Philly Couple Enlist High-Powered Attorney In Fight Over Daughter's School District
By Brad Segall
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- A Northeast Philadelphia couple charged with illegally sending their young daughter to a Montgomery County elementary school vow to continue to fight the charges, now backed by a legal team from South Florida.
Hamlet and Olesia Garcia (at right in photo) are facing felony charges, accused of sending their child to an elementary school in Lower Moreland.
They've reached out to Ricardo Corona (at left in photo), a Cuban-American attorney from Miami, and they contend their arrest was racially motivated.
The judge today granted a 90-day continuance to give the new attorneys time to go over the case, but Corona says this type of situation is hardly considered criminal in Florida.
"This is something that happens -- something that's not endorsed in any way by the school boards or any of the authorities, but it doesn't generally raise to the level of being felony criminal charges," Corona said.
Montgomery County prosecutor Steven Latzer says it is a crime in Montgomery County, and they look forward to convicting the Garcias in court.
The Garcias claim they separated and Olesia and her daughter moved in with Olesia's father in Huntingdon Valley, but when they reconciled they left the child in school.
