Woman, 89, arrested for keeping football
By Steve Kemme and Jennifer Baker
skemme@enquirer.com, jbaker@enquirer.com
BLUE ASH – An 89-year-old woman arrested for not giving neighborhood children their football back after it landed repeatedly in her yard said today she’ll return the ball.
But not right away.
“That’s my only way of getting through to these children,” Edna Jester said. “I’ll give it back to them later, but not right now.”
Jester was arrested and charged with petty theft after she took the ball and refused to give it back, Blue Ash police said. Word of her arrest has touched off national news interest in the case.
When police asked Jester to return the ball to the children, she refused. They warned her twice she would be charged if she did not cooperate, Schaffer said. They tried to give her a citation, but she refused to sign for it, he said.
Left with no other choice, he said, officers placed her in the back of a cruiser, took her to the police station and booked her, he said. Schaffer said Jester told police to handcuff her but they refused.
The football, valued at $15, is being held for evidence, Schaffer said.
The potential maximum penalty for a petty theft conviction in Ohio is six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. Schaffer said he suspects the mayor or presiding magistrate will take into account her age and lack of criminal record when the case comes up.
The Associated Press contributed.