Al Sharpton owes the IRS a significant amount of money in back taxes. Yet, he is still invited to the White House and hosts a show on MSNBC, seemingly without fear of being held accountable for his failure to pay millions. But, a Michigan mom was jailed for the late renewal of a $35 dog license.
You read that right. In 2015, simply being late in renewing your dog license can land you in jail.
Becky Rehr is a busy nurse and was focused on getting her children through the remainder of the school year… and put off renewing her dog Dexter’s license. She eventually renewed it on June 18 after receiving warnings. Four days later she got letter informing her that a warrant had been issued for her arrest for the crime of failing to renew a dog license by the deadline.
Rehr figured the situation could be easily remedied by proving the license had already been renewed. The following day she went to the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office armed with the receipt for the $35 license. But, common sense didn’t prevail.
While her 14-year-old daughter waited in the car, Rehr was led to the booking area of the county jail, where she was frisked, fingerprinted, had a mug shot taken and was put in a holding area with jail inmates. It took three hours before she was released on $100 bond.
Kalamazoo County Michigan believed it was an appropriate use of taxpayer resources to book a woman for a $35 dog license, which she had already paid, while her 14 year old sat in the car.
After significant outrage from this gross abuse of government overreach, the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor filed a motion to drop the charges. A judge approved this on Monday. Rehr no longer has to be concerned about being locked up for her crime of putting the public at risk by renewing her dog license three months late.
While it is great that Rehr is no longer facing jail time, this case leaves a lot of questions about abusive government and inconsistently applied laws.
Why would an average person received such heavy handed retribution from her county government for such a minor infraction?
How much of taxpayer funds were used to combat a late $35 fee?
And why can Al Sharpton get a pass from the federal government for owing millions while this mom was tossed in jail for almost nothing?
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