Mother Convicted of a Felony and Jailed For Faking Address For Daughters' Education

[Mr. Peabody]

I've known sex offenders who have done less time in jail and received less probation.

Mom jailed for records falsification
Akron teacher's aide who sent girls to Copley also loses chance at license

By Ed Meyer
Beacon Journal staff writer

Published on Wednesday, Jan 19, 2011

An Akron woman was sentenced to 10 days in the Summit County Jail, placed on three years of probation and ordered to perform community service after being convicted of falsifying residency records so that her two children could attend Copley-Fairlawn schools.

Summit Common Pleas Judge Patricia Cosgrove, who handed down the sentence Tuesday afternoon in a packed courtroom, ordered Kelley Williams-Bolar, 40, to begin serving the sentence immediately.

Williams-Bolar, who was standing before the bench with her lawyer, sagged into the arms of sheriff's deputies as she was led away, sobbing loudly, to begin her jail time.

After seven hours of deliberations, a jury convicted her late Saturday of two counts of tampering with records.

While her two girls were registered as living with her father in Copley Township within the Copley school district, prosecutors maintained that they actually were living with Williams-Bolar on Hartford Avenue in Akron, in subsidized housing provided by the Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority.


In addition to the tampering offenses, Williams-Bolar and her father, Edward L. Williams, 64, were charged with fourth-degree felonies of grand theft, accused of defrauding the school system of two years of educational services for the girls.

School officials testified that those services were worth about $30,500 in tuition.

The jury failed to reach unanimous verdicts on those charges, and Cosgrove declared a mistrial.

A decision on whether to re-try the grand theft charges against Williams-Bolar and her father is pending, prosecutors said.

On the tampering conviction, Cosgrove gave Williams-Bolar the maximum prison sentence — five years — for each of the two charges, with the sentences to run concurrently.

The judge then suspended all but 10 days of the sentence, which will be served in the county jail. Cosgrove also ordered Williams-Bolar to perform 80 hours of community service in mentoring programs sponsored by her church or the NAACP.

Teaching pursuit derailed

Cosgrove noted Williams-Bolar faces another form of punishment.

Williams-Bolar, a single mother, works as a teaching assistant with children with special needs at Buchtel High School. At the trial, she testified that she wanted to become a teacher and is a senior at the University of Akron, only a few credit hours short of a teaching degree.

That won't happen now, Cosgrove said.

''Because of the felony conviction, you will not be allowed to get your teaching degree under Ohio law as it stands today,'' the judge said. ''The court's taking into consideration that is also a punishment that you will have to serve.''

Williams-Bolar addressed Cosgrove briefly before being sentenced, saying ''there was no intention at all'' to deceive school officials.

She pleaded with Cosgrove not to put her behind bars.

''My girls need me,'' she said. ''I've never, ever gone a day without seeing them off. Never. My oldest daughter is 16.

''I need to be there to support them.''

Williams-Bolar's two girls, now 16 and 12, are attending schools elsewhere. They left the Copley-Fairlawn district before the 2009 school term.

The Rev. Lorenzo Glenn of Macedonia Baptist Church also pleaded for leniency, saying his church has a mentoring program well suited for probation in lieu of prison time.

Glenn told the judge that he has known Williams-Bolar for more than 20 years and was overwhelmed by her convictions.

''This is a serious matter, but by all means,'' Glenn said, ''it was done to help her children.''

Glenn noted the attention the case has drawn and the resources used to prosecute the case.

All of Cleveland's major television stations had cameras at the sentencing.

''When I see all the media here today, you'd think it was a serial killing,'' Glenn said.

Cosgrove said some incarceration was appropriate, ''so that others who think they might defraud the school system perhaps will think twice.''

Assistant county prosecutor Terri Burnside, one of the two government lawyers assigned to the case, did not object to probation for Williams-Bolar.

After the sentencing, Brian Poe, Copley-Fairlawn school superintendent, said the prosecution of Williams-Bolar and her father ''obviously is a very difficult and uncomfortable case.''

According to court testimony, there were 30 to 40 similar residency cases involving other families from August 2006 to June 2008, when Williams-Bolar's children were enrolled in Copley schools.

Williams-Bolar was the only parent prosecuted, according to testimony.

Poe said an effort was made to avoid criminal charges.

''We were able to resolve 99.9 percent of our residency disputes with the folks we called in for residency hearings,'' he said. ''In this case, we were not able to resolve that.

''So, therefore, with the information that we were able to uncover, we felt it necessary to provide that information to the prosecutor's office.''

Prosecutors presented several hours of videotaped evidence — much of it shot by a private investigator through a wrought-iron fence. The videos showed Williams-Bolar dropping off her children at a bus stop, a short walk from her father's home, for the ride to school.

Poe said this case was not pursued as a deterrent.

''We have, for the past three and a half years, gone after residency cases and had residency hearings,'' he said. ''It's something that's important to us. We are not an open-enrollment district.''

Laurie Cramer, spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, said Edward Williams has outstanding theft and tampering charges in connection with a case involving the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Those charges were separated from the Copley-Fairlawn residency case before it went to trial. A pretrial hearing involving Williams is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday in Cosgrove's court.

Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or [email protected].

[mouse]

She should have called.

[Mr. Peabody]

She should have called.

Unless she slipped and fell at the school, I don't think a personal injury lawyer would have helped.

[Kori Ellis]

Williams-Bolar, a single mother, works as a teaching assistant with children with special needs at Buchtel High School. At the trial, she testified that she wanted to become a teacher and is a senior at the University of Akron, only a few credit hours short of a teaching degree.

That won't happen now, Cosgrove said.

''Because of the felony conviction, you will not be allowed to get your teaching degree under Ohio law as it stands today,'' the judge said. ''The court's taking into consideration that is also a punishment that you will have to serve.''

That's sad. I get that she broke the law, but it's a shame that she won't be able to finish her degree. Seems like she was a hard working single mother.

[BlackSwordsMan]

What you need is a grandmother who lives on the west side so that you can attend tafola.

[boutons_deux]

"she won't be able to finish her degree"

Not only that, a state felony conviction means she's excluded from most jobs for life.

[The Reckoning]

and in related news, ohio still sucks!

[Trainwreck2100]

wow she prob. got caught cause she's in subsidised housing

[frodo]

someone faked a birth certificate but received no sentence/probation at all... just exhibits the absence of justice imho

[mouse]

Sorry, how about......................

[ploto]

So many people do this. You have to wonder why they really targeted this one person. A school went so far as to hire a private investigator who took videotape of this! Actually, if the dad lives in the district and therefore pays property tax (either through ownership or his rent) then it does not seem like that awful of a deal to the school district for his kids to attend school there.

[boutons_deux]

"really targeted this one person"

She is a uppity black, trying to get good education for her kids, and too poor to hire enough lawyering to get a "settlement" like rich criminals and corporations do.

TX has 7000 state felony statues. It's how TX since Emancipation has kept the blacks and browns "in their place".

[Summers]

That's sad. I get that she broke the law, but it's a shame that she won't be able to finish her degree. Seems like she was a hard working single mother.

That's the part that really bothers me, too. Fine, a few days in jail because she got caught, but a felony conviction? I can personally attest to how difficult it is to go back to school when you have kids and have to work. It would be devastating to be told your degree is basically worthless.

So many people do this. You have to wonder why they really targeted this one person. A school went so far as to hire a private investigator who took videotape of this! Actually, if the dad lives in the district and therefore pays property tax (either through ownership or his rent) then it does not seem like that awful of a deal to the school district for his kids to attend school there.

It seems odd, I agree.

[mrsmaalox]

So, we must educate children of illegal immigrants, but seeking a better education for our own is a felony?

And to take away her means to better her family is outrageous.

[Marklar MM]

This is stupid. I know so many people who went to my school simply for sports...and they never even lived in the city. Parents simply rented them an apartment during the school year.

Not to mention, why did they go after this lady, when they had dozens of similar cases in the same district the last couple years.

[Blake]

Williams-Bolar addressed Cosgrove briefly before being sentenced, saying ''there was no intention at all'' to deceive school officials.

After the sentencing, Brian Poe, Copley-Fairlawn school superintendent, said the prosecution of Williams-Bolar and her father ''obviously is a very difficult and uncomfortable case.''

According to court testimony, there were 30 to 40 similar residency cases involving other families from August 2006 to June 2008, when Williams-Bolar's children were enrolled in Copley schools.

Williams-Bolar was the only parent prosecuted, according to testimony.

Poe said an effort was made to avoid criminal charges.

''We were able to resolve 99.9 percent of our residency disputes with the folks we called in for residency hearings,'' he said. ''In this case, we were not able to resolve that.

''So, therefore, with the information that we were able to uncover, we felt it necessary to provide that information to the prosecutor's office.''

I would agree that a felony charge seems severe, but it's hard to feel to sorry for a liar that knows what they are doing wrong to begin with.....and then was given a chance to stop.

[MiamiHeat]

EDIT: forget it. im outta this thread.

[Kori Ellis]

This is stupid. I know so many people who went to my school simply for sports...and they never even lived in the city. Parents simply rented them an apartment during the school year...

Exactly.

In L.A. (and I'm sure most other cities), I know that it's pretty common even for the schools to pay for apartments for athletes that they want to have residency in their area. They do it on the downlow, but everyone knows that it's happening.

[ploto]

I would agree that a felony charge seems severe, but it's hard to feel to sorry for a liar that knows what they are doing wrong to begin with.....and then was given a chance to stop.

How do we know what they told her. Obviously, they could have simply not allowed the kids to attend and that would have been the end of it. Their claim is that she owed them money for it, but so would everyone else. Did the other people pay them off?

[ploto]

''We were able to resolve 99.9 percent of our residency disputes with the folks we called in for residency hearings,'' he said. ''In this case, we were not able to resolve that.

39 out of 40 is not 99.9%.

[MiamiHeat]

How do we know what they told her. Obviously, they could have simply not allowed the kids to attend and that would have been the end of it. Their claim is that she owed them money for it, but so would everyone else. Did the other people pay them off?

if that is true, sounds like a principal looking for alternative means of funding.

[Dark Gable]

This could have been handled without her getting a felony charge.

[Dex]

39 out of 40 is not 99.9%.

97.5% is damn close....but who's counting?

[jack sommerset]

I think she got what she deserved. 10 days is a nice warning shot and it is a felony. Hopefully she doesn't pull this kind of stunt again. I wouldn't want her working for me knowing she has no problem tampering with records.

[Blake]

How do we know what they told her. Obviously, they could have simply not allowed the kids to attend and that would have been the end of it. Their claim is that she owed them money for it, but so would everyone else. Did the other people pay them off?

We don't know anything other than what this article tells us.

If it was as simple as not allowing the kids to attend, then there would be no need for residency hearings.