Tanya McDowell is a woman from Connecticut.

She enrolled her son in a different school district from the one he was assigned.

The case drew media attention.

Background

In 2011, Tanya was homeless and wanted her son to get the best education possible.

She used her babysitter's address in Norwalk in order for her son to be enrolled in a betterschool district.

Legally, she was only allowed to send her son to a school in Bridgeport because that was her last permanent address.

Tanya was accused of stealing $15,000 in "free educational services."

She was also charged with drug possession and sale charges, which together with her fraud, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

She has to serve at least 5 years plus another 5 years of probation after that.

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Social Media Prominence

In the wake of the light sentences of Brock Turner and David Becker, a picture of Tanya has been circulating around social media with people comparing Tanya's sentence to theirs. Snopes.com declares the picture to be misleading because it does not mention Tanya's drug charges. ^[2]