Felony Charges Will Be Dropped Against Tammy Lewis
November 18, 2008 by Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Remember back in May when I glazed over the Tammy Lewis/Alan Bushey/Magdeline Middlesworth case?
You know, the one where Tammy Lewis (who lived with the 90-year-old Middlesworth on the advice of six-member religious sect leader Alan Bushey) kept Middlesworth’s corpse on her toilet for something like two months after she died. The idea was that God would bring Middlesworth back to life, so, no need for a burial. Yet, God didn’t bring Middlesworth back to life (actually, I thought he’d kind of fallen out of that practice after Jesus, but then Velma Thomas came along, which probably ticked Bushey off more than we know, but, I digress), and Lewis and Bushey were arrested on “felony counts of being a party to causing mental harm to a child” (Lewis has two kids, 15-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son, who were also living in the house) as well as other felony counts.
Rather than hoping God would bring Middlesworth back to life, authorities believe Lewis and Bushey were actually just trying to keep collecting the elderly lady’s Social Security checks.
Now, really. With the economy in the state it’s in, that ticks me off.
Anyway, Lewis has pleaded “no contest” to a misdemeanor (obstructing an officer), and the felony charges (which also included felony charges for hiding a corpse) will be dropped in two years as long as Lewis a) accepts mental health treatment, and b) testifies against Bushey during a trial in April.
Lewis is “very relieved” her case has been resolved, [her attorney] said. “She has made some really great progress emotionally and even physically. She is looking forward. She is no longer looking backward at how things should have been different. Everybody is geared toward reunifying her with the kids and getting the family back together.”
Well, good. I hope things work out for her. I hope she and her children get all the support they need to make it through this truly bizarre situation without any permanent damage.
I would also really like to know who’s going to pay back that Social Security money. Somebody needs to get on that.
That truly is a bizarre story. How could they live in the same house as a decomposing corpse? Those poor kids.
@ Michelle – I know, I hope the kids are receiving any kind of counseling they may need. I’m glad they’re names weren’t released (honestly, as if teenagers don’t have enough to deal with), but I guess releasing the mother’s name kind of defeats the purpose of protecting their names.