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Stiff sentence for sending child to wrong school district

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wraith808:
Tried to make the title as neutral as possible...

Homeless mother sends her child to a school district different than the one in which they lived (I know personally several people who did the same thing).  For this crime she was sentenced to 5 years in prison, and has to repay the $6200 she 'stole' sending her child there.

To make ends meet, the woman may also have resorted to selling drugs, which was "considered in her sentencing."

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/818811/%22stealing%22_free_education_homeless_mother_gets_jail_time_for_sending_her_son_to_a_better_school_district/

Stoic Joker:
Well that's completely absurd. The woman has committed no crime. The prosecutor should be shot for concocting such a stupidly trumped up charge.

40hz:
Yep. Happened in my home state two towns away from where I live.

People here are generally enraged about how she's being treated although the drug dealing, which supposedly went on for years prior to her sending her son outside her 'official' school district had a lot to do with her going to jail. Plus a prior conviction for robbing a local bank 10 years previously didn't help her much either.

Some local coverage can be found here and here.

This is one of those difficult (for me) cases. Is this somebody who may be bad but was legitimately trying to get her son out from under the circumstances of his birth. Or was this just somebody who was dealing drugs and wanted her kid out of the immediate area where she was dealing either to protect him - or just keep him out of sight and her hair.

Tough call. We'll never really know.

I personally think her kid would be better off not being with her IF she is dealing because the city she's from has major gang issues when it comes to drugs. Going after somebody's kid for purposes of intimidation, or to get revenge against a competitor, isn't exactly uncommon.

But if that was the State's primary concern, there are other far more serious things she could have been charged with. Hitting her so hard for 'defrauding' another school district smacks of maliciousness. Not to mention the fact those drug and prostitution charges appeared at a suspiciously convenient time considering what a political football her case was turning into on the national level.

But when you're a prosecutor I guess you pursue whatever charges you think you can make stick. Pretty sucky doing that IMO. But that's how it often works.

We are all of us pieces in many different hidden games.

"So it goes."  :-\

wraith808:
We are all of us pieces in many different hidden games.
-40hz (February 29, 2012, 06:36 PM)
--- End quote ---

*sigh*  :(

Target:
author=Stoic Joker link=topic=30144.msg280188#msg280188 date=1330558905]
Well that's completely absurd. The woman has committed no crime. The prosecutor should be shot for concocting such a stupidly trumped up charge.[/quote]

time to call your congressman?

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