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Michael Cruz, now known as SMOKES a/k/a SMOKEY, was born on April 27th 2005, at the Central Los Santos Medical Center located in Davis, Los Santos. Before Michael’s first birthday, he was already being cared for at the local orphanage center. Unbeknownst to his biological parents, Michael was forced into foster care and was adopted by foster parents, a Mr. Kenneth Hayes, aged 37, and a Mrs. Elizabeth Hayes, aged 31, shortly after his 4th birthday. Mr. Hayes was coerced by his wife into adopting the young child due to her being unable to conceive children. He was a bus driver within the Los Santos Transit Authority and faced alcoholism most of his adult life. His personal weaknesses led to abuse at home onto his wife and the young child. Before Michael’s 8th birthday, he was forced to leave the Hayes’ household by Child Protective Services and was released back into the system. Michael spent his 9th, 10th and 11th birthday in an orphanage. Becoming a victim of bullying and his past abuse made Michael develop depression at a young age. In turn, his depression created addiction to tranquilizers as he was fed medication by the medical staff to keep him stable. Before his 12th birthday, he was taken into foster care by a Ms. Catalina Marquez, aged 52, a recent widow. Ms. Marquez was a frequent visitor to local orphanages in search of a child after her husband’s passing, due to her desire to cease the feeling of never fulfilling a personal obligation of being a parent. Ms. Marquez lived in a concentrated poverty neighborhood, El Burro Heights, located in East Los Santos. Ms. Marquez introduced respect and responsibility for actions onto Michael, something which was unknown to him. Michael developed a deep respect for his foster mother but never seen her as a parent, rather just as a guardian. While Michael was a good student, forced to attend school every day by Ms. Marquez, he immediately fell in with a group at the local schools. He became acquainted with one of his peers, Brandon Villalobos, known as SWIFTY, a local tagger from Rancho and spent most of his time with him. Michael became heavily involved in graffiti, theft and smoking marijuana. The two would car hop frequently, stealing valuables from the interior of vehicles in order to pool cash together to buy marijuana. This would end up leading to a juvenile delinquent arrest of the two, charged with Petit Larceny, and Michael was placed on a two year probation at the age of 14. Due to parole obligations, Michael was forced to attend school and was contained to a house arrest with recurrent visits from his parole officer. Michael was allowed to stay on the street his home address was on and met local Adrian Soto, known as MIDGET. The two became acquainted quickly due to similar interests. Upon Michael’s completion of probation at the age of 16, he started becoming active in the neighborhood meeting local hoods David Ordaz, known as LAZY, and Emilio Castillo, known as TRAMPOSO. Michael was nicknamed “SMOKEY” by Lazy due to his smoking habit, chain smoking marijuana rolled joints and Newport cigarettes. Michael’s introduction to the gang life happened rather quickly as he was involved in crimes, such as assault, armed robbery and drug dealing. While Michael respected his legal guardian, Ms. Marquez, he felt embarrassed to bring home illegal items to the home, such as narcotics and a recently acquired Glock 43X loaded handgun from a robbery. Michael being a heavy drug user at a young age immediately fell in with the local crowd as he was easily influenced into the lifestyle. Spending most of his time around the gang members would fill Michael with guilt to his legal guardian, Ms. Marquez, preventing him from returning home and spending most nights at Tramposo’s house in order to convince himself of the reality he’s placed into. In search for an actual family his entire life, Michael finds refuge in the local gang, Gage MaraVilla Rifa, and considers his close friends as brothers.