Two women who hid a little boy away from the outside world for eight years are headed to prison. The Texas women were convicted of abducting Miguel Morin at just 8 months old and keeping him locked away for years. They never sent him to school, never took him for his pediatrician visits or let a dentist check his teeth.
But get this: Gloria Walker and daughter Krystle Tanner still don't think they did anything wrong!
Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Oh, but I'm just getting started.
Walker's attorney claims Miguel's mom is not the victim she claimed to be when the boy was found last year. He says she sold the baby to Krystle, who was working as a babysitter, for $200. What's more, lawyer Rudy Velasquez claims Auboni Champion-Morin and Fernando Morin weren't terribly cooperative with police when it came to finding their kid. Even now that Miguel has been "found," the boy lives not with his biological parents, but with another couple who care for the Morins' OTHER kids.
More from The Stir: Mom Gets Away With Kidnapping Daughter After 12 Years on FBI's Most Wanted
OK. Fair enough. The Morins don't exactly have "parents of the year" stamped on their forehead. But we don't always get picture perfect victims in America. There are always shades of gray.
On the other hand, Walker and Tanner's case is pretty black and white. The mother and daughter hid a child away from the world for eight years! They didn't send him to school. They didn't take him to the doctor. If that's not proof that they knew they were doing something shady, I'm not sure what it is.
If it quacks like a duck, folks, it is a darn waterfowl.
Walker has been sentenced to 30 years for injury to a child and eight years for kidnapping, to be served concurrently. Tanner is expected to serve eight years for kidnapping and eight years for the lesser charge of reckless injury to a child, also to be served concurrently.
No matter how much they want to protest their innocence, it sounds to me like they got off easy. It's a rather small price to pay for stealing eight of a child's formative years from him ... especially when you were so blatantly aware that what you were doing was wrong.
What do you think of these women's claims that they did nothing wrong? Is the punishment appropriate?
Image via San Augustine Sheriff's Office
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Comments 50
I take issue with this writer's implication that doing something wrong is more wrong when it's blatant that you know it's wrong. Wrong is wrong. On another note, the writing on this website often reads like a high school essay written ten minutes before class is about to start. Can't you at least leave out the clichés?
Vaccinations for children are not bad. And what these two women did for eight years was illegal.
Because they locked him away , wouldn't let him go to school OR BE AN 8 YEAR OLD CHILD !
How did they lock him away? The article does not elaborate on his living conditions or alleged abuse. It does not add up. The boys real mother still does not want him and has her kids living with a random couple????? School does not start until the age of 6... this article makes no sense
Totally agreed Jennifer Smith.. Maybe (without knowing details of living conditions etc) instead of prison they should have been offered adoption papers.