A North Carolina woman is planning to launch a legal battle against her local police department for wrongfully arresting her and charging her with identity theft, an incident she said upended her life.
Tamara Parker is now being represented by attorneys with The Law Offices of Harry M. Daniels, who are looking into filing a lawsuit on her behalf against the Gastonia County Police Department.
According to the law firm, Parker was arrested on Sept. 1, 2024 at her home, and charged with identity theft and attempting to obtain property under false pretenses.
Parker’s arrest stemmed from a scam in which someone fraudulently purchased two Apple iPhones and delivered them to an Advance Auto Parts store in May 2024.
Investigators interviewed two store employees who pinned the crime on Parker.
Parker said she visited Advance Auto Parts in May, but according to her attorneys, she was never at the store the day the crime took place. She was attending her daughter’s kindergarten graduation.
And Parker said that the only suspect description police had was a “black woman,” per WCNC.
Her charges were dismissed on June 23 due to insufficient evidence, court documents state.
Parker’s attorneys say the charges “threw her life into a spiral of instability and fear, they cost her her job, thousands of dollars in legal fees and the good credit she’d spent a lifetime building.”
Parker said she ended up losing her job in December 2024 due to the false charges, and now, her home is in foreclosure.
“I lost everything … it was very traumatizing,” Parker told WCNC. “My family kind of fell apart, my job, finances. I had to depend on credit cards the past six months to even stay afloat.”
Parker has started a GoFundMe to raise living and legal expenses, stating that her financial situation has only gotten worse over the last few months, and that attorney fees and court-related expenses “have drained what little I had left.”
“I’m incredibly grateful to have my name cleared and to finally begin searching for a new job. But now, I’m so far in debt that I don’t know how I’ll ever catch up without help,” Parker wrote on the GoFundMe page. “Any support whether it’s a donation, a share, or a kind message will make a real difference. The funds raised will go toward overdue bills, basic necessities, and continuing to cover legal-related costs until I can get fully back on my feet.”
Her attorney, Harry Daniels, stated that he and his legal team are considering several avenues to help Parker find justice and rebuild her life, including a potential civil suit.
