Tateasa Adams, offered a position just a few days earlier, thought she was returning to Six Flags Over Georgia for a follow-up interview. She ended up in handcuffs, arrested on an outstanding warrant for missing a court date for two misdemeanor traffic violations in Gwinnett County.
"I have never been so humiliated in my life, all because I wanted a job," Adams, 37, said in a phone interview with the AJC.
The Monroe-based singer had applied for a job as a performer in two musical revues and said she came clean when contacted by the Austell amusement park's loss prevention department following a background check.
Adams said she told Six Flags officials about the missing court date, explaining that her fiance, Michael Rampey -- who suffers from a rare genetic disease that necessitated a heart transplant in 2006 -- had been diagnosed with cancer and required specialized treatment only available at Massachusetts General Hospital.
She said she was with Rampey in Boston on the day she was due in court. "A ticket was the last thing on my mind," Adams said.
Six Flags sent Adams an email confirming her appointment on Feb. 29 for a "pre-appointment screen." She was instructed to return to the park "dressed in business attire -- this is an interview." Adams was also told to bring a valid photo identification.
"I arrived early," she said. "When I got there they sat me down in a room with a video camera, took my license, and had me fill out another application."
Little did Adams know park officials had contacted Cobb County police, who arrested her in the loss prevention office 45 minutes later.
"As part of our standard hiring procedure, all potential employees over the age of 18 must undergo a criminal history background check," Six Flags said in a statement emailed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "In this particular instance, a warrant was discovered. Per our guidelines, Cobb County Police were notified and an arrest was made."
Labor and employment attorney Ed Buckley said while it's not unusual for businesses to notify law enforcement of a scofflaw, he's never heard of one actually facilitating an arrest.
"It seems to me a dangerous practice to engineer someone's arrest," Buckley told the AJC. "They run the risk of creating unnecessary claims for themselves. It just doesn't make any sense."
Cobb police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce said Adams' arrest was unusual for the department. "We try to keep businesses out of the loop any way we can," he said.
After her arrest, Adams was remanded to sheriff's deputies in Gwinnett, where she had been issued citations for driving without insurance and an expired tag in 2010. She posted $1,845 bond and was released.
"Fortunately, I had just received my tax refund" on the day of her arrest, she said.
Adams said she's still looking for work but fears she's already lost out on opportunities due to her arrest record. Her mugshot appears on the first page returned when one does a web search of the name "Tateasa Adams."
"This has been a total nightmare," she said. "I'm not making any excuses for missing the court date. I should've taken care of that. But it's not like I'm some dangerous criminal."
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