn't it? You? That did such a beautiful charcuterie board.
Jamie: So are you coming to networking tomorrow? Yeah. Okay. So I'll, are you doing it again? I'm gonna do again. Oh my gosh. But then the next one I need to pay you. Oh, . Okay. I was sitting there thinking, what in the hell am I doing?
Oh my gosh. I don't have no time to be coming up with a charcuterie board. Oh my goodness. But it's gonna be fantastic. I know it is. I got some little leaves and flowers and stuff that I'm gonna kind of plant in there, so we'll just see. We're going to, it's gonna be beautiful. Roll with the punches. Yeah.
Mica: Good for you. Yeah. So that's
Jamie: exciting.
Mica: Are you having that dip? Because I couldn't find the dip. I got multiple dips. That garlic dip that they had. That is, it's fantastic. [00:44:00] Gusting. Oh, .
Jamie: I thought you were talking about the one I got. The
Mica: one you got.
Jamie: You didn't like it.
Mica: The one I had to get because I couldn't find what you had, I'm sorry, was Trader Joe's garlic dip and it tasted like egg whites that hadn't been cooked.
I don't know what was going on in that. I can't imagine anybody likes that, but apparently. Okay. So, and I love Trader Joe's, don't get me wrong.
Jamie: Yeah. Trader. They have that. Well, you know, we will have that blueberry, goat cheese or whatever it is. Oh, I can't wait. Fantastic. But at Nana, which is the Tanzanian boutique that's downtown.
Mm-hmm . Mm-hmm . They did a charcuterie board and they have, I don't know, this must be like an African thing. It was some kind of fluffy whipped garlic dip. And it reminded me of that when you just said that. But it was actually really good. It kind of gave you like a mayonnaise texture, but it was a little bit lighter.
It was very interesting. That's all I'm gonna call it.
Mica: Ing If it came from Trader Joe's, it had to have been that one. I don't, I don't think I took a big old scoop out of it when I got home. 'cause I just wanted [00:45:00] those cucumbers, the snap peas and that dip. And I took a big old scoop out of it. I was like, this is horrible.
Oh, that's so
Jamie: bad. I, I, I got some blue cheese stuffed olives too for this one. So, but they're can't wait. I wonder if they're gonna be as good as this. There's a place in wake Forest. It's like, I don't know what that place is called. It's where Jen does their second or their better best networking.
I haven't been in there yet, but they do stuffed blue cheese stuffed olives and whatever. Drink that you, they're so good. Mm. I didn't even know I liked olives, but now I love them. What? Yeah. I'm not a big olive girl. It's kind of like weird. They're so needy. I know. They're kind of weird. So needy.
No, they're not. And then I went to Whole Foods and I got they have like a bar, like a olive bar. Mm-hmm . But it was, it was gelatinous at the bottom. Is that normal? I didn't get those ones. I didn't know. I've, I've never even looked over there. I don't think I was trying to be fancy, like the oil that they're in.
Yeah. But it wasn't oil. It was like, [00:46:00] it was almost like they had okra in it. You know how okra makes things kind of slimy looking? That's what they look like. Oh. I don't know. Is that normal? No. Okay. Well, I'm glad I left them there. See, I don't have to worry about eating those tomorrow. Oh, good, good, good.
That was in the other olive. Oh. Foods does
Mica: have good marinated mushrooms. So yeah, I want that . I want that . I love
Jamie: mushrooms. Okay, so we are gonna go back to part two of Ophelia. Mm-hmm . And Bertrand. So, any random thoughts from the last show?
Mica: You know, those poor Bertram, you know, he, I think he knows he shouldn't have messed around with that girl and then had another baby with her and then we had another baby.
Yes. Well, come
Jamie: on. So, you know, sometimes people, and this is, you know, it's interesting when you're in the PI field a lot of times people will. They'll, they'll make up, you know, they'll get their lives together for a quick moment and they realize, okay, let's try to do this again. But wasn't she gone for like a year?
She was, I don't, I honestly, because I was in, I was talking to him during this time, [00:47:00] I really don't know how the second child got, I mean, obviously I wasn't there present, you know, while he was with her. Are you sure? But I don't even remember when this happened, but no, the second baby pops up. And, you know, to recap, so my friend Bertran met this girl online, ended up having a baby.
She was a little cuckoo and would not share with him where she was gonna have the baby when the baby was due. He had some information. We were able to find her and the baby. Mm-hmm . They got back together for a little bit. She ends up pregnant again. So. We're back to the next section. Mm-hmm
So she's pregnant. She actually ended up coming to stay with him at his mother's house. Well, coming to stay with the mother. He wasn't there, but she allowed the girl to come to the house to stay there so she could have a nice, safe place to be so she could have, you know, some care for the first child and then kind of get things together.
I forget where she was living, but it was somewhere like [00:48:00] outskirts. So there was really wasn't a lot of assistance in terms of it took a long, you know, long drives to get to the doctor and all that stuff. I don't believe at that time she was driving. I think there was like an issue with the car.
So she didn't have a car. And maybe a month or so before second baby was due, she decides that she wants to go back with her mom. Of course she does. Right. And , we never saw Ophelia again. So Ophelia is gone. Second baby's on the way. Bertrand has not seen the first baby, has no idea when the second baby's gonna be due.
You know, there's just this long waiting period. So some people are like, you know, well, what, what could he have done within that period of time? Wrapped it up, right. Besides that, I'm like, cut it off. . . Don't ever, you know, oh my gosh. I'm sure at this point have some control. Well see, the thing is, and this is as saying as, as my friend, I'm not even gonna throw him on the bus.
He is really [00:49:00] a good person, probably. Wants to see the best in everybody, even if it is screaming in your face that it is not the right decision.
Mica: Well, he needs some therapy then, as my grandma's best friend that works at Walmart says in Louisiana. Yeah, she needs some therapy. Oh, well, we all probably need therapy.
And she drives a winking that what's wrong with a Lincoln? What does that mean? She doesn't say ls, I guess. I don't know. Oh, wink. She calls it a winking. .
Jamie: I'm picking you up my winking. That's cute. That's cute. I'd be like, I dunno what that is, but I dunno if I wanna get in . So the baby, oh. So she and the baby are gone.
He's there. You know, what, what can he do? So at one point we were saying, okay, well just go ahead and start, file your paperwork in court. In North Carolina custody and child support are two separate courts. Which is it's, which is kind of, yeah, let's make it as
Mica: difficult as possible as possible.
But go marry your cow that's [00:50:00] in the laws back from like 18 hundreds. Can do that. You do that. Yeah,
Jamie: absolutely. So he fills out paperwork to go ahead and get some kind of custody so he can see the baby boy. All right. But don't they have to find her first? What's the Right, but what's the, what's the true problem?
The true problem is he was never at the hospital, which means that his name never made it on the birth certificate. Does he have to be Yeah. To get, to get custody or to have any kind of so she can put anybody's name on that she could have. Huh? But she didn't do that. She didn't put anybody's name up there.
Okay. It was just, it was just hers. So he goes to court, fill out the paper. They say, you know, are you on the birth certificate? He's like, no. They're like, oh, well you gotta, you gotta deal with paternity first. Now, how do you deal with paternity? I don't know if you can't have the baby
Mica: access to the baby.
Jamie: Right. So this is kind of where I really got into the whole thing. So I said, all right, look, well on one of these times that she actually wants to let you see your [00:51:00] child, let's just swab the baby. Right? Because we can help people do DNA testing. Now let your mind run crazy with that. 'cause you can test for all kinds of things.
, including things that need a light to be seen. But he had the baby one day. They I told him, I said he called, he called me. He is like, Jamie, I got the baby. I got the baby. I said, well, bring the baby to the office for two. Yeah. So they were going, you know, quick little visit. He brings the baby to the office, we swab the baby, we swab him, send everything off.
Because at the end of the day, say the children were not his, we can just move on with our lives. Right. We don't have the continue to fight. Which surprise for children, which wouldn't that well, unfortunately, they are . Oh, they were his babies. Okay. But they look just like Kim. So that, I knew that wasn't gonna be the case.
But I think a lot of it on the inside, he wanted to just feel sure that these were his kids, because then I don't blame him, you know, you're fighting for children that may not even be yours. And because the way she's in [00:52:00] and out, you know, who knows what's really going on. So we swab the baby, send everything off, comes back the baby's 99.99.
Nine 9% his baby. Okay, great. Now one of the things with doing DNA testing if you're wanting to use it for court purposes, you do have to have both parents signature or both parents' input on, you know, this testing. Usually you would get mom's, DNA dad's, DNA. Everybody signs the paper. Yes, this is my DNA and we send it off.
Well, because we didn't have moms, all we had was dad and the baby. You can't take that directly to court. So you still have to get to court, get everybody in front of the judge, and then the judge has to say, you need to go and do a paternity test. Now, we didn't even get that far because remember, baby number two was on the way.
Mm-hmm . So then do we decide at this point to go through this one process, or do we wait till the other child is here and then start the process then second baby's born, of course. No update on where the baby was had [00:53:00] if the baby was okay. Nothing. She just has this child and, and tries to hold it.
Now. I don't even remember how we found out about this. I mean, it was kind of like, it's so weird. It's a, it's a mind game, right? Talking about therapy, um mm-hmm . Why have a child with somebody and you want to raise the baby on your own. If you, if that was the case, then you should have gone for like . What do you call it?
Mica: Like IVF?
Jamie: Yeah. Or IVF or just, or sperm bank. Sperm bank. Sperm bank. Thank. Thank you. You . That's the one I was
Mica: looking for. I was thinking surrogate. That's what I, but that's not money. That is so
Jamie: expensive. True.
Mica: That right? I knew
Jamie: somebody that had a surrogate, she got like $30,000 just for having the baby.
Wow. And then they pay them for doctor's visits and all that stuff. They take care
Mica: of you.
Jamie: I know. But your poor body,
Mica: you're not poor. It's not, I mean, if you're healthy
Jamie: and there's no way in the world I would just be popping out kids for somebody [00:54:00] that's not my ministry, but that's okay. Yep. Some somebody's gotta have the ministry.
So, so baby number two gets here. She eventually, I, I think I remember the day, I think she called him one day and was like, do you wanna see your babies? And she pulls up in whatever car she had at the time. And he got to see the babies. First time seeing the little baby girl, you know, here's a little baby boy, we're so excited.
You know, I really wanna be a part in the child's life. So there is a form that you can find on North Carolina website somewhere where she could sign off and say, yes, these are his kids, and have a notary stamp. And then you just turn that paper into the courts. So he brings the papers. 'cause I was like, at least just have 'em on you because if you do get a chance to see her and you do, and she feels like she wants to do the right thing for the day, , you know, then you can just maybe have her sign it and we can move on to next steps.
'cause the whole, again, the whole thing is you can't do anything with [00:55:00] anybody's children unless you're either on the birth certificate or you know, somebody has turned over parental rights to you. Mm-hmm .
Mica: Do you think that's why she didn't tell him what hospital she was at
Jamie: because she didn't wanna sign the birth certificate?
Yeah. I don't know why, because it seems like that's the, well,
Mica: just because he is there doesn't mean he's automatically the daddy. Right, right, right.
Jamie: But so she
Mica: has to admit to that.
Jamie: But if he were there, then we would've all had this whole like, yes, it's the baby. Here's the baby. You know? And they would've just gone ahead and been like, okay guys, fill out the birth certificate.
You know, everybody sign off. And then I guess at that point she was really, yeah. 'cause I don't remember there being like a secret, you know, Hey, you know, fill out this form. And if this guy is not the, you know, we, we were all in there together. So we are assuming that the people who are present are the ones who are biologically the parents of this child.
My mama
Mica: said to never assume anything. I agree. Ever.
Jamie: I agree, but I don't think that they, I mean, imagine how many people . [00:56:00] Put the wrong name on the birth certificate just because that person's with them. Like there's many relationships where the, you know, mother is no longer with the father child. I was watching that designated survivor.
That's what happened to their oldest child. She, the boy was another man's child and when they got together she was basically like, yes, this is gonna be our baby together. We're not even really gonna tell him about the, it was like a, I don't know. He was some, he was a criminal or something, but they weren't even gonna tell him about the child.
And so he signed the birth certificate and they move on with life. I mean, as long as you are willing to know he's the president. Right? . Right. And his information got out there and that was a, an episode. But that was good. I love that show.
Mica: I never got that
Jamie: far with it. It started getting boring after like the third season.
I'm like, there's not, but so many, you know, terror attacks, , that can happen. I mean, so, so many bonds. You gotta watch Paradise.
Mica: Oh, is that the one you were telling me about? Yes. And now I've found another one zero day with Robert De Niro. I [00:57:00] thought about
Jamie: that one. I got caught up in trial by fire. Did you watch that?
I haven't seen that yet. My god. I was crying there at the end. It was kind of terrible. Lord, I
Mica: don't
Jamie: need to cry. I know. I love a good cry. I need it in my life. So anyways no birth certificate. Baby's here visits the baby. She will not sign the paper saying that these are your children. Shocker. She, but she wants him to pay child support.
I bet she does. Well, so she signs him up for baby needs diapers. She ain't gonna get it unless she signs that affidavit of so, but she might,
Mica: because look at all of the things he's already done. But, but she's gonna take that ride for a longer, but she
Jamie: wants it through child support enforcement and child support enforcement is not gonna force you to They
Mica: don't recognize him as the father.
Jamie: Exactly. So that, so he took himself to child support. That's what I'm saying. The man is, he does best, best him. Took himself child to says, I want to be here for these children, you know, can I sign myself up so at least I know I'm doing my part. And then this will have to go through this whole paternity thing again.
So, end up getting in court [00:58:00] finally. And I'm gonna skip forward a t tiny bit, end up getting to court finally. They take the paternity test. Yes. You were the father of both of the children. Okay, let's move forward with, you know, temporary custody and then we'll get you guys in for child support.
Did he get any custody? So they gave temporary custody to him for like every other weekend, Thursday to Sunday. You know, y'all meet here at a location. Well, one of the things that we do a lot at Blackman is documenting the child exchange. Mm-hmm . Which we should have been doing that for him, but I have to, you know, remove myself at some points 'cause I can't do it for him.
Mm-hmm .
But the second custody exchange, her mother jumps on him during the exchange while they're in the car and they end up having this whole hoopla in the, in the parking lot of [00:59:00] the sheets. And she runs off with the children.
Runs off with the children no longer living where she was living. Now she's off somewhere in like Fuqua or Harnett County way, way away from where they're supposed to be. The second baby ended up having some kind of um, birth defect, kind of nothing crazy, but something that still needed to be addressed.
So the baby was supposed to be going to therapy. She's not taking the baby to therapy. They're just like, shut up in this little brick house somewhere in Harnett County where you can, there's no resources, there's no nothing. Mm-hmm . It's just her and her mother and these children ended up in court.
Mica: And these things don't happen overnight either when you're going to court.
Oh, nothing happens overnight. Yeah. So, and especially if you don't have a,
Jamie: must've been agonizing, a retained attorney.
Mica: Yeah.
Jamie: Well, it's still happening. Mm-hmm. So. And I guess, I mean, I don't wanna skip too, too far ahead, but she ends up, so they have, you know, they give you a temporary order for [01:00:00] six months or up to a year.
And the goal is for everybody to abide by the order. You know, let the person see their children. Once we see how this is going on, then we'll enter a permanent order. They never start with the permanent order. 'cause you never know what may happen. And then of course, if there are any major changes in circumstances or your children are now like school age or you know, getting ready to go to high school, you can always go back to court to review what all is going on and make adjustments as needed.
But the children aren't even hell in daycare. , we can't even get the children to daycare first, so there's not that big of a change. Right. But she will not do the right thing and let this man be in his children's life. Hmm. We ended up going to the Harnett County Police. One day in hopes that they would help exchange the children because she was no longer coming to the meetup locations.
So she's violated this custody order 10 times. Wow. And because [01:01:00] it's a civil order, of course the police can't do anything about it. Of course they can't. It's
Mica: almost
Jamie: like she knows all of this. Unfortunately. I don't think she's that smart. I just think that, but, but how she,
Mica: how does she keep getting around all of this?
Well, this is our
Jamie: system. The system
Mica: sucks.
Jamie: It leans for whoever has physical custody of the child. Mm. Yeah.
So if dad was on the birth certificate and dad decided to take off with the kids, then it would be fine for him to do that as well. I mean, 'cause if you don't have anything on paper that's saying, you know, and it's the child isn't in danger mm-hmm . Then it's not a criminal issue. And so it stays civil, which means that you just keep going to court.
So we have to do this whole like, serving papers thing. Of course she's not opening the door, can't get the paper served. She's not accepting papers from the sheriff. So it is really been a really, really tough situation for So drinking all parties involved. Yeah. And in fact, sometimes I'm just like.[01:02:00]
I mean, and, and you can't do this because these are your children, but like, damn, the kids . I don't mean like that, but it's, I mean, it, it's almost like you really haven't even had a chance to have them long enough to even bond with them well enough that it's like, I can see why people just give up. Mm.
Because you're, you're fighting a losing battle here. You know, this person is doing everything they can to prevent you from being in their life. And we ended up maybe in January, he had two court dates, because during that last exchange where the grandma jumped on him they filed a restraining order against him.
So now you know you have restraining order, then you can't be with him. So she
Mica: jumped on him and he got the S grandma.
Jamie: Yeah, grandma jumped on him. And so mom filed a restraining order against him, and grandma filed a restraining order against him. Just trying to find a way to prevent him from being able to come where they are, to either try to get the kids, and of course if you do have restraining a restraining [01:03:00] order in place, you are not allowed to be around the children.
The mom can't go to the daycare. I mean, you can't do anything. Poor guy. So we go to court. Mm-hmm . Both cases were dismissed, thank God. That's when we really got to see the mindset of the mother and the grandmother
Mica: and the grandmother's up in that head of her daughters doing this. Absolutely.
Jamie: And she's not very smart either.
Mica: It's probably got to do with supplement the state supplementing income and benefits and all of that.
Jamie: I
Mica: don't know what you mean. I don't, no. Like the paying, you know, she gets money for each kid and if you're on assistance and all that. No, she's not.
Jamie: She not. So . So when throw this in here before we get to the restraining orders, so before that happened, right after the temporary order was put in place, she calls him one day and says, I can't keep these kids.
This is just too much for me. Meets him, brings both the children [01:04:00] signs a paper saying I'm gonna turn, I'm turning over full rights to bertran of both children. This is just too much for me. They did this at the courthouse. They filed whatever paper, but because you have the wait for the judge to actually sign this thing into order, the following week is when she pulled the whole thing, when grandma jumped on her and then they filed the restraining orders.
Mica: So he didn't get the kids the day they did that paperwork. He,
Jamie: he, okay. Sorry, I forgot about that part. No, you're right. So he gets, the children ended up having to like, leave his job because now he has two infants to take care of. Has the kids, this was around holiday, probably around November, she calls and says, oh my gosh, Bertran, you know, I just really just wanna see the kids.
I just, I just wanna see him. Poor God, his dumb ass. Mm-hmm . I love you to death. His dumb ass takes the kids over there to see [01:05:00] her for the weekend. She won't give him back, called CPS while she had him, claimed that the child was, had been beat down. Of course that was dismissed. There was nothing there.
But it has been a constant, them trying to find any way they can to prevent him from being in these children's lives. they went to the last court date. I know, it's ridiculous. That's what I'm saying. Who cares about the kids? . I mean, I care about the kids, but I mean, this is why people kill people because it's, you know, you're putting people in situations where you know, you're trying to do the right thing, you're trying to be a good parent and the other person just won't allow you to do that.
Mica: Mm-hmm.
Jamie: So, the last date that they were supposed to go to court to get all these, you know, to show that she had all these violations, it snowed. She didn't. Oh, it snowed. And so now everything is up in the air again. They gotta get her re-served, which we know that she's not gonna take papers. How are they even gonna find her?
[01:06:00] Well, they know where she's at. Oh, they do. But she's in another county. Mm-hmm . So anytime you have another county involved that always makes things, you know, more difficult. The sheriff from this county isn't gonna go to another county and serve papers. So it's just a shit show. So, right now we have not seen we 'cause this, these are my children at this point too.
We have not seen these children since November of 24. Can't get into court. Who knows what the next court date is gonna be. And in the meantime, who knows what's happening to these children. I mean, mom's not that smart. Grandma's not that smart. If she's gonna raise the babies any way that she was raised, we are not putting out quality people.
Mica: Dang.
Jamie: So I don't know, pray for Bertran and Ophelia. I
Mica: certainly will.
Jamie: And hopefully the little babies will, he'll be able to see them at some point. I don't know. I'm, I'm try, I try not to feel defeated in this situation, but custody is a, [01:07:00] is a pretty difficult situation. It is very important for you to get an attorney if you can afford an attorney.
If you can't afford an attorney, sometimes you just have to go through like legal aid or, I mean, at this point I'm not even against begging people . Mm-hmm . You know, to, to help you. I mean, even if it's just to get some things situated. 'cause obviously you would think that once they get into court and they see that she has violated, so what's important, and I guess it's a pi tip, if you're going through issues and the person is either not showing up to the exchanges or they show up late or, you know.
I had one case where the guy was actually supposed to have somebody with him because there was a restraining order in place. So he needed to have another adult there while the exchange was happening. Mm-hmm . He didn't do that, so we were able to get documentation that he showed up alone. So that would help her in court.
But really documentation is your, your only friend when it comes to these situations. It's true. 'cause it's a his against her [01:08:00] conversation. One, they can't really pick who over the other. It's gonna be whoever's stories most together. I have never seen the court make two people who were not attorneys have a trial.
There was a trial during one of these restraining order, court dates and he had to represent himself and she had to represent herself and neither one of them knew what the hell they were doing.
Mica: I guess not.
Jamie: It was . Wow. I was over there like about a shit show. Can I be the attorney? Can I be the attorney?
The judge did, I guess, the best that they thought they could. And, but you can't tell, you know, the, this, you can't tell the person who's representing them how to represent themselves. So it was just crazy. I mean, the system is crazy, you know, don't have babies unless you know who these people are. Make sure, I mean, unfortunately, if you just have to, I don't know, you have to have a retainer, I mean an attorney on retainer just because, just in case.
Sure. I don't know. It's very sad. Be
Mica: insurance. If you're gonna, if you're gonna have babies, you have to [01:09:00] have a lawyer. Right. I mean, really, if you're not married to the
Jamie: person, yeah. You need something. Because legal
Mica: shield, and I don't sell it, but. I would say legal shield
Jamie: is good. They can at least give you advice.
Yes. You need to at least have somebody that can tell you which direction to go for like 30
Mica: bucks a month, maybe even less than that. So there's no way for Bertram then to, because he wasn't there for the birth, she won't sign the, the affidavit of parentage. So he's just kind of stalled. He has stalled it until trying to get a judge to listen.
Jamie: Yeah. So the judge, they finally did because he had gone through child support. So child support can get things moving a little bit faster because they are an entity that requires you to make payment, you know? And so somebody's gotta take care of the children. And if you have a parent who is wanting to take care of the children and then the mother is filing for some kind of assistance, they're gonna be like, well, why are you filing for assistance if this person is saying that they are wanting to pay you child support?
Mm-hmm . So they were at least able to get him paternity, and we got the paternity done. [01:10:00] But now that the paternity iss in place, now it's. She, she just doesn't want him around. I mean, that's just the bottom line. And she's doing everything she can. Yeah. I'm gonna claim that he hit me. I'm gonna claim he hit my mom.
I'm gonna claim that, you know, the child was
Mica: hurt and that the date that they were supposed to get it cleared up. It snowed just a crazy. Well, what about the document that they, they, the one snowed filed the two snows that we have in North Carolina a year in that crazy. What about that document that where she signed them away and they were waiting for a judge to sign that that was
Jamie: supposed to be the snow date?
That we were supposed to go and address all of these things they were supposed to address. The fact that she had violated the, the custody order to bring the children to the drop off, she never did that. So he goes every, so my advice as not attorney was every time, every time it's your ch chance to go get the kids, you still need to go to the drop off point.
You need to go there. You need to take a picture. This is what time I got here. You need to wait 30 minutes at least, because you can't be there for five minutes and be like, oh, they weren't there. So [01:11:00] I left. And they could have been like, well, there was an accident. I was a little bit behind. I did show up later.
So be there at least 30 minutes document time, what time you got there and what time you left. And so he has like 10 different instances since then. From between then and now where he was supposed to see the children. That he can show that she violated and didn't show, but now you gotta get back in front of the court.
Right. And so sounds like he
Mica: just needs to get in front of a judge, but that's not proven to be easy.
Jamie: No, no , no. And Wake County, I mean it was so interesting 'cause in Harnett County, they were like, all you have to do is just go down there and file a ex parte. They will let you get your kit. I told the officer, 'cause I went out there with him, I said, sir, we're in Wake County.
You already know there's, it is not just run up there and talk to the judge . I mean, you, you know, you have to talk to the people downstairs, talk to the people over here. You know, you don't even know which court, the judge that you're, that's working, your case is supposed to be in. So it's just been terrible.
I'm sorry. [01:12:00] And then, you know, the two days it snows, one of these days is the day that he's supposed to be there. So I don't even know what the updated court date is now, but, they can reassign a court date, but if she hasn't been served those papers or is not paying attention herself, it's very possible that she's not gonna show up.
And now you have to deal with the whole having to get her served. That gives her more time again, what's happening with the children. He needs an attorney. Right. But he ain't got no money. So, you know, unless somebody knows of a pro se family law attorney duke has clinics, if anybody's listening,
Mica: yeah.
If anybody's listening,
Jamie: please reach out to me and I'll get you connected with Bertram. We're
Mica: gonna work on
Jamie: this for
Mica: Bertram.
Jamie: Yeah, let's do it. It's bad. I mean, any, anything could help. I, and like I said, even if it's just a, a family law attorney who has enough clout where they can just say, look. This is what's happened.
This is unfair. We need to get him in front of a judge, [01:13:00] you know, and call this woman out for what she has done in with, you know, negligence the whole time. She's supposed to be wanting to do what's best for her kids and what's best for the kids are having two loving parents in their lives to be able to help raise them to be great people.
And like I said, Bertrand is a really good guy. He has a great family support system.
Mica: I'm texting a friend now. I
Jamie: have, I have. Please. I have asked . But sometimes, you know, family's messy. Uhhuh is all I'm gonna say. And so
Mica: I don't, I don't know what's going on there, but I say
Jamie: You know, nobody
Mica: will help him with the fees and you can pay him back.
Jamie: I am not that deep in the family, and I don't know
Mica: family's the other F word, and that's my statement. I made that up and I am gonna put it on a t-shirt.
If I see somebody with it on before I can do it, I'm gonna punch you . So just FYI.
Jamie: So yeah, that's True's part two of Ophelia and Bertram. And maybe if your connections can help, you know, let me know. [01:14:00] I've reached out to some of my family attorney people and it just, I don't know. It's, it's, I, it feels like it's such an easy thing to take care of, but everybody's just like, oh, the court will take care of it.
The court, you know, all you gotta do is get in front of the judge. Well, you gotta. Find the judge . Mm-hmm . And you gotta find all the people to make sure that they're in place before that can happen. So,
Mica: And it sounds like everything has to be like, perfectly lined up with all the right paperwork. Yeah.
Or you might even get there and the judge will be like, well let's reschedule until you can get Form 77 B.
Jamie: Right.
Mica: No .
Jamie: No. I was like, so, and it's so funny 'cause I, I feel like I've talked him off the ledge multiple times 'cause he's like, I'm just gonna go, I'm, and I'm like, no, you cannot go. You cannot just go because you already know what their response is gonna be.
They're gonna immediately call the police and it's gonna be, and you're just
Mica: the guy in the courthouse causing a scene. Right.
Jamie: Right. Just, and we'll have another incident like at the, at the hospital. And I mean, you
Mica: totally get the frantic, like, I mean, that's crazy if you haven't seen your kids, like you feel like you should be doing something, like your heart goes out to him.
Jamie: [01:15:00] Yes. And he's always like, what, how, what else can I do Jamie? And I'm like, honestly, like I'd probably be the crazy guy at the courthouse. Like,
Mica: Hey,
Jamie: somebody listen to me like Joe, every day, every day he was at that courthouse until we went to court for the restraining orders. Mm-hmm . They were like, you gotta stop.
There's nothing else that you, you like. So
Mica: instead of getting him in front of the judge, they're like, yeah, let's just give this guy a restraining order. I don't get him up. . Geez. It's, it's crazy. It's insane. This,
Jamie: the, the system is horrible. I mean, criminal, the system
Mica: is not for the children, obviously.
That's
Jamie: why, that's Hello? Where what is happening with the children are the, is the child going to the doctor like it's supposed to. I mean, these children just thinking my eye twitch. That's what I'm saying. These children have things. I wanna go down to the courthouse. Well, you let me know whenever you want to go.
I just, I, my next thing is I, I had to take a break 'cause I have, sometimes I just had to take a step back. Yep. But you know, when's the next court date? Like where are we? I'll kind of get all that situated and see where we are. But you know, we're [01:16:00] trying to free Bertrand's kids from the crazy Mama. So. Part two.
All right. So, thank you so much. I will take your advice and lemme see if I can find a police officer for our next show. That would be cool. Kind of talk about some of the crazies in domestic work. Absolutely. But keep a lookout for, oh, what gonna
Mica: say? Well, I was just thinking but I, is it Raleigh's Police chief that's retiring?
The girl, the lady,
Jamie: yeah. They already replaced her.
Mica: They've made the
Jamie: decision already. Yeah. It's a guy, I forget his name right, the second black man.
Mica: I wonder if he the
Jamie: Blackman, but , I wonder if he'd come on your podcast.
Mica: Oh, that'd be a great idea. Why don't you ask him to come. He hasn't even started yet.
Rico Boce. Yes. Rico. That's boy. Rico. Rico. Oh. Oh, please. I wonder if they made the,
Jamie: made the Ricoh laws after him though. Hey, who knows? . Are you single? No, I'm kidding. That's a great idea. [01:17:00] He might be, I don't know. He's probably married. I think he's been on the forest for like 20 or 30 years. It was very interesting.
Esella Estella Estella. Isn't that her name? Yes. It, the first lady. She it said that she'd only served Raleigh for three and a half years. Yes. Where did she come from? This what we're doing is this, we're doing, we're just hiring people. Don't know. Think about our state, I guess.
Mica: Okay. Well, I, I already feel better with Rico in the seat.
Says he is been 25 members of 25 years in RPD.
Jamie: He's, he's, he's, he's quality.
Mica: That's awesome. Yeah. Yes. Rico, if you're listening, we need you on the show. We need you on the show and come talk about things. Absolutely. I'm gonna reach out to him
Jamie: today. You should. I can get my little connection. There
Mica: you go.
And another suggestion would be something I did not mention, but I was also on a federal jury. Ooh, listen, they don't tell you. Here's another tip. They don't tell you what kind of jury you're gonna be on when you go, [01:18:00] when you're selected for jury. Right. But if it's the first of the quarter, it's federal.
Better damn guarantee you're gonna be on federal. And I hurt. Do on the jury.
Jamie: That's all I want. Really? Oh, I want to be on a jury. It's nerve wracking. Put me on murder one.
Mica: You'd be so excited. They'd be like dismissed . I know, right? They'd be like, what do you think of the death penalty? I'm all for it.
Have a nice day. Try them
Jamie: bastards.
Mica: No. Have a nice day, Ms. Jamie Mitchell. Well,
Jamie: but Trial by fire is in Texas. Mm-hmm . And that's what he says. If anybody hurts our kids, it hurts anybody out here. You are gonna die. I'm like, this is fantastic. Y'all . This is just what our country is all about. I'm
Mica: telling you.
Wasn't that No, it was Arizona, wasn't it? That they were making the inmates grow their own food and live in tents and shit. See, and everybody went up into arms and thought that was just the cruelest thing anybody could ever do. Cruel. Yeah.
Jamie: I was like, whatcha talking about? It's cruel. [01:19:00] That's cruel thing.
Cruel. I'm gonna pay for them. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Well, I don't want to, I don't want die. They don't need to die. I Nobody's gonna
Mica: die.
Jamie: They're living in tents. People Are you talking about out there? Yeah. Oh, okay. I thought we were talking about the death penalty. I was about say, I'm not for the death penalty.
Mica: No, no, no. I'm saying that the inmates, he made the inmates instead of being inside. Oh, yeah. Watching TV and the air conditioning working out . They were living in the tents outside. They were growing their own foods and. But I remember that that was, I think in the nineties too, and people just lost their minds over that.
Bleeding hearts. Maricopa County. Yep. Our you gotta be careful what you say around Joe. He's always looking up your shit. Oh, I love it. I'm just Googling things. Like, I'm like, he's, are you not
Jamie: reading my mind, Joe? Like, what is the man's name? Yeah. Like, I love that. I know. It's really, it's a very nice feature.
He's like, your brain. Look at a nice feature. He's like my iPhone podcast. .
Mica: Hey Joe.
Jamie: Yes. .
Mica: Eat your cookie, Joe, before I leave. Can you not just take a,
Jamie: it's like, he's like, it's,
Mica: I'll give you another one. It's not like the last one. Oh, it's some [01:20:00] as SMR. Oh,
Jamie: I love that
Mica: He just
Jamie: looks like the cookie monster. Okay, I'm gonna let you chew. Hold on. So, networking event. Y'all know you've can follow us and come to our networking events if you're local to the Raleigh area it's called Midtown Networking. Check it out on Facebook. And then follow, and that's where the
Mica: charcuterie board's gonna be tomorrow.
That's where the charcuterie cookies. But if you read all of it before I get there, yes. Cookies. Are you bringing us prize cookies? I'm giving a door prize away of my. Award-winning Carolina Bliss Cookies. Hopefully Rhonda will call you Rhonda. Good. I love Rhonda.
Jamie: Is it good? , ?
Mica: I'm still chew, but yeah, it's fantastic.
Awesome. Thank you.
Jamie: It is a very good cookie. And I don't like a bunch of sweets, but I do enjoy that cookie. Thank you. So follow us on the Sleuth podcast Instagram page and Blackman Detective Services on Facebook. Find Micah Sweets and treats on Micah sweets and treats.com. And she gave you her number, which [01:21:00] is 9 1 9 2 7 0 2 5 1 0.
Please let her know that the sleuth
Mica: sent you guys to get some cookies and some of her fun stuff. And if you need a co-host for your podcast, I can speak in this tone or I can talk like I'm from, you know, the UK , so whatever you like. But don't ask me to do Australian. I can't do it. I don't know why it's harsh.
It is. Have you seen um,
Jamie: random, famous. AF African celebrities? No, the accents on there are fantastic. It's almost like, Housewives kind of show. Mm-hmm . But it's in Africa. Oh, amazing. I bet it's beautiful and colorful too. Yeah. 'cause you know, south African, they kind of sound a little British. Mm-hmm
Um, interesting. I just like to listen to them talk. Mm-hmm . Very nice. But thank you so much for coming on the show, Joe. Thank you for having us. You were always the best. Thank you. And we'll see y'all next time. Bye. [01:22:00] Goodbye boy. Goodbye
Mica: Tata.