The world of cheerleading can make adults do strange and sometimes illegal things.
The most famous example is Wanda Holloway, a Texas mom who tried to hire a hit man to kill the mother of her 13-year-old daughter’s rival for a spot on a cheerleading team.
Holloway gunned for the mom, thinking that the daughter would be too consumed with grief to compete for the cheerleading squad. Holloway’s efforts failed, and she spent six months in prison.
Holloway was originally sentenced to 15 years in prison, but her conviction was overturned because one of her jurors was on probation. She later pleaded no contest to solicitation of capital murder.
Witnesses at her original trial described Holloway “as a vindictive mother who was overzealous in pursuing her daughter’s dream,” according to published reports.
Her story was the subject of two television movies, including one in which she was portrayed by Oscar-winning actress Holly Hunter.
Last year an Atlanta-area woman was charged with beating a cheerleading camp director over which squad her 9-year-old daughter was assigned.
“I did not punch her,” Michelle Rains told FOX 5 Atlanta. “I did take my three fingers and put them underneath her chin and push her head back. … I think it escalated to a point where it shouldn’t have.”
And a woman in Oklahoma was charged last year with planning to attack her daughter’s cheerleading coach because her daughter was being picked on, according to published reports.
Last year, parents on a dance team in El Paso, Texas, said their daughters were given brownies and cupcakes laced with rat poison and laxatives by a rival team. The baked goods were confiscated before they were consumed, according to published reports.
And a month before that incident, a woman in Wintersville, Ohio, was charged with sending nude pictures of her daughter’s cheerleading rival to teachers at her high school, according to publish accounts.
