YOUNGSTOWN Judge adds to probation on bad-check charge

The woman and her six children are now living at her sister's in Cleveland.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Cylanna H. Pond, a single mother on probation for six counts of child endangering, has received probation again for passing a bad check.
Pond, 33, formerly of Rush Boulevard, was in municipal court Wednesday for sentencing. She pleaded no contest Oct. 29 to the check charge.
Judge Elizabeth A. Kobly wasn't pleased that Pond showed up without the $225 restitution she owes Seven Seventeen Credit Union for the bad check.
Pond, who now lives with her six children at her sister's in Cleveland, explained that she's had car repair expenses. The woman offered to show Judge Kobly a Greyhound bus ticket to prove how she arrived in Youngstown.
Pond said she spent her last money on coats and boots for her children and has just recently started working at University Hospitals.
"I'm so sorry, your honor," Pond said of not paying restitution yet. She asked that she be given until the end of March to pay.
Penalties
Judge Kobly sentenced Pond to 90 days in jail, suspended it all, fined her $100 and extended Pond's probation to December 2005. The judge said the fine and restitution must be paid by the end of March.
The judge said if Pond does not take care of her children or passes another bad check, the suspended jail time would be imposed.
"I would not want to put you in jail, but you would force my hand," Judge Kobly said.
"I won't be back except for probation," Pond said.
In July, crawling roaches and dead flies in a sink smeared with fecal matter next to a maggot-filled bowl prompted police to describe Pond's kitchen as "incredibly disgusting." The officers arrested her on child-endangering charges, one for each of the children -- ages 4, 6, 8, 11, 14 and 15.
In October, City Prosecutor Dionne M. Almasy had wanted Pond to serve six months in jail on the child-endangering convictions. She described Pond's house as deplorable and stench-filled with the potential of injury to children "overwhelming."
Explanation in court
Pond said she was a mother at 18, her father took the first child, then she gave birth to six more.
"As a black woman with seven children, I'm already deemed a whore or drug addict," Pond said in October. "Whose gonna take in six kids?"
The judge, Pond said, didn't know what it means to be a single black woman.
Judge Kobly said no one forced Pond to have seven children. The judge said it was Pond's responsibility to make sure the kids had a safe, clean and healthy environment.
Judge Kobly gave Pond six months in jail on each count, suspended it all, and placed her on two years' probation. "I pray to God you don't make me regret it," the judge said in October.
meade@vindy.com