Shanesha Taylor misses deadline for kids’ trust funds
Oct 27, 2014, 6:01 PM | Updated: 6:30 pm
PHOENIX — Shanesha Taylor will face prosecution again after failing to set up a $60,000 trust fund for her kids.
It was a part of a plea deal to avoid felony abuse charges after leaving her kids in a hot car during a job interview. Taylor missed the court’s mandated deadline on Oct. 27. Her attorney Benjamin Taylor asked the court to extend the deadline or lower the amount of money required in the trust. He said Shanesha Taylor needs a job before she can put the money away for her kids.
“Ms. Taylor doesn’t have a job,” her lawyer said. “If someone were to give her a job, she’d have income right now, but she’s been going out for unemployment.”
People donated more than $114,000 after seeing Taylor’s teary mug shot when she was arrested March 20 after leaving her two young sons in her car for about 45 minutes while she interviewed for a job with a Scottsdale insurance company.
Authorities said the temperature inside the car exceeded 100 degrees. Shanesha Taylor told investigators she didn’t have anyone to watch her then 2-year-old and 8-month-old sons.
She regained custody of her children in August, and Maricopa County prosecutors agreed to dismiss abuse charges against the single mother if she successfully completed a 26-week diversion program and set up the trust funds.
A Superior Court judge asked Shanesha Taylor on Monday if she would be willing to show the state her bank records so authorities can determine whether she has made big purchases and if it is necessary to renegotiate the agreement. She told the judge that the money is in her mother’s bank account and her mom may not want her to disclose the records.
Shanesha Taylor said she can do $35,000, but county prosecutors do not like the deal and want to take her to trial.
“Ms. Taylor is willing to fund the trust, that’s no problem, but right now, she’s still looking for a job, so if she funds a trust right now, her accounts are depleting,” Benjamin Taylor said. “She’s concerned about her future. Once the money goes in a trust, she cannot touch it. It goes until the kids are 18 years old, she cannot touch that money.”
Shanesha Taylor’s next court appearance is set for Oct. 29.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
