A local group is crowdsourcing funding to free a woman they believe was unjustly accused of elder abuse of her own father.
The Free Arin Wing campaign is seeking funding and celebrity assistance via the crowdfunding website Indiegogo. The goal is to raise $57,923 by June 9.
Arin Wing is a young Pensacola resident facing a charge of elder abuse in the state of Florida. A group of concerned citizens organized by Wing’s friend Perry Simpson is hoping to crowdsource the money to help pay for high caliber legal representation for Wing in the hopes of winning her freedom. A second degree felony has a maximum penalty of 15 years in state prison, while a first degree felony generally has a maximum penalty of 30 years in state prison.
“While other young women are focused on careers or enjoying single life, Arin Wing chose to take care of her dying father,” Perry said. “Arin faced racism and homelessness in Houston while tirelessly fighting the Veterans Administration over housing and the proper care of her father. For the sheer love of her dad she fought hard to take care of her father and eventually move the two of them to Pensacola, where she was raised.”
According to the Free Arin Wing organization, as Wing’s father’s health declined, his mental state eroded. Two weeks before her birthday, her schizophrenic father claimed his daughter was abusing him. As a result, Wing was charged with elder abuse. She now sits in prison awaiting her fate. With limited funding of her own to pay for quality legal representation, her hope for justice is dim.
Now in jail, Wing is facing violence as her fellow inmates believe the media hype that has colored Wing as a crazed caretaker, despite her deep and abiding love for her father. She continues to love her dad even though in his declining mental state he wrongly accused her of a crime she did not commit.
Perry believes the true Wing, the one not revealed by media hungry for scandal, is a woman who nurtured him through personal crises and continues to show compassion for everyone she meets. She is an artist and a free spirit who creates, builds and heals, rather than destroys.
“America, help me fight for justice, help me fight for freedom, help me fight for love,” Simpson said. "I will rattle the streets of the Deep South until the shadow of this injustice swings from the gallows.”
Once the Free Arin Now group raises funds to pay for her legal representation, any remaining monies will be used to send Wing on a much needed spa vacation.
Learn more about the Free Arin Now movement and support the Indiegogo campaign at http://tinyurl.com/freearinnow
Contact: Perry M. Simpson
PHONE: 310 866 8908
EMAIL:
[email protected]