Theft by Check of Wheelchair-bound Woman ends in Felony Conviction. @VivianKingtv 01.08.2025

Описание: Tangi Smith wrote a $3,500 check to Mike Calvert Toyota for a used Mustang. Tangi returned the car 2 weeks later because the catalytic converter fell out. Mike Calvert did not cash the check for over one year. Tangi called Calvert & the bank numerous times, but the check was not cashed. Mike Calvert was sold. The new owner filed a Theft by Check case. Tangi had not moved. Tangi was arrested 5 years later while in a college class, wheelchair bound using METRO Lift as her transportation. By this time Tangi is unable to walk from TB Meningitis of the spine contracted in 2005.

Tangi tells this horrific story of catching TB-Meningitis from a buffet-style Japanese Restaurant. Tangi applauds Ben Taub Hospital for treating her in-patient for 6 months until they found out what caused her crippling disease. Harris County Health Dept. took all appropriate steps to find out where she caught TB-Meningitis and took corrective action at all Houston buffet restaurants.

Unable to walk or stand up, Tangi took the METRO Lift to school. The arresting officers did not know how to transport her to the jail. Tangi was mistreated in the jail. She was put in a cell with violent females, she was held for 16 hours without medical care, without a way to urinate through her catheter, without charging her motorized chair, and without seeing the jail physician. A kind female jailer ran it up the chain to Sheriff Adrian Garcia, who made sure Tangi was moved to the infirmary. Tangi's daughter sacrificed to hire her mother a lawyer, who Tangi describes as not properly working on her case. The lawyer had a duty to investigate and find the cashier at Mike Calvert Toyota who accepted the check to see if she/he could identify Tangi after all these years. Tangi never got out on bond. Tangi wanted out of jail, so she pled guilty to this 2003 bad check under Art. 12.44A - a Felony punished as a Misdemeanor. Tangi stayed in the Harris County Jail for 45 days and has a felony record.