New York Daily News – by PETER SBLENDORIO
They threw the book at her.
Actress Tika Sumpter says her mother was arrested Monday — all because of a $10 late fee at her local library.
“Make sure you turn in your library books North Carolina,” the actress began a lengthy Twitter missive. “My mom was just arrested for having a late fee of 10 dollars on an overdue book!”
The arrest took place in Johnston County, N.C., where the Public Library of Johnston County & Smithfield calls home. According to the library’s website, overdue books elicit a 25-cent fine per day, while audio books, movies and CDs run an offender 50 cents every 24 hours.
Nowhere on the website, however, does it mention the possibility of an arrest. But Sumpter, 36, implied officials at the library went as far as to put out a warrant for her arrest.
“Treated like a criminal for a late fee of 10 dollars for overdue books from the library,” she tweeted. “Libraries now put out warrants.”
“An overdue book should NEVER result in a warrant,” she wrote in a separate tweet. “This is a legal scam.”
Make sure you turn in your library books North Carolina! My mom was just arrested for having a late fee of 10 dollars on an overdue book!
— Tika Sumpter (@iamtikasumpter) November 14, 2016
Making matters worse, the actress contended her mother — a retired corrections officer named Janice Acquista who Sumpter said had no previous rap sheet — actually returned the book that prompted the fine a long time ago.
“What you think can’t happen to you, can,” she wrote. “P.S. My mom returned the book a while back, someone didn’t put it in the system.”
Officials at the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office, however, said the warrant for Acquista’s arrest was filed because she wrote a check that bounced, then never made good on the payment afterward.
“It was a worthless check, and the D.A.’s office took out a warrant for her,” said Tammy Amaon, a public information officer for the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office.
Amaon said Acquista paid a $500 bond after receiving the arrest warrant on Monday.
North Carolina isn’t the only state where people holding onto overdue library items have been booked. Similar incidents have occurred in Texas and Wisconsin in recent years, while a couple in Michigan faced, but ultimately avoided, jail time this past spring after they lost — and therefore failed to return — a copy of a Dr. Seuss book to their local book house.
An overdue book should NEVER result in a warrant. This is a legal scam. @northcarolina @SmithfieldLibra @PatMcCroryNC @RoyCooperNC
— Tika Sumpter (@iamtikasumpter) November 14, 2016
Sumpter, who starred as First Lady Michelle Obama in the John Legend-produced drama “Southside With You,” said her mother wasn’t at the jailhouse for long.
“She’s out now,” she tweeted. “Every cop at the jail thought it was absolutely ridiculous. They couldn’t even believe it.”
“An overdue book should NEVER result in a warrant,” she wrote in a separate tweet. “This is a legal scam.”
EVERYTHING involving the so-called ‘government’ is a scam, lady.
And FAR from legal/lawful (whichever term applies in this instance).
“Every cop at the jail thought it was absolutely ridiculous. They couldn’t even believe it.”
Tip of the iceberg.
They ain’t seen NOTHIN’ yet (compared to this, anyway).