There is so much dysfunction in that story that one hardly knows where to begin:
1. Grandmother keeps $10,000 in cash in a sock drawer? Which an 11-year-old knows about? Think about that a minute: Since the largest denomination in US currency is the $100 bill, that’s 100 of those suckers, at least. So that’s an issue: Keeping that much cash in the house in the first place is inherently unsafe, but keeping it unsecured in a sock drawer is just stupid. I’d have a talk with Granny and teach her the basics of “attractive nuisance”. She set this up. (I would also be making plans to get my own hands on her money ASAP. See the next response for the reason why.)
2. An 11-year-old who would steal that much cash from her grandmother has been raised extraordinarily badly. If she were my daughter I might give her up for adoption or sell her into slavery while she still has some nominal cash value. (Hey, if I had raised a girl with such bad ethics, I’d be the type to consider those options.)
3. I would make plans to sue the cab company for two things:
a. Failure to check the child’s bona fides regarding her being of an age to contract for this trip. Someone ought to be aware of the applicability of the Mann Act to this case (and for those who don’t know, that’s the Federal law that makes it a felony to transport a minor across state lines for immoral purposes). Cab company managers should certainly be aware of how dangerous this is for their license, and for their drivers’ potential criminal records.
b. Taking a route through Atlanta. They were just gouging the girl: even a quick glance at Mapquest.com should have shown a much better route.
4. Sell the TV rights by the end of this week.