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| 10-year-old Timmy Stephens |
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10-Year-Old Arrested For Mom's Unpaid Bill
WBKO-TV
Fri May 23, 2008
Area: Bowling Green
BOWLING GREEN, Kentucky - No parent thinks their child will be arrested while in school, especially when that child is only 10-years-old.
But that's what one Greenville, Ky mother says happened to her son.
Amy Mercer says she still can't believe the call she received Tuesday afternoon.
She says her son, 10-year-old Timmy Stephens had been arrested while attending class at Longest Elementary School.
Not because he had committed a crime, but because she had unpaid bill.
Timmy Stephens was unaware of what was waiting for him in the Principal's office Tuesday.
"When I got in there, there was a cop with a signed paper to pick me up and take me to Bowling Green," says Stephens.
The young man was going to be sent to the Warren County Juvenile Detention Center.
The 10-year-old didn't commit any crime, but the issue stemmed from an altercation between Stephens and another 9-year-old child, in which the other child was injured.
"They (the other child's parent) sued for the medical bills and I agreed to pay the medical bills, so I didn't have to go back to court," says Amy Mercer, Stephens' parent.
Yet, Mercer failed to make good on all of her monthly payments.
"I had missed a payment and it was another payment coming up due that I wasn't able to pay, so that's why they arrested my son .
"I was really scared and I was scared to go back to school today," says admits Stephens.
"We couldn't see him till he got to the Sheriff's office and when we saw him, he was bawling because he didn't really didn't know what was going on, because he knew he hadn't done anything," notes Mercer.
Mercer says the most upsetting part is that she was never given any reasons for why he was arrested and not her.
"They really didn't have any answers for that. All they kept saying was the judge signed an order to pick him and take him into custody," Mercer says.
Mercer says the scars from the arrest won't leave anytime soon.
"I'm scared and I've always taught my kids to respect law enforcement, but when they come in and take him over something that I wasn't able to pay, it's hard to teach your kids to respect them when they don't respect your kids," says Mercer.
WBKO tried contacting Muhlenberg County District Court Judge Brian Wiggins, who issued the arrest warrant for Stephens' arrest, but was unable to reach him.
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