Tearful ‘hot car mom’ accused of spending donation money on rap album



Phoenix, AZ (KPHO) -- Shanesha Taylor's tearful mug shot and her claims that she had to leave her two young sons in a hot car for a job interview helped generate about $114,000 in online donations.

But Taylor is now facing felony child abuse charges after she said she couldn't provide $40,000 from the donated money for a trust fund for her children as negotiated with the prosecution.

So where did the money go?

According to a budget, the unemployed Taylor submitted to the court, she is blowing through the donations at a rate of nearly $4,200 a month.

Among the expenses Taylor claims she spends are $300 a month on clothes, another $300 on dining and entertainment, $160 on cable TV, $250 on household expenses and $500 on groceries.

Taylor is also reported to have spent $6,000 to help her children's father finish a rap album at a Tempe music studio.

She now has a public defender, appointed after her defense team walked out on her, and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said his patience has worn out waiting for Taylor to fund the trust as she repeatedly said she would in order to have the charges dropped.

As a result, Montgomery reinstated the charges and Taylor will be back in court on Dec. 3.

"My patience is gone," Montgomery said. "I think I have been more than amenable to taking in the totality of the circumstances that she was facing."