Thousands raised for mom who left children in car during job interview
Apr 7, 2014, 5:00 AM | Updated: 4:53 pm
PHOENIX — A New Jersey woman is coming to the aid of a Valley mom who is in trouble with the law.
Amanda Bishop is trying to help 35-year-old Shanesha Shaine Taylor, who is facing two counts of child abuse after police found her two children unattended inside a car. It was parked outside of a Scottsdale office where Taylor was interviewing for a job.
When Bishop heard the story, she checked out Taylor on Facebook.
“Her Facebook was full of pictures of her children, and posts about her children,” said Bishop. “She was constantly praising how much she loved being a mother. That confirmed to me that she wasn’t a bad mother, she just made a terrible mistake in a dire situation.”
So she decided to set up a website that, so far, has raised over $91,000 for Taylor, who claims she’s homeless.
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery isn’t so sure about that. Taylor’s arraignment is scheduled Monday morning.
“In a Form 4 there is an address for her, and there is an indication on that form that she was not homeless,” Montgomery said during a news conference last week. A Form 4 is filled out by the arresting officer and turned in to prosecutors.
Bishop reacted to Montgomery’s comments during an appearance on KTAR’s Arizona’s Morning News Weekend show on Saturday.
“It’s ridiculous that people are trying to turn this into a politically correct thing for Shanesha that she had an address,” said Bishop. “I don’t know whether she was living on a park bench, or if she was between homes, or if she was staying with family or what have you. Regardless, she did not have her own home. She had children. She had herself. She was staying somewhere that was not her own home. She is, by all means, homeless.”
Bishop said that she can relate to Taylor’s situation. “I am staying with a friend myself in North Jersey until I try to figure out my living situation. I would consider myself homeless.”
On the website, Bishop is calling her efforts to raise money for Taylor “an experience that I will truly cherish for the rest of my life.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
