Kicker: Wanted for overdue books

NICK EICHER, HOST: A Michigan woman was driving home recently when she heard the familiar sound of her cell phone ringing.

It was her boss. He was calling about her promotion, and specifically about the routine background check the company had to run.

As it turned out, the background check was anything but routine. Evidently, it turned up an arrest warrant.

JONES: I had to pull over because I was laughing, and he was like no I’m serious. And I was like no, there’s no way. There’s no way I have a warrant.

Yup. Warrant for the arrest of Melinda Sanders-Jones, wanted for overdue library books. The audio from TV station WPIX.

Now the books were overdue and she did return them. But because she’d missed several notices over a roughly two-year period, the Charlotte Community Library set in motion a prosecution.

She expected to pay a fine, or face some kind of collection action, but this?

JONES: I really don’t think that going to jail over those few books is okay. And I really didn’t want to steal their property.

This is actually pretty serious: she’s facing up to three months in jail and a $500 fine. What happened here is that Jones didn’t see the late notices because she had to move frequently to get out of an abusive relationship. Now, if all that checks out, here’s hoping the authorities can see their way clear to drop the charges.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

(Photo/Pixabay, MGN)

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