Homeless woman charged with larceny for sending kid to "good" public school

[Terminator X]

A homeless Connecticut mother has been arrested and charged with larceny for allegedly stealing her son’s education from a public school police say he had no right to attend. Tanya McDowell is a 33-year-old Bridgeport resident who used her babysitter’s address in Norwalk, where the schools were better, so her five-year-old son Andres Justin Paches could go to school. A.J. was enrolled in Brookside Elementary School’s kindergarten from September to January. They’ve been living out of her van.

And for her supposed crime, McDowell is facing a 20-year jail sentence for making off with $15,686 in education funds from the Norwalk school district, the Stamford Advocate (http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/Homeless-woman-s-arrest-for-sending-son-to-1346603.php) reported. What’s more, McDowell’s babysitter Ana Rebecca Marques has been evicted from the public housing complex she lived in for helping McDowell. McDowell is set to be arraigned on Wednesday morning.

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/571885/homeless_mom_charged_with_larceny_for_sending_kid_ to_good_public_school/


For fuck's sake...:cursing:

[GPDP]

Homeless woman sends kid to good school = prison and fines

Corporation outsources jobs and makes the economy tank = bailout and tax break

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

20 years for something that no one but a sociopathic politican would consider a crime? ... How the fuck do they even try to reason for that one?

[Terminator X]

...and the police are all too happy to do the elite's bidding.

So now, kid not only gets ripped out of a good school system, he may not have his mother around for a couple years while she sits in jail. Oh, and while we're at it, let's evict babysitter from her public housing that she probably waited years on a waiting list for and throw her back out on the street, for simply trying to help out a friend. Kid now doesn't have his mother or a babysitter, and might not have a school, depending on if he is allowed to re-enroll at his "home" school.

Enraging.

[el_chavista]

It's the same type of case of Kelley Williams-Bolar
(http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/02/theft_charge_dismissed_against_ohio_mom_kelley_wil liams-bolar.html)

[Optiow]

"How dare she try to educate her child!"
"How dare she step out of her place!"
"How dare she try to cross class barriers!"

Fuckin' capitalists.

[Vendetta]

Wow.

[Rafiq]

Wow, the US still doesn't even have full, free public education from k-12.

They're living in the stone age.

[PhoenixAsh]

Any petitions about this??? It may be a stupid question...but I want to do something...and I am pretty much worthless overhere...no cash, no means of going there.

[Terminator X]

Any petitions about this??? It may be a stupid question...but I want to do something...and I am pretty much worthless overhere...no cash, no means of going there.

It looks like there will be a news conference/protest of sorts taking place tomorrow outside the courthouse before the arraignment - I'm hoping a bunch of people show up to this and express appropriate outrage. These charges need to be dropped immediately. I'll see if I can find any online petitions.

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/News-conference-to-support-Tanya-McDowell-1351132.php

[Hexen]

...and the police are all too happy to do the elite's bidding.

That's what their designed for.

[Terminator X]

Here are a couple petitions:

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-prosecution-of-homeless-woman-tonya-mcdowell-for-sending-son-to-wrong-school-in-norwalk-ct

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/drop-charges-against-tanya-mcdowell/

Also, some additional articles on the case:
http://blackbloggers.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/judge-says-kelley-williams-bolar-cant-visit-tonya-mcdowell/
http://blackbloggers.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/naacp-signs-on-to-help-in-tonya-mcdowell/
http://blackbloggers.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/nbc-school-says-they-werent-responsible-for-charging-tonya-mcdowell/
http://blackbloggers.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/officials-try-to-claim-that-tonya-mcdowell-wasnt-actually-homeless-as-if-it-actually-matters/
http://blackbloggers.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/former-school-official-says-tonya-mcdowell-arrest-is-absurd-and-unprecedented-during-his-administration/

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Dear lord. What the fuck. Reckon she'll actually go to prison or is that just a headline?

[Terminator X]

The arraignment took place yesterday, and McDowell entered a not guilty plea.


The homeless woman accused of stealing up to $15,600 from Norwalk taxpayers by sending her 5-year-old son to a city elementary school pleaded not guilty Wednesday during an arraignment in state Superior Court (http://www.revleft.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Superior+Court%22).


Defense attorneys Darnell Crosland (http://www.revleft.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Darnell+Crosland%22) and co-counsel Michael Thomas (http://www.revleft.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Michael+Thomas%22) entered the plea on behalf of their client Tanya McDowell (http://www.revleft.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Tanya+McDowell%22), 33, who is facing up to 20 years in jail on first-degree larceny and conspiracy charges. The case was continued until May 11.


McDowell's attorneys also told Judge Bruce Hudock (http://www.revleft.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Bruce+Hudock%22) they would seek to have the high-profile case transferred out of Norwalk because they would not be able to find a fair and impartial jury.




http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Tanya-McDowell-pleads-not-guilty-to-stealing-1354415.php#ixzz1KpIcixXa

[Spets]

What kind of sick fucking country is this

[Terminator X]

Dear lord. What the fuck. Reckon she'll actually go to prison or is that just a headline?

Single, black, homeless mother accused of "stealing" from rich, privileged white people - you just know how this is going to end.

I could see her getting a couple of years in prison in order to "be made an example of" - also wouldn't be surprised to see her kid taken away from her for some bullshit reason, too.

[Toppler]

In the "evil communist dictatorships" of the Eastern Bloc, she would've been given a flat for free with a symbolic rent and her son would be granted free education.

Capitalists don't deserve mercy.

[ComradeR]

Wow this is like some 19th century crap. Amazing how far capitalist society has come huh?

[Robespierre Richard]

Any petitions about this??? It may be a stupid question...but I want to do something...and I am pretty much worthless overhere...no cash, no means of going there.

This is not the first time this has happened. Geographical segregation is on of the main pillars of the racial/class order in the US. There have already been (black, poor) mothers sent to jail for this, the one other case I've read about, the judge had actually considered this worse than the holocaust and said that the woman needs to be made an example of.

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=12763654