Damn, can a sista catch a break in America anymore? I don't know what's going on, but I have a hard time believing that municipalities are so strapped for cash that they would arrest a homeless woman for sending her kid to the wrong school district. Um, hello, when someone's homeless, they don't actually have a school district to call their own, do they? Help me understand this shit because obviously it's above my pay-grade just a tad bit. Yep, I'm gonna need one of youse people in Connecticut to 'splain this one here:
NORWALK -- A homeless woman from Bridgeport who enrolled her 6-year-old son at a Norwalk elementary school has become the first in the city to be charged with stealing more than $15,000 for the cost of her child's education.
Tonya McDowell, 33, whose last known address was 66 Priscilla St., Bridgeport, was charged Thursday with first-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny for allegedly stealing $15,686 from Norwalk schools. She was released after posting a $25,000 bond.
McDowell's babysitter, Ana Rebecca Marques, was also evicted from her Roodner Court public housing apartment for providing documents to enroll the child at Brookside Elementary School.
The police investigation into the residency began in January after Norwalk Housing Authority attorney Donna Lattarulo filed a complaint alleging McDowell registered her son at Brookside, but actually lived in an apartment on Priscilla Street in Bridgeport.
As part of the evidence presented in the complaint, police received an affidavit of residency signed by McDowell and dated last September attesting that she lived in the Roodner Court public housing complex on Ely Ave.
When she was interviewed by police in the case, McDowell admitted to living in Bridgeport at the time she registered her son in Norwalk schools.
She said she knew a man who owned a home on Priscilla Street and he allowed her to sleep at the home at night, but she had to leave the home during the day until he returned from work.
She also acknowledged that she stays from time to time at the Norwalk Emergency Shelter when she has nowhere else to stay.
McDowell also admitted that Marques was her son's babysitter from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. after the boy got out of school.
After the Norwalk Housing Authority became aware that Marques helped McDowell by providing documents needed to get McDowell's son into Brookside, Marques was evicted from her apartment in January.[...]
Sounds like somebody at the housing authority was mad "somebody" was sleeping on someone's couch. Hell, it's a wonder they're not trying to get back-rent. Surely they can get blood from a tunip so that in itself shouldn't be a problem, right? If only everyone working for the city saw it that way.
