Daughter shares heartbreak after mother’s arrest in credit union robbery

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY-TV) – As Crystal Anderson sits on a knitted blanket her mother made for her, she looks back at the childhood she once had. Her mother, Rhonda West had her when she was just 16-years-old. Despite being a teenaged mother, Anderson said she was a good mom.

“She was always at my dance competitions, she coached my softball team when I was younger,” Anderson said.

Her mother is now charged with robbing a credit union of $5,000 earlier this month. Anderson said a traumatic car crash in the 90s and years of off and on drug abuse, after the wreck, led West down a dark path.

“She did get addicted to pain pills and we did notice that she started writing her own prescriptions,” Anderson said.

The week leading up to the robbery, Anderson said her mother was denied employment from a new job due to her criminal history and was faced with an eviction notice at her apartment.

“Now is that an excuse to go out and rob a bank? Obviously not, but I mean you know, it’s what happened, am I making an excuse for her? No, there’s no excuse in it,” Anderson said.

Anderson said this could have led to her mom into a spiral leading to her alleged crimes on Oct. 9.  Anderson said she found on Facebook that her mom had been arrested.

“I saw the picture I was like, wait what?” Anderson said. “I mean people are like ‘oh do you think she did it? I mean pictures don’t lie.”

Now, West is experiencing life behind bars but Anderson still speaks to her everyday.

“She’s scared, I mean she’s scared of her own shadow, she’s about 90 pounds, a lot smaller than me she’s not a violent person,” Anderson said.

West is the grandmother of seven grandkids between Anderson and her brother. Anderson said her older kids have mentally shutdown since finding out about the robbery.

“I think they are just kind of quiet right now they don’t understand but I mean when you find out on social media I guess that’s a hard hit, I guess when they’re ready we’ll talk about it,” Anderson said.

West is due back in court on Nov. 7 and while Anderson won’t be there, she is pushing for her mom to be put in a drug treatment facility.