Friday, September 26, 2003
Jersey Girls
There's just no angle to look at this story from without it breaking your heart.0 comments
You have two teenage girls who rob a bank.
Chelsea testified that she held a trash bag and Elysia held the BB gun, pointing it at the face of teller Carol Clark and ordering her to put the money in the bag.
You have the laudable, but misplaced, pluck of fourteen-year-olds.
"I saw that my family was upset," Chelsea said. "The money was needed, so I decided to rob a bank."
You have the Cain and Abel thread.
The twins gave much the same testimony, but in dramatically different tones.
Chelsea was calm, and even smiled when prosecutor Michel Paulhus pointed to her masked image from the bank's surveillance video. Elysia was more emotional, snapping at defense attorney Philip Pagano when he asked if she was angry at him.
You have the plight of Americans across the country, whose federally and state-created financial disasters are leaving great and terrible devastation within even good, strong families; this is not just for dysfunctionals anymore.
"The money was needed, so I decided to rob a bank."
You have just superb parenting and modeling, of course.
... with their mother acting as getaway driver. Kathleen Wortman Jones, 34, has pleaded guilty in the case.
The girls' stepfather, Kevin Jones, 37, did not know about the robbery until it was over, but is accused of destroying evidence and laundering money. Elysia testified that he told her to throw away her clothing from the robbery to destroy evidence, and Jones also is accused of laundering some of the proceeds in an Atlantic City casino.
Then there's even a nod to Bush's Faith-Based Initiative...
Chelsea said she and her sister put on their masks and prayed before entering the bank.
Now, what could you possibly pray for in a scenario like that? $20s instead of $50s? Not getting caught? And just whose side was God supposed to be on in all of this?
Plus, all of this takes place in New Jersey, a place which has had enough troubles with public relations lately.
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posted by Gotham 12:51 AM
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