The 66-year-old Arizona lady was in her yard at dwelling when a van stuffed with U.S. Marshals immediately pulled up and folks pointing rifles in her face began telling her she was below arrest.
A lady tried to show her innocence, whereas not even positive she was coping with the correct authorities, in a daunting incident of mistaken id simply outdoors Phoenix, Arixona.
In stunning bodycam footage obtained by ABC15 after six months by way of a Freedom of Info Act request, 66-year-old Penny McCarthy is seen as she’s immediately confronted at her dwelling by six U.S. Marshals pointing rifles at her and telling her she’s below arrest.
Habersham County Sheriff’s Workplace/Google Maps
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McCarthy instantly knew one thing was improper on March 5, 2024, however she wasn’t positive what it was. Actually, she advised ABC15, “I actually felt like I used to be being kidnapped.”
Even taking it at face worth, the harmless grandmother gave federal brokers a number of alternatives to confirm they have been on the proper dwelling and confronting the precise particular person. All of this with weapons pointed at her and a number of aggressive U.S. Marshals.
Arrest of Penny McCarthy
“We have now an arrest warrant,” certainly one of them tells her on the video.
“For me?” she replies, to which the officer responds, “Sure. For you.”
“Who am I?” she then asks, trying to have them affirm her id.
At that time, although, a number of brokers might be heard shouting at her issues like. “Flip away.” “Flip round.” “We’ll focus on it later.” “You are gonna get hit.”
She once more makes an attempt to make clear their mistake on the video, asking, “You do not need to affirm who I’m?”
The agent trying to apprehend her responds, “Put your hand behind your again. We’ll focus on that later.”
At one other level, an agent tells her, “If you happen to flip round once more, you are getting tased. You perceive me.”
Fairfax County Police Division
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Talking with ABC15 in regards to the terrifying incident, McCarthy stated, “I’m so upset in my authorities, It isn’t humorous.”
After watching the video for the primary time, she stated, “It simply makes me extra offended than earlier than.” She known as what she witnessed on the video an “abuse of energy. Interval.”
She additionally advised ABC15 that regardless of what’s heard on the video, federal brokers by no means did “focus on it later” along with her concerning her id. “They did nothing however deal with me like crap and mislead me.”
Federal brokers did inform her who they thought she was after they’d her in handcuffs.
On the time she was arrested and detained, federal brokers have been insisting she was Carole Anne Rozak, a 70-year-old fugitive from Oklahoma. Rozek had served jail time for non-violent crimes, however did not report back to her probation officers after her launch.
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ABC15 Investigates McCarthy Arrest
One month after her arrest, on April 4, 2024, ABC15 spoke with McCarthy, who offered in depth proof of her id — insisting that she is just not and has by no means been Carole Anne Rozak — to the information outlet. On the time, federal authorities have been nonetheless satisfied she was.
Amongst that proof was her California start certificates and driver’s license. Rozek, in the meantime, was reportedly born in Canada and has a Canadian social safety quantity.
“I am a senior citizen that obtained picked up at gunpoint in her entrance yard. And brought to jail,” McCarthy advised the outlet on the time. “No person believes it.”
She additional stated that brokers apparently IDed her by her Fb image.
Scanner Media/Wooden County Prosecutor’s Workplace
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She detailed on the time that officers “proceeded to chain my ankles, chained my wrists, put me at the back of a automotive and once I requested for why I used to be below arrest they stated a parole violation.” She was launched the next day pending an id listening to.
McCarthy stated her daughter and sister each tried to confirm her id with authorities, displaying brokers household images going again years. “It nearly makes my mind cease working to consider the extent of injustice concerned right here,” her daughter Patricia Huffman advised ABC15.
The mom of 5, and grandmother of 11, detailed that first night time in federal custody, which included being “strip searched thrice in entrance of all these folks… It’s simply humiliating and degrading.”
ABC15 started to dig into her case of mistaken id, as her daughter famous that her mom’s mounted earnings meant hiring a lawyer to battle this was out of the query. The outlet in contrast a 1999 mugshot of Rozek to the Fb image brokers used to arrest McCarthy.
Fb / Harris County Sheriff’s Workplace
“I do not appear to be this woman,” she stated.
A decide had beforehand arrange an id listening to for April 9 in federal courtroom for McCarthy (above left) to try to show she was not Rozak.
McCarthy Exonerated
Sooner or later earlier than her scheduled id listening to, an Arizona federal decide dismissed the case towards her and canceled the listening to after admitting that they’d made a mistake in arresting McCarthy.
They revealed that her fingerprints do not match these on file for Rozak. ABC15 notes that federal brokers fingerprinted McCarthy when she was first taken into custody in March. McCarthy stated investigators initially advised her the prints have been a match for Rozak, however prosecutors advised the decide the subsequent day they did not have anybody accessible to investigate her prints.
“The U.S. Marshals Service has acquired affirmation from fingerprint evaluation that Ms. Penny McCarthy is just not the fugitive Carole Anne Rozak, wished for an excellent parole violation warrant in Oklahoma,” the company stated in a press release acquired by the information station on the time.
When requested how this might have occurred, ABC15 stories that the U.S. Marshals Service stated a preliminary evaluation decided that brokers adopted correct procedures in “good-faith reliance on the excellent warrant” and “regrets any inconvenience attributable to the mistaken identification of Ms. McCarthy.”
“We’re sorry that occurred. Have a pleasant day. Actually? It isn’t proper,” McCarthy stated in response. “It is a hell of a system.”
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