Embattled mom Shanesha Taylor spends $4,000 a month

PHOENIX — Shanesha Taylor, the embattled mom whose sob story gained her thousands of dollars in online donations, spends $4,000 a month.

Court documents show the unemployed Taylor is spending hundreds of dollars a month for clothes, entertainment and other things.

While Taylor is raising children, critics and donors alike called into question some expenditures of the mother of two, especially a cable/Internet bill of $275, a combined mobile Internet/cellphone bill of $145 and an entertainment/dining/recreation allowance of $300.

“That sounds like a normal family budget, but not for someone who doesn’t work,” said Kathryn McKinney, who said she’s part of a group that donated nearly $4,000 to Taylor. The group members now want their money back, McKinney [told ABC15.com].

Taylor also spent $200 on her sister, Alisha Mullins, who is serving time for armed robbery.

Taylor received more than $114,000 from online donors after her story about leaving her kids in a hot car while at a job interview went viral. A Maricopa County judge told Taylor she would be prosecuted for child abuse if she didn’t use some of the funds to set up trusts for her children. She failed to do so and was given a December court date.

After failing to set up the trusts, many people expressed disappointment with Taylor.

“I know our money has been spent on a whole lot more than basic living needs, which is upsetting to us,” McKinney said. McKinney said she and the group plan to appeal to the state attorney general to try to get back their money.

Taylor lost the support of arguably her biggest supporter, the Rev. Jarrett Maupin, after failing to establish the trusts or try to find work.

“I got a lot of calls and made a lot of calls to people that are at the helm of hotels and restaurant chains and other businesses locally here in the Valley …so she could find full-time employment,” he said. “Only to have her not show up for the interviews.”

“This is someone that was looking for anything, at least according to the statement she made to the media and to the public and to the people supporting her, but there were umpteen opportunities for her to become fully employed,” Maupin said.

Taylor’s attorney, Benjamin Taylor, no relation, asked to terminate his representation earlier this month and a second attorney, John Agra, left the case after he said Shanesha Taylor failed to pay him. Taylor has since been appointed a public defender after being declared “indigent” or unable to pay legal fees.

That said it all to Maupin.

“You can’t have, what she claims to have, $72,000 left of the money, and be declared indigent,” he said. “That is just impossible…that money is gone.”

KTAR’s Emily Mahoney contributed to this report.