Pregnant Woman Fined for Failing to Scoop Poop

Mother-to-be gets $250 fine for failing to pick up poop in front of her home

Mother-to-be Alicia Fernbacker was issued a $250 fine Tuesday for failing to scoop up poop outside her Maspeth home, but she plans to challenge the summon next month, the Daily News reported.

The pregnant teen, who already had her hands full with an overdue baby, was just taking a break on her stoop at her Queens home just before heading inside to get a tissue.

"I was just relaxing," Fernbacker told the paper. "It was literally right in front of my house"

Her dog, a black mutt, pooped on a patch of grass in front of her father’s house, where she also lives, just minutes before 10:30 a.m. and then the agent approached her.

She was waiting for a ride to Queensborough Community College, where she is in the process of earning a liberal arts degree.

"I told [the agent] I was going inside to get a tissue," she told the News. "And he told me it didn't matter."

Fernbacker, 19, said she was very upset and thought it was just ridiculous the officer gave her the ticket.

He then asked for her identification and issued her a ticket that said she "made no attempt to remove dog feces in a legal manner," the News reported.

"The officer told me I could fight it in court," she said, according to the News. "In my head I was like, 'I doubt that's going to be possible.'"

"She was all shook up when she called to tell me about it," her father, Donald Fernbacker, 45, told the paper. "She doesn't deserve this right now. She has never been a bad kid. That's why I don't understand."

Fernbacker finally went into labor Thursday, nine days after the due date. She plans to name her baby Scarlett, the News reported. The baby’s father, Mike Lesser, is a Marine and will likely be sent to Afghanistan in the upcoming months, Fernbacker said.

The teen will fight the ticket at the Environment Control Board, Sanitation Department spokesman Vito Turso told the paper. The hearing is set for Oct. 15.

Nobody is higher than the law, Turso said.

The dog-curbing law "has been around since 1978 and most New Yorkers know if you're taking the dog out into a public area, it is your responsibility to clean up after it no matter what the circumstances are," Turso said.

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