Unemployed Ohio woman charged for taking $2.87 from fountain to buy food

[Miranda4peace]

Source: NYdaily news

“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.
Will Zell launched an online donation drive to help Romine fight her case.
10tv.com
Will Zell launched an online donation drive to help Romine fight her case.

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.”



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/unemployed-ohio-woman-charged-2-87-fountain-buy-food-article-1.1488438

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There comes a time when the authorities need to realize that someone is not guilty when they are a victim of circumstance.

For $2.87 hundreds of taxpayer dollars will be wasted prosecuting this women. Who wins and who looses?

No one wins! The taxpayers and this poor women lose.

[Downtown Hound]

1. For all the money they're going to spend on prosecuting this woman

They could probably feed her for a year.

[theHandpuppet]

59. +1000!

If I'd been that cop I'd have just given her a few bucks or tossed some coins in the fountain as recompense.

Let's hope the DA has the sense to drop this case.

[Jamastiene]

73. Just the cost to drive her to the police station would already be more than she got out of the

fountain. Good grief, that is ridiculous.

[BainsBane]

2. Les Miserables in America

Outrageous.

[Duer 157099]

20. Yeah, was gonna say that Javert is alive and well n/t

[PatrynXX]

39. well often classics are what we think of

Just like those who say they shouldn't pay into a system they don't need so says Topol on Fiddler on the Roof. So I had Topol for 16 days in october. now I get Javert .. hows the bread. just had a really bad argument with my brother on going to hell and not caring for anyone and shutting the Government down and how Tea Party people (my brother owe their lives to Reagan. zzzz hello Reagan is more or less a conservadem except the socialist crap. Yeah we almost came to a fist fight today blaming each other for the shut down... oh great just like the Civil War. It's tearing families apart. Problem is 90 % of what he bases his stuff on likely has no facts to back it up. not my best day....

[jsr]

57. +1

[Xipe Totec]

3. How is this theft? I don't get it. nt

[elleng]

11. Its not,

'abandoned' money.

[Xipe Totec]

13. That's what I thought.

What an absurd waste of money, effort, and good will.

[struggle4progress]

24. +

[Auggie]

4. Isn't fountain/wishing well money usually given to the needy anyhow?

[elleng]

10. Should be.

[thelordofhell]

21. If there isn't a sign saying it is........then no

The people that clean the fountain.........keeps the money

[SDjack]

5. Her crime: She didn't steal $1 B using a computer on Wall Street. There's no penalty for that. nt

[darkangel218]

29. +1

Well said.

[Scuba]

42. Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.

[BlueJazz]

6. Boy..we know this kind of stuff goes on all the time (somebody at their ropes end) but it's still..

...hard to digest and realize that the person next to you in a store or restaurant might be so much worse off than you and you can't help them directly....not unless they ask...and most won't ask out of embarrassment.

If I would have been there (by the woman), I certainly would have given her something. 20 ? 50 ?

[Maraya1969]

17. See post #15

[christx30]

7. Seriously, the cop should be fired. His salary is money wasted. n/t

[elleng]

8. She's right, it was abandoned money,

and she didn't steal it.

Case dismissed.

[petronius]

9. I don't see why that would be any more a crime than picking up a dropped quarter

on the sidewalk. If anything, it seems like it should be less of a crime: the fountain money was deliberately abandoned, while the lost coin was not.

Hopefully a judge will intervene quickly and make this go away...

[elleng]

12. Exactly.

Any case should be dismissed, immediately.

[CurtEastPoint]

14. HERE IS A LINK TO HELP: (sorry for caps... yelling to get your attention)

http://www.gofundme.com/4t4mxg

[Maraya1969]

15. If you want to give some money to this woman go here.

https://funds.gofundme.com/index.php?route=donate2/donate&url=4t4mxg

[BlueJazz]

25. Thank You Maraya1969

[geomon666]

16. Yes, let's hurt the poor some more.

How is she supposed to pull herself out of this when she has a fucking jackboot stepping on her neck?

[jessie04]

18. Trust me... that will never go to court.

no judge in his right mind would waste his time.

[Blue_Tires]

66. Oh, you'd be surprised at some judges

some just LOVE to make examples of petty thieves...

[rhett o rick]

19. This is authoritarian thinking. A rule was broken so there must be punishment.

The policeman isnt taught empathy or even common sense. If it were up to me I'd give the policeman a warning and fire him/her the next time they did it. They could have told her to put the money back and given her a fiver and called it square.

[Egalitarian Thug]

53. +1 for you & K&R for the thread.

[The Stranger]

22. Her defense is the money (property) was abandoned.

Should be dismissed.

[Duer 157099]

23. Effing cop should have pulled another quarter out of the fountain

and told her she forgot that one.

[dchill]

26. Hey, buddy, when I threw those coins into the fountain...

I made a wish - that some needy person would take it.

[SammyWinstonJack]

49. +1!

[bpositive]

27. I did my part

And made a donation- not much but any bit will help

[darkangel218]

28. WTF!!!!!!

They prosecuted someone for that????

Holy shit. Okay, where are the apokalypse nuts, this may just be it.



.

[Faryn Balyncd]

30. Part of Ted Cruz's "end times tranfer of wealth" from the "wicked" to the "anointed kings"?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017152422

If the $2.87 doesn't count, might the transfer from taxpayer to an "anointed" lawyer?





(I know it sounds unbelievable, but the video is beyond belief. Why hasn't this been on every network and Frontline? Why haven't they been marginalized like the Birchers were in the 60's?

The death of investigative journalism is extracting a stiff price, and threatening the survival of our democracy.)

[freshwest]

65. +1,000

[Jim__]

31. I really think that the police should occasionally use common sense. - n/t

[darkangel218]

32. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

What are you, high?? ( jk )

That will never happen.

[IrishEyes]

47. My brother is a police officer

If he saw something like that, he would not arrest her. Not all police officers are pricks like this guy.

[FiveGoodMen]

33. That's ridiculous

[liberal N proud]

34. Meanwhile bankers run off with billions

[tabasco]

35. Standards for law enforcement officers are exremely low

They take anybody off the street where I live, if they swear allegiance to the sheriff.

[Maraya1969]

36. If anyone makes a donation and sees this can you post the amount they have raised now?

They only tell you after you donate and I already donated. It was up around $5,000 then.

[Enthusiast]

37. If she was really resourceful she could pull herself up by her bootstraps.

[whistler162]

38. And we learn from this....

people shouldn't do there jobs.

people shouldn't obey the laws if they don't like them.

If you can cite a bigger crime it is okay to commit a minor crime.

So lets jump up and down and scream about something!

YOUZE people is weird!

[Throckmorton]

40. You will starve again unless you learn the meaning of the law!!

My name is Jarvet, do not forget me, do not forget my name.

[sakabatou]

67. ...

[frylock]

45. well we certainly learned something about you..

and i'm not talking about your inability to know the difference between there and their.

[SammyWinstonJack]

50. aww geez

[daleanime]

55. Could you translate this for me.....

I don't seem to speak that language.

[fasttense]

61. And you missed the biggest issue

To have compassion for those suffering from our wrecked economy.

[Fumesucker]

70. What was the crime?

Is picking up a dollar you find blowing down the street a crime?

[Rebellious Republican]

41. In the meantime, banksters still walking the streets without a care in the world.

[blackspade]

43. Yet another brainless cop story.

F'n stupid waste of time and resources for $2.87.

[frylock]

44. fuck tha police..

what this shit-for-brains pig should've done was pulled a $20 bill from his wallet to help this woman out.

[Liberal_in_LA]

46. $6,740!

[Sunlei]

52. up to 7,530 now. good to see how many gave a helping hand & several from DU.

[Sunlei]

48. My heart goes out to this woman and her 4 cats. We could all be in her shoes one day!

I just donated $100 for her cats. I'm happy she's getting donations & some kind soul set-up management for her. , Thanks for posting this news story, OP.

I hope her and the 4 cats have a Happy and better, New Year.

[liberalmuse]

51. So unbelievably wrong.

What kind of person arrests someone for this? It's the fucking Republican mentality. It's a rot. It's "Fuck the poor", but then willingly flushing $24 billion dollars to prove absolutely nothing other than you have contempt for the sick, the hungry and the needy. My God, what have we (as a collective) become???

[Ash_F]

54. I wonder what was going through that cop's head. /nt

[petronius]

56. He was probably wishing he'd seen the people throw the money in the fountain,

so he could have cited them for littering...

[B Calm]

58. and the Wall Street crooks go free!

[blkmusclmachine]

60. .

.

[Javaman]

62. Good thing she didn't steal a loaf of bread! nt

[DefenseLawyer]

63. Cops don't charge people with crimes

Prosecutors/district attorneys do. That means not only was this cop an authoritarian fool with no judgment or understanding of the law, but it means that a prosecutor had to look at his report and agree with it and formally charge her with a crime. It's a well oiled machine of stupidity, pettiness and and pure meanness. I hope her PD has already demanded a jury trial.

[Beacool]

64. That cop was an a-hole.

I read comments from cops on other sites saying that they would not have ticketed the woman. Some said they would have given her a few bucks or that they would have bought her a meal.

It breaks my heart to see someone so desperate that they would go into a fountain to get a handful of coins so that they could buy something to eat. Where the hell are we????? I thought that we still lived in one of the richest countries in the world.

[cui bono]

68. This shows that most cops are more into authority than empathy.

Something has to change.

It's supposed to be "to protect and serve".

[Nye Bevan]

69. Oooooh, what a badass hero that cop is!

He should be very proud of himself.

[yurbud]

71. she didn't steal enough to earn a multi-trillion dollar bailout

[Jamastiene]

72. That is just ridiculous.

It makes no sense to spend hundreds, if not thousands of taxpayer dollars to prosecute someone for trying to find a way to eat. How is picking up discarded money stealing? I don't get it.

[CurtEastPoint]

74. Wonderful update w/video, interview and cats!

http://www.10tv.com/content/sections/video/index.html?ooid=djcHExZzrosZV4YkhJmfhNZZbrhJr0sr&cmpid=share

[Blue Diadem]

75. Thank you for the update!

Wonderful news that she is getting help all the way around.

[rustysgurl]

76. They listed the city as the victim?

Yet the city is the one prosecuting her. Wow. Please let some common sense judge throw this out and award some attorney fees to the lawyer taking this case pro bono. How many times have we seen small children wade into fountains and pick up change (accidentally). Let's write them all tickets and run them through the juvenile system, or better yet, arrest their parents.

This is so many kinds of screwed up it boggles the mind.

I'm glad the community is stepping forward and supporting her, but sad that it takes this kind of notoriety for her to get the help she needed in the first place.