Arizona single mom Shanesha Taylor made headlines in March after she was arrested for leaving her two sons in a hot car while she went in for a job interview. Her story and her tearful mug shot photo went viral and even landed the 35-year-old Shanesha an interview on the Today show. Donations began to pour in for Shanesha, including $140,000 from a New Jersey woman’s fundraising campaign. A judge agreed to a plea deal in which the prosecution would drop the felony abuse charges if Shanesha put $40,000 of donations in a trust fund for her children.
But, Shanesha has refused to put any of the money in the trust funds and instead has been spending more than $4,000 a month, including a reported $6,000 for studio time so her “baby daddy” could finish a rap album. “We had someone call my office and alert her attorney to the fact that she spent $6,000 at a music studio in Tempe to finish her baby daddy’s rap album,” said civil rights leader Reverend Jarrett Maupin, one of Shanesha’s biggest supporters initially. “That’s not what people gave her that money for.”
Maupin also said that he arranged hospitality jobs for Shanesha after she expressed interest in the industry, but she reportedly never showed up.
Shanesha responded to Rev. Maupin’s claims by stating, “I haven’t spoken to [Maupin] since July 21. He has not been part of my defense team. Anything he says is libel or slander.”
Maupin told Fox 10 Phoenix, “I feel bamboozled and used a little bit, but I don’t regret it because on its face she was what she was. Everyone had sympathy for her, but what she’s become is something quite different.”
Here’s a video report from ABC 15:
Meanwhile, the woman who started the YouCaring fundraising page for Shanesha Taylor posted a lengthy message on Facebook addressing Shanesha’s decision to not place money in the trust fund for her children. From on Amanda Bishop October 27:
I’ve been torn for a few weeks now as to what to say to the people who’ve asked me questions about Shanesha, her choices, my opinions of it, whether or not to talk to the media, the threats of a lawsuit, and so on.
I’ve overall decided just not to put my opinion out there and to not speak directly to the media. Instead, I’ll do as I have tried to do since March when I created Shanesha’s fundraiser and that’s to tell you the facts and what I’ve been told.
I do not know why Shanesha isn’t putting the money in the trusts. I’ve been told the same that the media has; that some of the money has been spent on legal fees, caring for the children, the home they are living in, clothes, and that she is worried if she puts money in the trusts, without a job, they will not be able to live off what is left.
Now for the negative inquiries;
I do not know why Shanesha appears to be wearing as some of you have said “MK purses”, etc. That is not my business nor my place to say. As I know she could have received gifts, could have had it prior, gone on a shopping spree, I have NO idea lol.
As for her saying she can’t get a job because of the negative media, throughout the fundraiser I did receive job offers and forwarded them to her. I do not know if she followed up on them.
The accusations of her not being a single mother; Her and the father of her two youngest are back together. He does not work.
Some of you will say I don’t owe anyone an explanation or have to speak on it, and yes that is true. However, I think you deserve to know what I know as I started this whole thing. I’ve received nothing but love and compassion from Shanesha followers. Some of you have even become family! Some even reaching out to help me in hardships! So it is owed, it is all owed to you guys my honesty and facts.
Shanesha Taylor is due back in court next month to face the reinstated felony abuse charges for leaving her sons, then 2 years and 8 months old, inside a car with temperatures estimated at over 100 degrees.
