Homeless Mom, Accused of Education Theft, Arrested for Selling Crack
Tanya McDowell, the homeless Connecticut woman who was charged with larceny for heinously enrolling her son in an elementary school in a town where she doesn't live, now has a new pile of legal woes. She was arrested last Friday for allegedly selling crack and weed to undercover cops on three separate occasions, as well as offering them prostitutes. One of the alleged transactions occurred during her son's birthday party.
McDowell's lawyer questioned the timing of the sting and her arrest during an arraignment yesterday, calling the moves "retaliatory" for the nationwide publicity that her education "larceny" case attracted. "The whole thing stinks," her lawyer, Darnell Crosland said, according to the Stamford Advocate. And besides the fact that McDowell is accused of selling weed and crack (within 1,500 feet of a school, no less), a weed dealer she brought along to one of the transactions is described as her son's babysitter. And then this:
She also invited the officer to come to her home in Bridgeport, where she said if he wanted to "party and chill and didn't want to drive home she has some girls," the affidavit said.
Well, so much for Tanya McDowell as an education policy reform advocate. Sadly, this whole crack/weed/hookers thing will overshadow the ridiculous larceny charge for just trying to get an education for her son. This whole thing does stink.