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The alarmist headline makes it sound - because that's what it says - like the mother was arrested for the act of discipline her child through withholding the device. Yet the article makes clear that this is not so. The mother was arrested for the theft of a device from a third-party, her ex-husband.
Yes, we all know the ex claimed it was his phone and that's why the police went after her. But I saw the picture of the cell phone and it had like, rainbow stickers on it, and such. It clearly wasn't a grown man's cell phone and it should have been obvious to police that a grown man wouldn't decorate his cell phone this way. The ex-husband knew darn well it was not his phone. All this could have been sorted out before it got to the point of her being arrested and having a mug shot taken.
IMO, it would have taken 5 minutes of time to establish who the cell phone belonged to.
The charges were dropped because the ex-husband didn't own the phone. It's a technicality, he has no right to bring charges.
However, the daughter could. And Mom could be found guilty.
She'll never take the phone away from that kid again.
Right, Dad now has control of parenting in someone else's household. And NO, it was not a technicality. He falsely represented the situation to police.
May was charged with misdemeanor larceny and larceny by conversion. Both charges had a maximum punishment of 93 days in jail.
THE MICHIGAN PENAL CODE (EXCERPT)
Act 328 of 1931
750.362 Larceny by conversion.
Sec. 362.
Larceny by conversion, etc.—Any person to whom any money, goods or other property, which may be the subject of larceny, shall have been delivered, who shall embezzle or fraudulently convert to his own use, or shall secrete with the intent to embezzle, or fraudulently use such goods, money or other property, or any part thereof, shall be deemed by so doing to have committed the crime of larceny and shall be punished as provided in the first section of this chapter.
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Right, Dad now has control of parenting in someone else's household. And NO, it was not a technicality. He falsely represented the situation to police.
In my opinion, he should be prosecuted for that. I've heard of laws against malicious reporting, making a false police report, whatever it's called.
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Originally Posted by PriscillaVanilla
In my opinion, he should be prosecuted for that. I've heard of laws against malicious reporting, making a false police report, whatever it's called.
Well, we don't know what he said when he called the cops.
From his perspective, that was his phone. He was paying for it, for sure.
And now his daughter no longer had use of the phone he's paying for.
I greatly fault the cops, and the DA.
I mean really. If I call the cops and say hey my neighbor stole my bike, they don't say give me the name of your neighbor and his address so we can go arrest him and charge him and set up a trial date.
Unless the mother made no attempt whatsoever to explain what happened, to her lawyer, to the cop, to the DA, this is on the cops and the DA, IMHO.
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So a thought just occurred to me.
I googled can a parent legally steal from a child, and the answer was a pretty strong "the child has no property of his own, the parents own all the property and money and basically can entrust it to the child at will".
So. It appears legally, the father could certainly argue the phone was his since a 15 year old doesn't own her own property, and he bought it, and is paying foe the service.
I wonder if he wanted his phone back, and the mom refused to give it back? If he made a formal request for his phone back and she refused it?
And then in court the DA kind of realized how very silly this whole thing was to take up court time?
But anyway. I wonder if he just wanted the phone - that he is paying for - given back to him. Which is quite a reasonable request, IMHO.
Well, we don't know what he said when he called the cops.
From his perspective, that was his phone. He was paying for it, for sure.
And now his daughter no longer had use of the phone he's paying for.
I greatly fault the cops, and the DA.
I mean really. If I call the cops and say hey my neighbor stole my bike, they don't say give me the name of your neighbor and his address so we can go arrest him and charge him and set up a trial date.
Unless the mother made no attempt whatsoever to explain what happened, to her lawyer, to the cop, to the DA, this is on the cops and the DA, IMHO.
No, he was paying for the line. He gave her the phone for Christmas. You can’t give someone something as a gift then claim it’s yours, whether it was paid off when you gifted it or not. If I give you a sweater I can’t claim it’s mine two months later because I’m still paying off the credit card I bought it with.
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Originally Posted by ocnjgirl
No, he was paying for the line. He gave her the phone for Christmas. You can’t give someone something as a gift then claim it’s yours, whether it was paid off when you gifted it or not. If I give you a sweater I can’t claim it’s mine two months later because I’m still paying off the credit card I bought it with.
You might be interested in googling the question "can parents steal from their children" and the answer is, yes in most cases, that children don't in fact own any property. And that goes for minors who work - parents can take their money they earned at a job.
I'm an adult, and if you give me a sweater it's mine I agree.
But. If a dad gives his daughter a cell phone and continues paying for it, and that item is taken from her by someone else, he can demand that phone be returned to him because it's really still his phone.
Anyway, google it and see if you don't come up with the same answer I did. That no, it's not her phone if her dad wants to repossess it.
You might be interested in googling the question "can parents steal from their children" and the answer is, yes in most cases, that children don't in fact own any property. And that goes for minors who work - parents can take their money they earned.
I'm an adult, and if you give me a sweater it's mine I agree.
But. If a dad gives his daughter a cell phone and continues paying for it, and that item is taken from her by someone else, he can demand that phone be returned to him because it's really still his phone.
Anyway, google it and see if you don't come up with the same answer I did. That no, it's not her phone if her dad wants to repossess it.
Again he did not own the phone once he gifted it to her. He was paying for the cell service, which was still intact. She could have brought an old phone to the carrier and had it activated because the line was still intact.
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I think you might want to google that, is what I'm saying. Parents actually are the owners of their children's property and money.
Apparently, a parent has all rights to the property of their minor child.
I didn't believe that before googling it.
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