Even for those of us who practice in the criminal law area, some crimes simply leave us stunned. In Ellensburg, Washington, Robert Daniel Webb, 42, brought his 9-year-old daughter as he robbed a convenience store with a handgun. The girl is shown in the video below watching her father commit the armed robbery at 2:45 am.
In pointing the gun at the clerk, Webb reportedly said “Open the till and got me what you have … I’m out of work. My daughter’s got to survive.” He made off with about $200.00.
Webb apparently has been unemployed for months.
Webb later dropped off his daughter, Meadow, the daughter, at the home of a friend and disappeared. She has been taken into protective custody in the small town of Fortuna, Calif. 
In 2007, Webb’s wife won a restraining order against Webb, accusing him of drinking heavily and trying to choke her as well as threatening her with a bow and arrow.
Despite this record and the shocking act, the story has struck a cord with many citizens as more and more parents desperately struggle to deal with the recession and unemployment. Nevertheless, this is one desperate measure not justified by desperate times.
For the video, click here.
For the full story, click here.
This man probably has severe mental problems, which limited his ability to cope and resulted in a very bad choice. It is, however, a sign of the times that our MSM does not get, being comfortably ensconced themselves. The terror and frustration faced by parents of children, with no means to support them is real. Thirty years of Reaganism has eroded the safety net and people entitled to public help find themselves up against States with no concern for them and regulations that make it hard for them to get assistance they are qualified for.
In the early 90’s as a Budget Director in NYC’s HRA I was called to a meeting to discuss the overwhelming numbers of family’s who were homeless and applying for housing assistance. I was the lowest ranked person in the room, which consisted of Deputy Commissioner’s and a representative from the Mayor. My role was to figure the budget and staffing needed to set up some initiatives. What they wanted to do was ensure every family applying for homeless aid (it had been mandated by a court case) went through a mental health screening and every child tested for lead poisoning.
As a psychotherapist I asked what purpose a mental health screening served? I was greeted with an embarrassed silence that was broken by the Mayor’s representative saying basically “None of your business, work the numbers.” After the meeting I talked to the Deputy Commissioner in charge of the Family Shelters and he explained to me that these initiatives were meant to discourage families from applying in the first place and cautioned me as a friend to keep my mouth shut, for my own good.
I managed to honestly show, with some over assumptions and “ledger”demain, that these two unnecessary programs were going to be extremely expensive to implement. The programs were killed and I had a little to do with it. I was helped by the fact that top HRA officials also viewed this with distaste.
I offer up this anecdote though as a cautionary tale of how local and State governments operate, even in a supposedly liberal City. Having President Obama will palliate the pain, but the tragedy of being unemployed in 2009 America will take its’ toll on parents and childrens lives.