Just me thinking out loud.
I think, the "scam" was before he ever met Brian. We were the one's that were the true target of the initial scam. The scam was just a fake identity in hopes of creating this "subject matter expert" in a field of which he has no authority or qualifications to be considered a SME. He ran across Brian and when the opportunity presented himself, he thought "this is my shot." I believe if things were to never been questioned of him, Theis would still be a part of Hoplite and amongst us today, playing his role. When the kitchen started to get hot, he panicked, and his crooked ass wife pushed him by saying, "the gig is about to be up, lets cash in while we can and pop smoke." I really feel his main motivation was to be validated as an authority in the firearms realm. He had to use a fake name and fake back story b/c his real name and history would prevent him from being anyone of importance. He had long since burnt that name (his real name) in the community and nobody would give him a second thought. Once the gig was up, "lets get what we can get and move on. Its been fun but its got to end." If it was some scam dedicated to financial gain, he would have somehow taken Brian for a much bigger monetary ride than what he did. Not minimizing what was stolen, but lets face it, it wasn't $750k where he could live like a king in Mexico. Either way, he's a piece of shit and needs to fry for it. Brian has done the right thing on all accounts since the revelation of who Theis was. Everyone has been made whole except for Brian. Ive spent a lot of time thinking about this since i found out what was happening, and even more since the podcast with Dave and Brian. This is what i keep coming back to that best makes things seem plausible. But wtf do i know? Ive been wrong a couple times before.
i agree he didnt walk away with a pure check...although he could have by not paying the bills and walking...totally screwing me
dont think he just siphoned the wifes fees
i funded a lifestyle for over 2 years
car (piece of crap that he choose)
living in shop, so i was paying his rent
which i paid to build out as well
i was paying the cable and utilities etc
paid to move him and inventory to shop
funding travel for his idiotic decisions
he was mowing lawns while i was paying him a weekly wage
although he didnt walk away with a "check" start adding things up and its not as small as you think
im along the same lines but not being able to talk to him again leaves me on the fence as well
is it just a:
ego trip
power trip
daddy didnt love me so i need to exert my dominance by a new character
long play, build up my rep and find a idiot like me/brian to scam.. i dont think he was smart enough to plan that far out although i think he was quick thinking enough to ramp up fast
he was heavy/fat several years ago and he looks like crap compared to shot show 2020 (pics above)...did he get back on pills..opioids kill teeth?
his teeth were shot, the wife wanted a new "smile", as they were contacting dentists for "new smiles"
he might of wanted to go straight but once they saw a few bucks the partying started and then went back to making bad decisions?
so many answers id love to find out but at the end i think it will wind up being something boing
.... a life long looser scammer snagged me
then he wasnt smart enough to get out before he flew to close to the sun, or wasnt smart enough to spin it to legit money
i hope its more involved so its a cool story for my grandkids lol