A Connecticut woman claiming to be homeless, who sent her son to a school outside her district, was recently arrested and charged for stealing educational services from Norwalk Public Schools.

The 33-year-old woman, who enrolled her 6-year-old son in Brookside Elementary School in Norwalk, Connecticut from September 2010 year until January 2011 has been charged with grand larceny for stealing $15,686 in educational services.

The woman says that during the time her son was enrolled in school, she was homeless and going back and for the between a homeless shelter, a friend's apartment in Norwalk and a home in Bridgeport. She apparently registered her son under her Norwalk babysitter's address.

Officials became aware of the alleged illegal enrollment after the woman testified at an eviction hearing for her babysitter, who was accused of allowing the woman and her son to live with her. In that hearing, the woman testified that she didn't live at the apartment, but rather in Bridgeport. In that hearing she reportedly never mentioned being homeless.

Federal law allows children to continue their education in the place they began it if their family was homeless at the time.

Those who support the woman's arrest say she never claimed to be homeless, that she has a shady past, and that if she was truly concerned about her son, she wouldn't be in the situation she's in now. Sources said the woman spent 18 months in prison back in 2001 for first degree robbery and illegal possession of a weapon.

The NAACP has taken up the woman's case, claiming that it is unfair to prosecute a homeless woman who merely wanted a good education for her child. Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia has also been criticized for his support of the woman's arrest.

Source: ABC News, "NAACP Backs Connecticut Woman Arrested for Illegally Enrolling Son in School, Jessica Hopper, 26 April 2011.