Homeless mother who sent son to better school in the wrong town jailed for five years

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A mother who pleaded guilty to fraudulently enrolling her six-year-old son in the wrong school district has been sentenced to five years in prison. Tonya McDowell sent her son to an elementary school in Norwalk, Connecticut, instead of her home city of Bridgeport.

The 34-year-old, who was homeless when she was charged with felony larceny last year, said she wanted the best education possible for the boy. McDowell last week entered her plea at Norwalk Superior Court under the Alford Doctrine, which means she does not admit guilt but concedes the state has enough evidence to convict her.

Authorities told the hearing that she used a babysitter’s address to enroll her son in kindergarten in Norwalk when he should have attended schools in Bridgeport, her last permanent address.

Police said McDowell stole $15,686 worth of ‘free’ educational services from Norwalk.
She also pleaded guilty to four counts of sale of narcotics, which will be included in her prison sentence. In a separate case, she pleaded guilty on February 7 to selling drugs.

McDowell was sentenced to 12 years in jail, suspended after she serves five years, and five years probation.
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Shame. Sounds like she lost her kid, lost her home, and lost her future just because she tried to fulfill the dream of seeing her child educated in a school district with an actual budget.

What a fucked up education system we have in this country.
 
My parents did this when I was in kindergarten/first grade, so I could go to school in the upscale city my grandparents lived in, instead of the crappy local school district. I blew their cover during the phone number/addresss/emergency contact lesson when I asked if they wanted my real phone number, or my phone number for school.

Nobody seemed to mind, and they let me stay enrolled until we moved out-of-state. Jailtime is insane.

Although the drug charge does complicate things.
 
Richer gets richer, poorer gets poorer. If a (homeless) mother cares enough about her child's education to try to go to a better district, that should be applauded.

But I can see both sides of the story. If enough kids from less academic districts clog up the ones that are doing good, it could bring everyone down.

But I wonder how much jailtime she is actually serving from trying to get her kid to a different district. I remember a similar news story in the past couple years, but I don't remember if there was any fine or jail time though.
 
SUPREME1 said:
Fucked up situation. The drugs part really lessens the sympathy others might have for her.
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Show some sympathy for the poor trying to get their kids a better life.

Police said McDowell stole $15,686 worth of ‘free’ educational services from Norwalk.
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lol... "stole", and it's going to cost way more in court and jail time.

Which Wallstreet fatcat has been thrown in jail yet?
 
BertramCooper said:
She just wants her kids back.
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homeless-dad.jpg
 
ah, so the majority of her jailtime comes from selling narcotics...I'm willing to bet she would have not gone to jail at all otherwise. Sucks for her kid, but she fucked herself over when she turned to selling narcotics.

I really hope things turn out ok for her kid.
 
TheMan said:
ah, so the majority of her jailtime comes from selling narcotics...I'm willing to bet she would have not gone to jail at all otherwise. Sucks for her kid, but she fucked herself over when she turned to selling narcotics.

I really hope things turn out ok for her kid.
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seems like she was running pretty low on options at that point
 
1. People just ignore she was a drug dealer which was the main reason for the jail time

2. It is also is a crime to enroll you child in a district you do not live in, you are stealing resources from other children.
 
I wonder how much of the 5 years is for selling drugs. Clearly she should win mother of the year!

The way this story is front loaded is simply a work of art.
 
You can go to prison for sending your kids to a public school outside your district?

X.X

EDIT: Didn't see the "selling drugs part". Carry on.
 
Selling drugs, eh? Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I know a woman who is a friend of my wife's family that was hooking a few years ago to provide for her kids. She wasn't some lowlife either. Highly educated with 2 master's degrees. Times are hard for poor folk. She is doing much, much better now.
 
One day. One day when Americans turn off American Idol and put down their iPhones they're going to realize that the American dream has morphed into a nightmare. A harsh, cruel, hallucinogenic fog. One by one they're going to walk outside and realize while they were drinking their Starbucks and arguing about pc vs mac, ios vs android that the rug has been pulled out from under them. It's gonna be a hard crash. And when it happens there's gonna be a lot of pissed off people with a shitload of guns....and only then will the government realize that shit like this was the reason why...
 
Trying to better her child's life should wash out the distribution conviction.
 
I hate the news now a days, someone writes one quick blerb and a thousand sites just reposts it. Can't find how the sentence breaks down.
 
I can't get outraged because there's not enough information and there's no way to get the information I'd need: what would her sentence theoretically have been if she wasn't also a narcotics dealer.

EDIT: Derp, why I thought there's no way to get that information I dont know. Well, we'll never truly know what it would have been, but yeah, there should be a sentence breakdown somewhere
 
Mammoth Jones said:
One day. One day when Americans turn off American Idol and put down their iPhones they're going to realize that the American dream has morphed into a nightmare. A harsh, cruel, hallucinogenic fog. One by one they're going to walk outside and realize while they were drinking their Starbucks and arguing about pc vs mac, ios vs android that the rug has been pulled out from under them. It's gonna be a hard crash. And when it happens there's gonna be a lot of pissed off people with a shitload of guns....and only then will the government realize that shit like this was the reason why...
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Mammoth Jones said:
LOL. Fuck that. Same people talkin' that "drugs are terribad!!!" are the same people drinking and poppin pain pills.
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What are you on about now?
 
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