BANGOR, Maine — An Old Town woman with two prior theft convictions went into Kohl’s department store last week with her 18-month-old son, entered the changing room with a number of items and came out empty-handed, Bangor police Sgt. Paul Edwards said Thursday.
“She came back out with her purse stuffed with the items,” the sergeant said. “They also found some prescription pills and such in her purse.”
Patricia Wood, 23, was arrested and charged with felony theft by unauthorized taking because of her prior convictions, as well as unlawful possession of two types of diverted prescription pills — Klonopin and Suboxone — and for two outstanding warrants.
“Her mom had to come take possession of the child when they took her to jail,” Edwards said.
Another candidate for “Mother of the Year”.
Klonopin and Suboxone …Close the methadone clinics.
what do the clinics have to do with this story?
Methadone is way different then suboxone. Besides the fact this has nothing to do with the clinics people can go straight to their doc and get suboxone, well some docs anyway.
Sad for the child!
What the heck woman? Don’t you think of your child? He’s probably scared to death. Shame on you, you aren’t any kind of mother at all. An alley cat takes better care of it’s young.
Take the child away and I’m sure she’ll have another
While I think her actions are appalling as well, I don’t think your comment is warranted. What if she manages to turn her life around. She is very young and may have grown up in a very bad environment, without people teaching her what is right and wrong. Most young criminals come from dysfunctional environments and they have no support system to help them. If she changes her ways and realizes what is truly important in life, she deserves to have a family and children again. Stealing kid’s clothing is far from a serious crime. It indicates that she is poor and needs to steal in order to give things to her child. Most likely due to the fact that people in her life have not been supportive (many young women are abandoned by their boyfriends, some abandoned by their own parents and relatives).
Good grief, stop excusing her. Stop blaming her environment and the possibility that others haven’t been supporting her. She’s old enough to know better, old enough to be a mother, though I’m sure, consistent with today’s moral standards, an unwed mother. And if that’s not enough for you, she’s a thief who also had in her possession diverted prescription drugs. She has two prior conviction for theft and two outstanding arrest warrants.
So be realistic. This isn’t the kind of person who’s going to turn her life around. She’s going to be a burden on society for the rest of her life and is undoubtedly going to bear more illegitimate children who, in turn, will be a burden. God save us from the likes of this woman.
I did not read anywhere in this article that she was stealing kids clothing. I happen to know a young single mother in her 20’s who works every day. Perhaps she could try that instead of stealing.
There is a myriad of resources in this area to assist her. She doesn’t need to steal from a department store.
I loved what Delaware did. I worked retail when we lived there 10 years ago and if someone got caught shoplifting and had their children with them, we had to call DHS to come claim the kids. It puts the parent in the system for child endangerment.
I know reading many of this vengeful comments that many are not aware of the statistics. Despite the crimes of the parent, it is statistically known that removing a child from the biological parent does MORE damage to the child. So it would be in the best interest of the court system to try to help this mother realize her duty as a parent, to help her get vocational training, perhaps drug rehab (if that is part of the problem) and parenting classes (to learn how to be a parent). I don’t think theft, especially of minor things like clothing) should constitute a felony. It is disgusting to think that taxpayers have to pay jail time for people who are stealing children’s clothing. Those in jail should be violent offenders who can not change their behavior.
I agree with you about removing the child, but the shoplifting is the least of her offensives. The shoplifting is the result of and also to support the obvious drug issues. The child will hopefully be safer and receive a better upbringing from the grandparent while the mother gets the punishment which hopefully leads to the help and eye opening she needs.
Punishment for adults rarely works in assisting their behavior and or their chance in reducing their recidivism.
Well here we go again…Obviousley you know this young lady and feel sorry for her..I do not know her but I to feel sorry for her ,and yes she does need help.BUT the tax payers are going to get stuck with the bill again..You mention,vocational training,drug rehab,and parenting classes,not to mention all the welfare that goes along with it..I’m not sure but I think jail time will be alot more inexpensive than welfare for us(you)tax payers…Sorry thats just the way the system is….
Wikipedia is not a reliable website. The reference articles are far better, as they are from our own .gov websites. Please review the referenced material at the end of the wiki page. Your comments are not factual. Once again, an individual believes in his/her own theory versus actual fact. It is far more expensive to house criminals then it is to teach them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States
Why didn’t Daddy come pick up his little boy when Mommy got busted? Why was it her mother who had to come to the little boy’s rescue? Anyone else starting to see a pattern here?
Maybe mommy and daddy aren’t married. Maybe daddy’s in jail, too. Maybe daddy doesn’t know he’s a daddy. Maybe mommy doesn’t know who daddy is. Maybe daddy knows he’s a daddy but doesn’t care. Maybe . . . .
Well, you get the drift. The pattern is that it’s ok to have children when you’re not married. A lot of movie stars and famous people do it. It’s not only perfectly acceptable these days – everyone’s doing it – but it’s chic, the thing to do, and if things don’t work out the way you thought they would – assuming you gave it any thought – government will take care of you. And if mommy does the same thing again, and again, and again, and again, she doesn’t have to worry about it. There are no consequences. She’ll always be taken care of.