Posted on 10/17/2013 9:54:33 AM PDT by Deadeye Division
Deidre Romine said she’s unemployed and about to lose her apartment. She said she took the change from the fountain to buy food.
She only wished to buy a meal.
An Ohio woman was collared for petty theft after she was caught swiping $2.87 in change from a fountain last week.
Deidre Romine said she had just fished the coins out of the Logan County Courthouse fountain in Bellefontaine to buy food when a cop approached her on Oct. 7.
“The cop asked me what I was doing and I was afraid to tell him,” Romine told WBNS-10TV. “The money didn’t belong to anybody, so I just took it out of there.”
After the officer found the stolen change in her pocket, he issued her a summons to appear in court on a petty theft charge.
The unemployed woman said she’s been struggling to make ends meet and about to lose her apartment and now she’s worried that she’ll get locked up.
“I’m trying to feed myself and I’ve got four cats I’m raising and trying to feed them,” she said. “I might go to jail.”
But one man launched an online donation drive to help Romine fight her case.
“We want the community to know the why rather than just the headline that she got arrested, and we also want to help her out,” said the supporter, Will Zell.
Several people have already contributed to the online fund, which has raised nearly $2,000 — ten times the initial goal — by Thursday.
Zell said the money will go directly to Romine’s case manager.
jkemp@nydailynews.com
Or go into Mexico and then illegally cross the border.
------------------------------>
I miss those days...
No doubt it all goes to some politico’s slush fund.
By all means, go after her, but the people who loaded 8-10 shopping carts when the EBTs were down, well, they get away with it.
If she’s unemployed and about to be evicted, I suspect she’s eligible for $200 a month in food stamps. There may be other personal issues at work here.
Now, that’s a danged good post, right there.
This fountain hasn’t received this much notoriety since some miscreant put detergent in it years ago.
Perhaps the police department will receive an equal amount of notoriety, embarrassing one would hope.
I don't think anyone was ever arrested, but that was the 50s in an America we will never see again.
One thing I do sometimes have to watch around here that's really annoying: There is a small percentage of people who will take tips meant for waitresses off the table. I always put out the tip a little early so the waitress knows it's there, or hand her the tip.
----------------->
They may be her only 'family'. I'd advise her not to get any more cats but these cats she has may be her link to comfort in a tough situation.
Well maybe the cop was thinking since the fountain was a “county fountain” the cop figured she was stealing from the government.
Doubt that seriously. I work with people like here..
they are law enforcement officers now, not peace officers.
officer safety above all else. including your rights and your life. and your pets are just moving target practice.
------------------------------------>
They are terrible people and so are the people who walk their checks.
If she was black and/or wearing a burka, the cop would have done nothing.
Excellent post.
And if you’re from the government and you suck the wallets of the people dry, that’s not stealing?
Oh wait, that’s redundant, should simply read:
And if you’re from the government, that’s not stealing?
Beast.gov does not tolerate any charity or financing that operates outside of its own dispensaries.
Now if this woman were harassing people on the street that’s one thing, but collecting change in a fountain? That really does say desperate. Probably took her quite a while collecting pennies and nickles for the most part. Now if money in fountains is genuinely attracting some unsavory types - say, drug addicts and so forth who are fouling up the fountains or creating other hazards - then what does that say about the state of the Union? Something’s screwy well beyond the situation on the ground.
Leviticus 19:9-10
9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.
good question
found money lying on the ground, will you be arrested for picking it up?
The idea of someone going to jail for picking up $2.87 off the ground when our government officials create hundreds of millions in political slush funds with taxpayer dollars is very ridiculous.
The mayor is on welfare?
Oh wow
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.