A Houston eighth-grader was reportedly investigated for forgery after she tried to use a $2 bill to pay for lunch at school.
Danesiah Neal, a student at Fort Bend Independent School District’s Christa McAuliffe Middle School, said she was trying to buy some chicken nuggets with the $2 bill her grandmother gave her, but school officials confiscated the bill and said it was fake, a local ABC News affiliate reported.
“I went to the lunch line, and they said my $2 bill was fake,” Danesiah told the news station. “They gave it to the police. Then they sent me to the police office. A police officer said I could be in big trouble.”
School officials called Daneisha’s grandmother, Sharon Kay Joseph, and asked, ” ‘Did you give Danesiah a $2 bill for lunch?’ He told me it was fake,” the grandmother recalled.
An investigation into the $2 bill led Fort Bend ISD police to a local convenience store that gave it to Ms. Joseph, ABC reported.
“He brought me my $2 bill back,” Ms. Joseph told ABC. “He didn’t apologize. He should have, and the school should have because they pulled Danesiah out of lunch, and she didn’t eat lunch that day because they took her money.”
No charges were filed.
“It was very outrageous for them to do it,” Ms. Joseph said. “There was no need for police involvement. They’re charging kids like they’re adults now.”
ABC examined all police reports from three Houston-area school districts since the 2013-14 school year and found a total of 40 similar cases in which students faced felony investigations for alleged lunch line forgeries, EAG Newsreported.
A felony forgery charge carries up to a 10-year prison sentence and remains on a student’s criminal record for life, ABC said.
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