Stamford, CONNECTICUT

Story dated July 31, 2007 - A former two-term school board member and one of the Women of the Year for 2001 by the state African-American Affairs Commission, claims police falsely accused" her son to get back at her for pressuring them about rising gang violence in Stamford during her years on the school board.

"This is a backlash," she said after learning of her son's plea deal yesterday afternoon.

Larry Stephenson, 19, pleaded guilty to two counts each of robbery and assault. He was on probation when he committed the robberies. Police charged Stephenson with first-degree robbery and second-degree assault of an austistic teen in May 2006. Two months later, Stephenson and two other city teens attacked another teenager as he left a store.

Stephenson pleaded guilty on the day his trial was scheduled to begin.