A homeless 33-year-old Connecticut woman has pleaded guilty to felony larceny and will likely serve jail time in addition to being forced to pay restitution to the state. What, exactly, did she steal? By lying about her address in order to enroll her son in a better school district, prosecutors are alleging that she stole kindergarten.
Tanya McDowell, who was homeless when she enrolled her son in school in Norwalk, CT, allegedly used her babysitter's more tony address to give her son what she hoped was a better education.
Her move ran afoul of school officials when it was revealed that her last known address was actually in Bridgeport, Connecticut and thus she was plundering education from the city of Norwalk, using her 5-year-old son as her adorable education thieving accomplice. It's the oldest con in the game! Seasoned swindlers call it The Ol' School Steal. The Kindergarten Kon. The 3 R's- Reading, Riting, and Robbery.
In total, McDowell faces 5 years behind bars and a $6,200 fine. Her son will also be punished by having his mother thrown in jail.
Obviously we can't have everyone in America lying about where they live so their kids can go to better schools, because otherwise New Trier High School would have 700,000 students, but seriously? Punishing a single mother with a young child for lying about her address by sending her to jail and fining her six grand seems like overkill. How is this helping to further society in any way?
And further, how is a homeless woman who is incarcerated supposed to come up with several thousand dollars with which to repay the state of Connecticut? Steal some primo first grade and sell it on the black market?