Roundtree explains why sheriff's department can't help Arbrie’s mom attend funeral

Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree is being pressured to help the mother of drive-by shooting victim Arbrie Anthony be transported from state prison to attend her girl’s funeral.

But the Richmond County sheriff says deputies have not done any such transports since the pandemic started in 2020.

“And we don’t do it for anyone convicted of a violent crime,” the sheriff said Monday.

A funeral for the 8-year-old girl is planned for 1 p.m. Wednesday at Hillcrest Memorial Park on Deans Bridge Road, according to an obituary notice.

A campaign to pressure the sheriff and other elected officials to allow the funeral visit began this week. The girl’s mother, Teausha Tanksley, has been in prison since Feb. 24, 2021, sentenced to 10 years in prison for aggravated assault, weapon possession and an unrelated shoplifting.

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A sheriff’s report says she stabbed Arbrie’s father, Arthur Anthony, with a knife during an argument on Oct. 30, 2020, at their home on Third Avenue. Arthur Anthony recorded the attack on his cell phone where she is shown with a kitchen knife and “bottle of lighter fluid,” the report says.

“Tanksley was acting very aggressive and irrational during the video,” the report says.

There are suggestions to let Tanksley watch the funeral remotely, but that is a decision the state prison must make, authorities said.

Roundtree said he spoke to victim’s family and told them directly that he could not help free her for the funeral.

Tanksley is being housed at The Metro Transitional Center in Atlanta, a minimum-security facility for adult female felons, according to a state prison website. She has been arrested over a dozen times for shoplifting, trespassing, carrying a concealed weapon, domestic violence and multiple counts of contributing to the deprivation of a minor.

A Snapchat post by “Lashay Green” (pictured below) tells people that Roundtree is “NOT trying to allow my sister to come home to bury her daughter!!!”

The post continues: “If any of my snappers know anyone with any relations connections to the ‘mayor’ or know someone my family can reach out to help us bring my sister home to bury her daughter!!!”

Friends of the mother have contacted numerous media outlets to post the story.