Barbie Bandits "Down The Wrong Road"

MSNBC/Newsweek ^ | March 6, 2007 | Rachel Pomerance and Arian Campo-Flores

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

no youtube videos of their pole-dancing yet?

[Paisan]

I really can't make any kind of informed judgement on this case until I see some photographs...

[absolootezer0]

How did two girls who grew up in comfortable middle-class homes with a wealth of opportunity wind up as exotic dancers and accused crooks?

trying to figure out how to pay for college? i knew a number of strippers in college that that was the only way they could pay. trying to run a full classload with homework etc takes up too much time. you can't work a full time job. so they found that they could work one night a week and make $1,000. unfortunately, once they started, most of them fell into the clutch of the lifestyle associated with it (drugs, sex, etc)
of all of them i knew, only one managed to finish college while stripping. she graduated with no loans, and a small stock portfolio.

[HIDEK6]

Ashley Miller (known as "Adrienne") and Heather Johnston (who went by "Charlie"),

Their real names are better than their stripper names.

[MadelineZapeezda]

The new Thelma & Louise, how special is that?

[Constitution Day]

How did two girls who grew up in comfortable middle-class homes with a wealth of opportunity wind up as exotic dancers and accused crooks?

Lousy parents! Plain and simple.

[bilhosty]

Are they Rudy or Romney voters?

There Dem's if they vote and if not they are just apolitical nail filers.

[Thermalseeker]

you can't work a full time job.

Sure you can. I did. All the way to a Masters in Electrical Engineering and a Bachelors in Aeronautical Engineering. All it takes is discipline. Then again, nobody would pay me to strip, either......

[fd10801]

Choosing stripping to make money isn't just a "bad choice" -- working in MacDonald's instead of the Gap is a "bad choice."
Choosing to undress in front of drunken men is immoral, sinful for some, stupid, submissive to exploitation, and dangerous.
They took some time to "wander off the path," and their parents wouldn't dare admit how neglectful they were.

[Doc Savage]

Can't wait un til they drive off the cliff in a suicide pact!

[T.Smith]

"Properly raised kids don't rob" Agree, "cheat" Agree "and strip" Gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you there. I'm personally very close to an exception to your theory. Youth and a craving for excitement can be strong motivators. Stripping does not automatically equal a deficiency of character.

[MaryFromMichigan]

Yes. The fact that the Mom referred to the crimes they committed as a "bad choice" gave me the impression that the girl wasn't raised with the idea of right and wrong, but rather good choices versus bad ones.

[absolootezer0]

ok.. i'll ammend.. most people can't. :)
i couldn't. but then, i had an extra 20 or so hours a week of practices on top of my classload.

[sasafras]

Most of the time the parents are to blame. Neither of these girls were probably accountable for their actions or behaviors. Im sure their parents were lacking in enforcing discipline - especially the father. It is a consistent theme in the supernanny show that a lazy/uninvolved father leads to undisciplined children.

[RckyRaCoCo]

You Go Girl!....(to jail!)

[NorthFlaRebel]

I knew the parents would come out and say it wasn't the girls' fault, it was the guys who put them up to it.

However, I found this interesting:

Miller, 18, wasn't strong academically but had a big heart and volunteered at a nursing home, says her mother, Joy Miller.

Wonder if this was recently or in the past, and the likelihood that she was volunteering to have access to prescription meds?

[paddles]

No kidding. Lots of pillows to bite before Nursing 101.

[LexBaird]

Most of the time the parents are to blame. Neither of these girls were probably accountable for their actions or behaviors.

Both of these "girls" were absolutely accountable for their actions and behavior, just as their parents are accountable for whatever decisions they made in raising them. EVERY adult is accountable for their behavior, barring mental retardation. These "girls" made conscious decisions and followed them through, knowing they were illegal and wrong.

[Grizzled Bear]

But the most intriguing question remains: How did two girls who grew up in comfortable middle-class homes with a wealth of opportunity wind up as exotic dancers and accused crooks?

---

Did either comfortable middle-class home have father present?

[panthermom]

The perfect parents again, great. I refuse to let these girls off the hook for their poor choices but, sometimes even the best families have problem children. I am 43 yrs. old. In my ENTIRE family there has only been 2 divorces, and I am including extended family here. I do not have any step relatives. Most of us are college graduates and went to private schools. In fact I can't think of one of us who wasn't raised by a stay at home mom. Yet, I have one cousin, my God daughter in fact, who went completely wild when she hit her teens. Out of 12 of us grandchildren. Yes, she did have 2 children out of wedlock and got caught up with drugs and it pained all of us. Thankfully, she fought her way out of it, went back to school, has a great job and is raising her children.