McDowell pleads guilty in school residency case

NORWALK, Conn. (WTNH) - A mother pleaded guilty Wednesday to fraudulently enrolling her son in the wrong school district.

Tonya McDowell entered her plea under the Alford Doctrine, which means she does not admit guilt but concedes the state has enough evidence to convict her.

She faces about five years in prison and probation at sentencing and will be ordered to pay up to $6,200 in restitution to Norwalk.

McDowell was homeless when she was charged with felony larceny last year. Authorities said she used a babysitter's address to enroll her son in kindergarten in Norwalk when he should have attended schools in Bridgeport, her last permanent address.

Her case drew national attention and support from civil rights leaders and other advocates who wanted the charge dismissed.

McDowell, 34, told police she was living in a van and occasionally slept at a Norwalk shelter or a friend's Bridgeport apartment when she enrolled her 6-year-old at Norwalk's Brookside Elementary School.

McDowell, who entered her plea in Norwalk Superior Court, was charged with larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny when she was arrested April 14. Police say she stole $15,686 worth of educational services from Norwalk. She also pleaded guilty to four counts of sale of narcotics, which will be included in her prison sentence.

In a separate case, she pleaded guilty Feb. 7 to selling narcotics.

"When you look at the evidence against her for the larceny case she was not likely to be found guilty at trial is our position," said McDowell's lawyer, Darnell Crosland, "but when you look at the evidence for the narcotics cases she couldn't do better than the five years."

Connecticut Hearst Newspapers reports that Crosland said McDowell agreed to accept a plea bargain rather than continue fighting the charges even though she insists she's not guilty.

"You shouldn't be arrested for stealing a free education," Crosland said. "It's just wrong."

Additionally, Crosland said people should not focus on the fact that she sold drugs, but rather the choice she made to put her child in a good school, "measure her not by the fact she was arrested for selling drugs, but what she has done for her child," Crosland said, "and one thing you do know she has done for her child was to put him in a good school and she chose a good school and stood by him."