CT - Homeless women arrested for sending her son to school

[Nova]

I have to agree with you. She went to some lengths to get her son enrolled in school. As a homeless person she could have just carted him around all day.

I am suprised, however, that she is dealing drugs. That's kind of an oxymoron in my opinion. You care for your son so much, but on the other hand you're out there selling drugs?

Some things I will never understand.

MOO

Mel

I don't see the inherent conflict. For some people, dealing drugs is the very best way they have to provide for their child.

Granted, one might well argue that the likelihood of going to jail and having to abandon the child is high, but if your only other option is working at McD's, minimum wage in many areas does not provide a livable income for a family of two or more.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Selling drugs is not ok on any situation. Especially for a single mother. The child deserves better than that.
There is assistance out there.

Selling drugs is never an ok option.

JMO

 

[believe09]

Imagine the dangers and pressures she faces on a daily basis. I wouldnt judge her-I admire her for trying to give her child a chance, no matter how twisted we believe her logic to be. What a sad, sad story.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

I wonder where the child was during the "transactions".

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Interesting article.
IMO this woman is looking a lot less like a victim and more as a criminal.
Bank robbery??? Gun possession??? Multiple drug charges???
And this was BEFORE she had a child to provide for.
So there goes the theory she was selling drugs to provide for her child.

Sorry, I can't give this woman a pass.
I see a career criminal.

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Homeless-mom-Tanya-McDowell-arrested-on-1419295.php

The latest drug charges are not the only drug offenses McDowell is facing.

In November, McDowell was arrested in Norwalk for being in possession of marijuana and crack cocaine.

Because police found her in possession of dozens of individually packaged baggies containing the drugs, she was charged with possession with intent to sell. She has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Ten years ago, McDowell, was convicted of robbing a Trumbull bank, and in a separate incident, of being in possession of a pistol. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

 

[believe09]

Sure it is fair to bring up her record. It is likely that she wouldnt be in the position that she is in if she werent on the fringes of society. In the present time, she has a mouth to feed and care for. She made her choice about how she was going to do it and we see the results.

I am still not going to judge her.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Sure it is fair to bring up her record. It is likely that she wouldnt be in the position that she is in if she werent on the fringes of society. In the present time, she has a mouth to feed and care for. She made her choice about how she was going to do it and we see the results.

I am still not going to judge her.

There are places ALL OVER Norwalk that will feed and care for her child without drug money.

She has made bad choices for at least the past 10 years that we know of. And her child will suffer the most.

Unfit IMO.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Listings for Homeless Shelters near Norwalk, Connecticut

Malta House-Good Counsel · Website · (203) 857-0088 5 Prowitt St · Norwalk
Manna House Hsptlty Soup Ktchn · Website · (203) 866-1057 4 Merritt St · Norwalk Gillespie Center · (203) 226-1191 45 Jesup Rd · Westport
Shelter For the Homeless · Website · (203) 406-0017 137 Henry St # 205 · Stamford
Families In Transition · (203) 331-9467 11 Clinton Ave · Bridgeport
****************************************************************

http://norwalk.ct.welfareinfo.org/

Norwalk, CT welfare resources are available through 1,679 different outlets. Find the nearest location and make contact with a welfare provider today.

Also, find emergency shelters in Norwalk. Look up children shelters, emergency shelters, domestic violence shelters or homeless shelters in Norwalk and tap into their available resources.

*****************************************************************

http://www.familyandchildrensagency.org/homeless-services-overview/content/view/115/62

Family and Children's Agency
Norwalk, CT

(I can't copy and paste from this site, but the services they provide are pretty much limitless)

*************************************************************


http://norwalkemergencyshelter.org/

The Norwalk Emergency Shelter and the Manna House of Hospitality are open three hundred sixty five days a year. The shelter sleeps ninety-five people and offers case management services to all that stay at the shelter as well as anyone else in the community in need. The Manna House serves three meals a day, every day of the year. This translates to over 12,000 meals served monthly.


The mission of the Norwalk Emergency Shelter, Inc. is to provide safe, sanitary shelter care to homeless men, women, and families; to assist shelter residents in searching for housing, jobs, counseling and treatment; and to foster residents' growth toward independence and responsibility.

The Shelter is part of a network of services within the community. Shelter Case Managers interview and work with each resident to help them search for housing, jobs, job training, and appropriate counseling and treatment. Over the course of a year, our Case Managers make hundreds of referrals to city and state social service agencies.

******************************************************************

Not only do these shelters provide shelter and food, they provide many other services. Job placement, counseling....
She had other options IMO. Selling drugs should never have been one of them.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Have mercy! This woman has NO RIGHT having custody of her child IMO.
She is NOT a victim!



Affidavit: Tanya McDowell offered to sell drugs, pimp out prostitutes to undercover cops

NORWALK -- Tanya McDowell, who became a sympathetic national figure after being charged in April with stealing the education of her young son from the Norwalk school district, offered a Stamford undercover officer crack cocaine, marijuana and the use of prostitutes McDowell was pimping from her aunt's home in Bridgeport, according to warrants for her arrest.


She also allegedly told the undercover officer she was living with her aunt on Dover Street, and he was welcome to party at the house and enjoy the services of two women McDowell was pimping out.




In one of the Bridgeport warrants, McDowell, who kept her head bowed during the arraignment while wearing a purple top and tan cargo shorts, is alleged to have sold drugs to the undercover officer while she was giving a birthday party for her son, who turned 6 May 24, a Norwalk police source with knowledge of the investigation said.



BBM :banghead:

*** A LOT more details in article. UNFIT UNFIT UNFIT

 

[Kimberlyd125]

I wonder where the child was during the "transactions".

Well, this question got answered for me today.
At least I know where he was during one transaction.

She sold DRUGS to undercovers during his 6th birthday party!!!!

Winner!!

 

[STEADFAST]

Well, it looks like this woman is certainly a piece of work. However, that does not change my opinion that the school district that her (innocent) child attended is vindictive and elitist. After all, her alleged drug or prostitution involvement were not an issue in their having her arrested for daring to enroll her child in their schools. Oh, and, by the way, they tried to cover up their real elitist motives by trying to make it about the money they spent on mistakenly educating a child. The truth is, they get more state and federal money the more children are enrolled. They just don't want certain children mixing with their offspring. I wouldn't be surprised if the charges against this woman now weren't trumped up to bolster the community's destroyed image.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Well, it is against the law to enroll your child in a school system you do not live in. Like it or not, that was the law and she broke it.
I'm not saying she should serve 20 years, but the trial has not happened yet, so we don't know what she will get on those charges.

It's not the first time she's broken the law. It wasn't the last either.

Current charges trumped up?
You mean all these undercovers are lying about her selling them drugs and offering them hookers?
All those details in the article I linked above are just made up?


IMO trumped up charges is a huge stretch.

As far as lies go, like she lied about the strip search that NEVER happened????

This woman is piece of work. This child needs to be placed elsewhere IMO.

Not a stable environment.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

I find it odd that WSers are defending an ex bank robber, gun toteing, drug pusher, pimp of a "mother".

Nothing she is doing is good for this child.

He is now with family, in the school district he was supposed to be in to begin with.
Not sure that's a good idea either. Since, she offered "girls" at her aunt's house.
I hope to God he is not at her aunt's house.

 

[Nova]

Kimberly, I guess I shouldn't speak for others, but I wasn't defending the woman in this case (frankly, I didn't realize she had such an extensive record) so much as acknowledging that desperate people sometimes resort to desperate measures.

Though there may be a number of homeless shelters in the area, most such shelters have limits on how many nights one can stay. The social safety net for the poor has been steadily gutted since the Reagan years (and just to be bi-partisan, some of the biggest cuts were made under Clinton).

Here is a great book on "minimum-wage America"...

http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/nickelanddimed.htm


It's no wonder some people turn to crime.

 

[Kimberlyd125]

Nova, I think if you click on my link for the Norwalk Emergency Shelter, you will see she WOULD NOT have been turned down for food, shelter, job training, job placement, etc....
goes on and on.

She chose crime. The crimes she chose are not appropriate. This child is not safe with this woman.

She sold drugs to undercovers during her child's 6th birthday party.

UNFIT to say the least.

It just urks me that she is seen as some kind of victim. She is NO victim.
That she "loves" her child so much, she was just trying to get him an education.
Well, if she "loves" him so much, perhaps she could have refrained from selling drugs during his party.

I am just wondering if Al Sharpton researched this lady at all before going to bat for her.