I know what you’re likely thinking: “Ha ha, some Twihard shoulda paid her library fees.” I know, because that’s what I was thinking too, until I actually got to the details of this story. Like that the woman in this case was a mother of five who spent the night in jail with no one to care for her pre-teen children, because of thirty-six dollars of library fees and a court summons that was never actually delivered to her.
According to library records, Lori Teel checked out Twilight and a two disc DVD set for Twilight: New Moon from the Portales Public Library in Portales, New Mexico, with a due date of October 5th, 2010, but Teel maintains that she doesn’t even remember checking them out. A summons was issued in March of last year, requiring her to show up in court. When she failed to do so, the court summons was upgraded to a warrant for her arrest.
Why didn’t she just get herself to court? Well, because the summons was sent to the wrong address. Teel had no idea about an outstanding warrant for her arrest (“Honestly, it was awful because I have never been in trouble for anything in my life.”) until officers showed up on her doorstep looking for her husband. He had been implicated in an assault of which she had no knowledge, and at some point while they were there the officers realized she had an outstanding warrant against her.
And that’s how somebody pays a $610 bond to get out of jail over an overdue Twilight book. Charges against Teel have been dropped, though she plans to take legal action against against Portales and Roosevelt County authorities.
(via Blastr.)
Published: Jun 30, 2012 04:01 pm