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Filed under: In The News

Mom's financial plan lands family in jail. Photo courtesy of sxc.hu.
In all, police say Roberson's accomplices, ages 12 to 20, committed at least 20 armed robberies while she drove the getaway car and brandished a sawed-off shotgun. Their victims were random strangers, most between the ages of 13 and 20, who were assaulted in parks and on neighborhood streets.
The kids clearly weren't all that experienced in the art of theft: In at least one instance, the mom had to coach her 14-year-old on the proper way to separate a victim from his cell phone. Police don't know how much money the gang of thieves netted, but say a 13-year-old victim was beaten in a holdup that yielded only an orange lollipop.
They are all facing charges of armed robbery and aggravated assault. Currently, the 12-year-old is in the custody of Child Protective Services while the 14-year-old and two of his friends are being held in juvenile jail. Mom and three others, an 18-year-old and two 20-year-olds, are being held in the Maricopa County jail.
In what must surely be the understatement of the year, Phoenix police Sgt. Phil Roberts stresses that this is not an example of good parenting. "All of us should be disgusted by this," he says. "This is absolutely not how to raise your children."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
6-05-2009 @ 1:32PM
Melissa said...WOW....let me just get my 14 year old cousin and his 9 year old sister to help me rob a bank....while I tote my 3 year old on my hip! Jesus, I'm desperate, too, but not THAT desperate!
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6-05-2009 @ 5:25PM
damoki said...Is there is a hidden benefit to the “down” economy... an increase in entrepreneurial opportunities for mothers? Cynthia Roberson, must think so, considering the "beating and robbing kids at gunpoint" small business she started.
Apparently, business was good: 20 “clients” in the first few weeks. There were some minor complaints by, well, all of the “clients” who claimed physical excess in demonstrating the need for expeditious cooperation, and the untimely loss of capital and real property as a result of the association.
The Ma Barker wanna’be is also charged with child abuse, conspiracy, and having a depressingly bad hair day.
There are those who call her actions worse than disturbing and despicable; should we not reserve judgment for the trial? Besides, who can criticize a mother who just wants to remain close to her kids and will go so far to ensure they work along side her, benefiting from her instruction and encouragement?
Allow me to remove my tongue from both cheeks. Anyone with more than the minimum allotment of synaptic gaps would agree this “mother” is among the lowest forms of life imaginable and should never again have access to kids: hers or anyone’s.
I hope her kids receive mental attention in the form of therapy and a good, loving family… maybe a dog too. The boys are not necessarily culpable and may have a chance for a good and plentiful life, sans robbery. We can only hope.
Most people under the stress of desperation and disaster resist the temptation to transfer their misery to others through the commission of violent crimes. I am convinced a long jail sentence is right for the mother, but, is it the best outcome for the kids? Probably not.
DaMoKi
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6-15-2009 @ 2:22PM
jennifer said...This is white trash at its finest. Good Lord!
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7-25-2010 @ 2:15AM
mis said...we as adults are no longer parents. so why don't we as adults use more birth control. if you don't want children make damn sure you don't make them.remember when the children you raise are so called grown, they'll be supposedly helping to take care of you...or will they, you are expendable too. don't think they don't know,because if you do you are even expendable to me.
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7-24-2010 @ 11:43AM
add said...WHY DO YOU SAY "WHITE TRASH"?? are you a fascist?
joe
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7-24-2010 @ 1:48PM
basketpam said...I think after just reading this story and the ones where some guys robbed 3 little girls' lemonade stand I've pretty much decided to give up reading the news everyday. Stories like this literally make me feel ill. I have become so disgusted with our society and the results of what our country is producing. Now I hate to sound like some sort of fanatic nut but I honestly do blame much of this on our media and entertainment industry. It has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that all of the violence, sex, foul language, and poor moral values greatly affect not only children but adults as well. As I've always said, garbarge in - garbage out! What a person puts into their mind and their body completely determines what sort of person they are. This includes the people an individual surrounds themselves with. You're no better than the company you keep. I know every generation has said the same thing, how badly society is declining but I truly believe in the last 20 years, ESPECIALLY the last 10 years, the US has taken a much greater slide into decay. Just look at the people we elect to determine the path of our country. If you took all of them and put them in a paper sack and shook it up I don't think you'd still come out with a single person of good moral fiber.
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7-24-2010 @ 5:28PM
Kathy said...Wonder if the parents of those minor children, friends' of corrupted mom's children, are going to press charges against her in a civil suite for endangering and corrupting the morals of minors? She's worried and teachers her children to become criminals, she doesn't deserve to have children, nor does she have good moral sense, as most singal parents would find jobs, clean houses, cashier work, anything to put food on the table and protect her children. 1-800-LIFENET, 311, are ways to contact services that help displaced homemakers, the Department of Labor, Department of Health & Welfare, Catholic Charities, etc, can assist those in need. Unfortunately, this mother didn't care about her children's needs, only her own! She does deserve to spend time behind bars, not have custody of the children and sent to counseling as to why she chose this route instead of asking for it?
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7-24-2010 @ 5:42PM
Kathy said...There was a story of a mom, whom did work, but made enough to pay bills, tend to her children's needs and yet, at times didn't have enough to put food on the table, as I remember, she went to McDonald's(believe the fast food place), bought an order of fries, not to make it look like she was stealing, she would take the packages of ketchup and salt to make soup for the children to eat and divided the fries for the children to eat. "Desparate Measures, take Desparate Actions."
The mother in the above story is an out and out criminal whom could've gotten her children killed, with no regard for others. There are always ways to get money legally! Sell your items in your home, flea markets/garage sales, sell her car, unemployment, etc.,
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