"I have pawned off all my jewelry and have sought help from family and friends, " she said.

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Most had lost their jobs back in the contiguous states, and pawned all they had to try their luck mining.

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Or the toothpaste, medical supply or pawned item for that matter.

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My father asked Nnamabia to write a report: how he had pawned the jewelry, what he had spent the money on, with whom he had spent it.

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In a survey of pawnshop customers, Elaine Kempson, from Bristol University's Personal Finance Research Centre, found that over half had pawned possessions to buy daily necessities, including food.

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Further filings allege that Morgan set up secret trusts in other states into which some of Jackie's real estate was transferred and that after her death he stole and pawned some of her jewelry.

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Two weeks later, he came home gaunt, smelling of beer, crying, saying he was sorry, that he had pawned the jewelry to the Hausa traders in Enugu, and that all the money was gone.

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