Sandy Springs Leaders Help Disabled Vet Scammed Out Of House

By Geoff Dempsey, Patch National Staff

ATLANTA, GA — Two Sandy Springs leaders are coming to the aid of an Atlanta area disabled veteran and her family who were scammed in a bogus rental deal, according to a GoFundMe site set up by former City Councilman Gabriel Sterling to help the family.

Brittnay Davis, her husband and six children are currently living in hotels until they can find a new place to call home. Davis and her husband signed a lease for a Lawrenceville home in July. When they went to move in on the 31st of that month, they discovered it was a scam after the real owners showed up. They had lost their $2,400 down payment. Their only option was to go to a hotel for the night.

That's how it's been for Davis and her family throughout August— full of hotels and uncertainty.

"It feels like somebody wrapped a chain around my ankle and tugged me into the ocean," Davis told Patch. "All I wanted to do was take my kids out of a small three-bedroom and into a nice house before school started."

They've been getting some financial help from the Division of Family and Children Services, according to current Sandy Springs City Councilman John Paulson, who also serves as CEO of the Phoenix Patriot Foundation, whose goal is to help disabled veterans in need.

Click here to donate to the fundraiser.

However, the DFCS won't help them in September, Paulson said. On top of that, he added, they threatened to take her children if she can't get organized. She's angry and scrambling to make ends meet.

Davis told Patch her 9-year-old daughter is afraid to go to school because she thinks authorities are going to take her away from her family.

Women's shelters won't take them because Davis' husband is with them, Paulson said. He added the food bank won't help them because they haven't held a Lawrenceville address for the past 30 days.

What's more, her 11-year-old son's service dog was disallowed from the Villa Lodge and Suites, she told Patch. The boy has severe autism and doesn't recognize danger like many of us. The service dog, Beef Boy, alerts Davis when her son may be getting into trouble.

It is illegal for businesses to refuse a certified service dog, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The family sought help, and the Phoenix Patriot Foundation stepped up. They organization is helping how they it financially and set up the GoFundMe page to get the public involved.

"We need your donations to help this veteran's family get back on their feet after they were the victims of heartless scam artists," Sterling, also the treasurer of the Phoenix Patriot Foundation, said on the donation page.

Davis, a native New Yorker, joined the Navy after the attacks on 9/11. She knew somebody who died in the attack, the GoFundMe page says, and joined because of the attack's impact. Her husband, Russell, works at a nursing home and rehab facility. He's "basically torn apart," Davis told Patch, and feels like he should be doing more to provide for his family.

Support organizations are working to help Davis and her family. The Phoenix Patriot Foundation and the local American Legion Post 140 are doing what they can to help.

As of 10:30 a.m. Saturday, the GoFundMe page has raised $3,220 of its $5,000 goal.

Between 2 and 3:25 p.m. Friday, donations on the GoFundMe page skyrocketed from $229 to $1,074, thanks to the generosity of strangers. The couple hopes to find a new home for themselves and their kids by Sept. 1.

Patch is a promotional partner of GoFundMe.

Photo of Brittnay Davis, along with Phoenix Patriot Foundation CEO John Paulson and his wife, Mary, via GoFundMe