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by jennilee from Downtown Austin

Last Post 7 days, 20 hours Ago


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Police say 28-year-old, Money Sterling, lied about a man holding her at knifepoint and making her drive her route 19 bus to Southwest Austin Monday.  Police launched an air, land, and canine search for the man.  The next day, she confessed to police that she made the whole thing up.
She faces two charges, perjury and making a false report, which could land her in jail.
No one is saying who, if anyone, will cover the thousands of dollars it took to search for an imaginary suspect.  That's thousands of dollars wasted in an economy that is not doing so well.
She told police she was depressed and wanted something bad to happen to her.  Police say she needs to seek counseling.
What do you think should happen to her?  And should she be held accountable for the dollars wasted?
See my story for reference.

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Delusion read my blog view my photos
Aug 6, 2008 | 5:48 PM

Absolutely she should be held accountable for her actions, as should all of us. And yes, she should pay for whatever costs were incurred.
The city doesn't have the money to pay for everyone's drama-filled angst-driven lives, and this woman's life should not be an exception. Counseling is good, yet of course we will have to pay for that, right?

mobilehomeowner read my blog view my photos
Aug 6, 2008 | 7:24 PM

Being the devils advocate here.

I don't think she should be accountable for her spoof. Whoever hired her should have looked at the employee file a little closer. Or maybe they should have achieved a better background check prior to hiring her.

Don't get me wrong. I think what she did was not appropriate at all and it did cost the taxpayers a lot of money.

However, why would we want to make such a strong statement to a person by punishing her when we don't even fulfill that with the politicians or other "white collar" persons committing crimes much larger than this.


What about all the "other" drivers? Is there some type of review or whatever to determine if a person may be a "danger" to be behind the wheel of a bus carrying passengers?

What about the media? Why so much drama when reporting this stuff? What about getting the facts before reporting, instead of spouting out hearsay. I think it makes a better story. No offense.

"Why can't we be friend? Why can't we be friends..." La, la, la,la, la laaaa......

Delusion read my blog view my photos
Aug 6, 2008 | 7:38 PM

Holding someone accountable for their actions is not a 'strong statement', it's upholding the rules of society and law.
And yes, there are others (white collar criminals, politicians, even minorities crying 'victim' at the drop of a hat, etc.) who seem to 'get away' with many things you or I would get the rack for. Yet you cannot equate this with that: it's apples and motorcycles.

Also, saying your bus is being hijacked and bringing out APD in full-force thinking the worst is not a 'spoof'. Throw the book at her.

mobilehomeowner read my blog view my photos
Aug 6, 2008 | 8:45 PM

Oops. Maybe I used the wrong word?
But, apples, oranges, motorcyles cars, or what ever, you can't have a double standard. In the spirit of friendship, "spoof" may have covered quite a few topics or escapades with the subject. Again, it must have been a bad choice of words.

You probably know as well as I do. A criminal has way more rights that us. Or it could be they just know more about the legal system and how to get around it. Throwing the book ain't gonna hurt.

Delusion read my blog view my photos
Aug 7, 2008 | 5:09 AM

Agree. I think Crime 101 teaches how to skirt the law.
We'll see what happens to this driver. I wonder if she is going to turn around and sue the bus company for making her drive a bus?

jennilee read my blog
Aug 7, 2008 | 3:38 PM

mobilehomeowner-

To answer your question, a representative for the company that hired Money Sterling says they did a background check, although that did not include a psychological test. She was about to undergo another routine (every two years) check when she pulled her hijacking stunt.

rbb50 read my blog view my photos
Aug 7, 2008 | 10:20 PM

One only has to think about having a job such as that to begin with to know how it could be psychologically damaging to a persons mind set.

You come to work pick up your bus which you probably have to clean the gum people spit out and the spills of gooey stuff all over the seats trashy people spill on a daily basis.

Then your off on your route picking up the extremely few people that even ride the bus anymore wondering all day how long your job will last when 90% of all the bus stops you stop at have no one there what so ever.

The few people you do pick up never say a word to you besides maybe a grunt about how expensive it is to pay a dollar just to ride the bus a few blocks.

Then every once and a while some total moron sits right behind you exclaiming how a total moron such as Barack Obama is the greatest thing they have ever known and you cannot say a thing about it because of some company policy that says you cannot tell riders they are total morons with no clue what so ever.

Once the day is over you return the bus to the motor pool to find more gooey stuff all over it and gum that was spit out all over the floor by the trailer trash type people you have to deal with all day.

Yep those bus drivers probably need psychological testing about every two weeks just to determine if they might decide to carry a gun to work someday and start shooting people they see spitting that gum out on the floor of their bus or making up wild stories about how they were hijacked just as a way to relieve the boredom and stress of their typical day.

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jennilee

Hi, my name is Jenni Lee and I am a reporter/anchor for Fox 7 News Edge. Let us know what you're thinking about by starting your own blog or commenting on what we're blogging!

Member Since: 10/16/2006