Viral video of kids doing classwork at Taco Bell leads to online rumors

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    Salinas, CA (KSBW) — Salinas police are now having to fend off allegations they tried to separate two Salinas children from their mother after the two girls were seen outside an east Salinas Taco Bell, using the restaurant’s WiFi to do their homework.

The picture of the elementary age school girls has gone viral and is now making international and national headlines. The school district is now warning people to be cautious about donating to at least two GoFundMe accounts set up on behalf of the children.

Nearly a week after the picture was taken Salinas police said they have had no involvement in the case whatsoever.

“The Salinas Police Department has never responded to the residence where the two girls live, and the Salinas Police Department had no contact with the mother regarding child endangerment, welfare check, or any other type of call for service,” the department said in a press release.

The police response comes after TMZ posted the story with a headline that read in part that the children were “almost taken from mom.”

The TMZ story read in part; ‘as for the alleged neglect, it prompted a welfare check. According to local community members who stepped in to help the family … they were almost separated by cops and CPS officials, who apparently came knocking.’

Salinas police went on to say that any social media posts indicating they took action in this matter are completely false.

Police are referring to an Instagramer known as Flowerinspanish who said she spoke with the girls’ mother.

Flowerinspanish then posted, “she says the cops came to her home trying to take her children from her… they were accusing her of child endangerment.”

Accusations were also made against Child Protective Services indicating they got involved as well. Monterey county supervisor Luis Alejo concerned about the allegations started making calls.

“We were able to verify that the department nor CPS had any contact with this family so that clearly turned out to be false,” Alejo said.

Action news reached out to Flowerinspanish but got no response to our request for a phone call.

Supervisor Alejo says he’s aware of at least two Go Fund Me accounts set up on behalf of the children and as Monday afternoon he said more than $100,000 had been raised for the kids and their mother.

“It’s a good response from the community but also in any of these cases it’s also real easy to put out wrong facts and trying to use this situation for something that it was not but in the end here we are clearing the facts,” Alejo said.

Alejo also said that he’s reached out to the district attorney, Salinas police and the school district to make sure the family gets every dollar that is raised.

Late Monday afternoon the Salinas City elementary school district which the girls attend warned people about donating to the accounts.

“SCESD has no involvement with these GoFundMe campaigns and has no knowledge of how, and for whom, the funds will be distributed. Please observe caution when thinking about donating to these campaigns,” the district statement read.

As of Monday evening, one GoFundMe account set up by Jackie Lopez had raised over $117,000 dollars.

But Lopez disabled new donations to the fundraiser, stating the following reason, “I paused the campaign in an effort to provide clarity and to get her (the children’s mother) connected with the right people to help her manage her funds.”

The picture of the two girls also highlighted the digital divide between many students as they engage in distance learning.

When the school district learned of the students dilemma it quickly intervened and got the girls WiFi access.

But now some businesses are getting involved and offering free WiFi for students at their stores and restaurants.

One of them is Stonies restaurant in south Salinas.

“It kind of hit home a little bit and seeing kids that are really struggling out there we felt kind of had to do our part just a little bit it’s not much but trying to help the community a little bit more,” said executive chef Hondo Hernandez.

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