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Mom Charged With Stealing Education For Son, Jailed For Drugs

Tanya McDowell went from being a sympathetic figure to a convicted drug dealing criminal in a matter of months. In April, the homeless single mother enrolled her son in a school in the wrong district under a babysitter’s address and was charged with larceny.

The Connecticut mom offered a Stamford undercover officer crack cocaine, marijuana and the use of prostitutes McDowell was pimping from her aunt’s home in Bridgeport.

This is a dramatic turn of events for the mother that was trying to get the best education for her son. Now he can learn from her mistakes as officers reported three incidents where McDowell sold drugs to them. Her bond is set at $200,000.

Her lawyer, Darnell Crosland is claiming entrapment because of the public support she received including a visit from Civil Rights activist, Reverend Al Sharpton.

Norwalk Police Chief Harry Rilling said there was no retaliation or specific targeting in this case.

“[Crosland’s] statement is ridiculous, irresponsible and I am offended by it,” Rilling said. “No such thing happened. We handled this case like we handle any other case and the police officers were working on information provided by a variety of sources. The residents are starting to call us with information and several residents did call and report this information.”

One of the reports states that McDowell tried to sell drugs to an undercover at a birthday party for her son who turned 6 on May 24th.

Are we still supposed to have sympathy and believe that Tanya McDowell was setup to take a fall? Or is this just a case of a mother doing whatever she can to survive?