Texas mom gets warrant issued for her arrest over late library books: 'Just bonkers'
A mother of five in Texas recently found herself in hot water after learning that she could go to jail over library books that her county claims were never returned.
Kaylee Morgan took out books about Vincent van Gogh from Navasota Public Library in Grimes County, Texas, in March 2023. She told Fox News Digital that she did, in fact, return all the books that she borrowed, but that one was too big to fit in a returns box.
Court documents obtained by Fox News Digital show that the combined value of the two books was $60, but Morgan was slapped with a bill of $569.50 – mostly fines and court fees. She was also charged with a city ordinance violation.
"Warrant is ACTIVE for Your Arrest," an alarming document read. "Act Now to Avoid Going to Jail."
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But Morgan was unaware that the months-old documents existed until recently. The mom said that the issues began when she went through the innocent task of renewing her driver's license last week.
"So I go in and the DMV tells me that they cannot renew my license because I have a warrant out for my arrest, and I audibly laugh," she explained in a video posted to Facebook. "And I'm shocked because I haven't been pulled over, haven't got any tickets. It just doesn't make sense."
"I mostly stay home. I homeschool my kids, so it just didn't compute, what she was saying."
Morgan then called the local court to see what the trouble was – and was told that she had two past-due library books. The stressed-out mother then scheduled an appointment with the judge.
"It's so silly. So silly. I have a warrant out for my arrest for past due library books. Okay… this is not fake. This is not made up," she said, bewildered.
READ THE COURT DOCUMENTS HERE:
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During her meeting with the county judge, Morgan explained that she homeschools her five children and had a difficult pregnancy around the time the books were due.
"[In the meeting] I'm explaining that we returned the books," she said. "There was one that was too big to fit into the return box. And when we did return it, the system was down, but I definitely returned it."
"And that, max, was two weeks late," Morgan added. "Maybe more than that, but I was pregnant and having some complications, and I was on bed rest."
The judge's response was less than sympathetic, Morgan said.
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"She told me she didn't want to hear my excuses, that I needed to take responsibility," Morgan recalled. "She said, what I have done by not returning the library books is the same as stealing from Walmart."
"So on my record it says that I have stolen government property. Bonkers, right? Just bonkers."
The judge added that the warrant still stands, and that Morgan will not be allowed to renew her driver's license before she pays the $600 ticket – a hefty sum for a single-income family of five.
"She said, make no mistake that if you're driving in Grimes County with or without your kids, and you get pulled over, we will arrest you. So they will arrest me in front of my kids… I don't know what I'm going to do about this."
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Morgan says she was technically was not served a warrant, because she was completely unaware of its existence.
"[The judge] said they issued the warrant, and somebody signed for it, and I said it wasn't me, she said. "I didn't sign for it. I would know if I had signed her warrant because I would not be driving. I don't want to go to jail. And I asked her who signed it, and she said, it doesn't matter."
The mother has raised over $1,300 through GoFundMe, which has helped pay off the fines. Now she plans to hire a lawyer and get the whole mess removed from her record.
Morgan told Fox News Digital that she has received a lot of support over the situation, and hasn't heard back from authorities since she publicized the situation.
"The response from the community is mostly overwhelmingly positive," she said. "There are a few who don’t understand that I DID turn the book in and others who think I’m doing a smear campaign."
Fox News Digital reached out to the Navasota County judge, the Grimes County judge and the city manager for Navasota, but has not heard back.
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