MEMPHIS, Tenn. — WREG tracked down the people captured in a picture near Colonial Middle School that neighbors called suspicious.
“They call me the candy lady,” Alma Caldwell said.
Caldwell, 81, and her son used to sell snacks from their east Memphis home, but got a notice from the court when neighbors complained.
“The judge said us that I could sell candy, but not at this residence,” Caldwell explained.
The elderly woman began selling her goodies near Colonial Middle School.
Caldwell said she didn’t think anything was wrong with selling candy near the school because she has a business license.
However, Caldwell was cited by police last week.
“She said that’s just a warning. She said if I catch you doing it again, it would be more problems or more trouble or something,” Caldwell recalled. “It was more or less like a threat.”
On Friday, a picture of Caldwell, her son and a neighbor who was helping that day popped up on the school’s Facebook page where parents and neighbors began voicing their concerns.
“It embarrassed me and it hurt because a lot of the stuff was untrue. You know? None of it was true,” Caldwell said.
Caldwell and her son claimed they would have never done anything to harm children.
“I’ve been convicted of some stuff, but different things that done happened — ain’t nothing about no child molestation or nothing like that,” Thomas Caldwell said. “I ain’t never thought of nothing like that.”
Alma Caldwell said she was only selling the snacks to earn some extra cash after retirement and hates that selling candy took a negative turn.
“I’m sorry that all of this came up and I hate that it came up. I hate that I have to stop selling the candy but don’t think hard of me. It’s not my fault. I’ve done nothing wrong,” she concluded.
The candy lady said she has a great-granddaughter who attends Colonial Middle School.