If you can believe it, a mother from Surrey, England, was arrested for confiscating her daughters' iPads so they would do their homework. 50-year-old history teacher Vanessa Brown took her two daughters' electronic tablets to her mother's home. This way, the iPads wouldn't tempt the daughters while they finished their school work.
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Mother Arrested For Taking Away Daughters' iPads
Little did the mother know that the police would later throw her in a cell for it. A 40-year-old man reported two stolen iPads to the cops, according to a statement from Surrey Police. He was allegedly present during the altercation.
Officers jumped on the investigation and went to Brown's mother's address on Wednesday, March 26. Brown denied knowing anything about the iPads, but the cops had a tracking device that led them to this address. Since she wasn't cooperating, they arrested her on suspicion of theft.
Once they arrested the mother, they were able to search the premises and eventually found the iPads. They put her in custody and conducted "a risk assessment, consultation with a healthcare professional, and the taking of fingerprints and custody photos," the statement wrote.
According to WJAR, a group of officers picked her daughters up from school while she was in custody. Police eventually released her on conditional bail as they figured out who owned the iPads. One of the conditions forced her to not speak to anyone, including her daughters, while they continued their investigation.
Brown told the outlet how strange the whole ordeal was and how quickly it escalated. "At no point did [the officers] think to themselves, 'Oh, this is a little bit of an overreaction for a moment, confiscating temporarily her iPads and popping over to her mom's to have a coffee.' It was just a complete overreaction."
After officers verified that the iPads belonged to Brown's children, they closed the case and lifted the bail conditions. Brown was stunned at how the situation unfolded. "I find it quite traumatic even talking about this now," she said. "It was thoroughly unprofessional."
The real question is who was the man who tipped off the police about the missing iPads. Why did he think this was a crime? Was he related to the family? We don't yet know these details, and we may never find them out.
