Pa woman cooks up another 'Blame the Black man' hoax
George Curry/NNPA Columnist
Issue date: 6/7/09 Section: Politics
Move over Charles Stuart and Susan Smith. Bonnie Sweeten of suburban Philadelphia has now qualified to be inducted into the Hall of Shame that bestows special recognition upon Whites who have committed crimes and then falsely blamed a Black man.
Last week, Sweeten and her 9-year-old daughter, Julia, were the subject of a national missing persons search. The drama began when Sweeten made a frantic call to 911 at 1:45 on Tuesday afternoon saying a fender-bender accident involving her SUV and a car; Black men forced her and her daughter into the trunk of their car and sped off. She said the abduction took place on a street in Upper Southhampton Township in Bucks County.
Aided by the FBI, police in the region conducted a massive manhunt and issued an Amber Alert for Julia Rakoczy, Sweeten's daughter from a previous marriage. But the lie began to unravel piece by piece. First, Sweeten's SUV was not found near the intersection where she claimed the abduction took place. Instead, it was recovered approximately 12 hours later in downtown Philadelphia.
A parking ticket had been placed on the windshield of the SUV about a half hour after Sweeten placed the frantic call. Investigators doubted Black men or anyone else could have made the 25-mile trip from Upper Southampton in the middle of the day within 30 minutes.
Investigators also discovered a videotape of Sweeten and her daughter passing through a security-screening device at the Philadelphia International Airport. Retracing Sweeten's steps, authorities learned that she had purchased two one-way tickets to Orlando, Fla. After withdrawing $12,000 from various accounts in days leading up to her departure, she borrowed a co-worker's license - purportedly in order to deal with a pension matter - and used the license to buy the tickets to Florida.
The two were traced to Disneyworld and apprehended as they were returning to the Grand Floridian resort. Attorney Debbie Calitz, Sweeten's former employer, told the Philadelphia Daily News that Sweeten "stole money from my law practice," which may account for her decision to flee. Sweeten was charged with identity theft and making a false police report.
Last week, Sweeten and her 9-year-old daughter, Julia, were the subject of a national missing persons search. The drama began when Sweeten made a frantic call to 911 at 1:45 on Tuesday afternoon saying a fender-bender accident involving her SUV and a car; Black men forced her and her daughter into the trunk of their car and sped off. She said the abduction took place on a street in Upper Southhampton Township in Bucks County.
Aided by the FBI, police in the region conducted a massive manhunt and issued an Amber Alert for Julia Rakoczy, Sweeten's daughter from a previous marriage. But the lie began to unravel piece by piece. First, Sweeten's SUV was not found near the intersection where she claimed the abduction took place. Instead, it was recovered approximately 12 hours later in downtown Philadelphia.
A parking ticket had been placed on the windshield of the SUV about a half hour after Sweeten placed the frantic call. Investigators doubted Black men or anyone else could have made the 25-mile trip from Upper Southampton in the middle of the day within 30 minutes.
Investigators also discovered a videotape of Sweeten and her daughter passing through a security-screening device at the Philadelphia International Airport. Retracing Sweeten's steps, authorities learned that she had purchased two one-way tickets to Orlando, Fla. After withdrawing $12,000 from various accounts in days leading up to her departure, she borrowed a co-worker's license - purportedly in order to deal with a pension matter - and used the license to buy the tickets to Florida.
The two were traced to Disneyworld and apprehended as they were returning to the Grand Floridian resort. Attorney Debbie Calitz, Sweeten's former employer, told the Philadelphia Daily News that Sweeten "stole money from my law practice," which may account for her decision to flee. Sweeten was charged with identity theft and making a false police report.
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