Pennsylvania Mother Ran Off to Disney World with Her Daughter After Reporting to Police They Had Been Kidnapped by ‘Two Black Men’
Assemblywoman Dawn Marie Addiego and Assemblyman Scott Rudder today announced they will introduce legislation increasing the penalties for anyone who makes a false report to law enforcement authorities.
“We want to make sure New Jersey doesn’t have its own version of the highly publicized case in Pennsylvania that wasted the time and money of law enforcement departments searching for a ‘kidnapped’ woman and her child,” said Assemblywoman Addiego.
In that case, the woman, Bonnie Sweeten, called police to report that her SUV had been hit from behind, and that she and her 9-year-old daughter has been kidnapped by “two black men” driving a Cadillac. She claimed that the two of them were locked in the truck of car.
The missing pair was later found safe and sound in Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
“Fortunately the little girl was recovered and physically unharmed,” said Assemblyman Rudder. “The sad case was made even more heinous because the run-away mother blamed her fictional kidnapping on phantom ‘black men’ in a Cadillac.”
The lawmakers will introduce one bill that increases penalties for making a false report to law enforcement in certain circumstances. The bill makes it a third degree crime – upgraded from fourth degree – to falsely incriminate another person with the purpose to implicate another because of race, color, religion, sexual orientation or ethnicity. Penalties include jail time of 3 to 5 years, fines to $15,000, or both.
The bill also makes it a fourth degree crime to give a false report to a law enforcement officer. Currently, that is a disorderly persons offense. A fourth degree crime is punishable by up to 18 months in prison, $10,000 fine, or both.
The bill also provides that any person convicted of either offense be required to reimburse the municipality for any costs incurred in investigating the false information or fictitious report.
“It’s as if the people who report phony crimes use a template. The ‘black man’ did it,” Assemblyman Rudder said. “Blaming a non-existent person based on their ethnicity is rooted in the crude fear and insensitivity of racism. We will not tolerate this reprehensible behavior in New Jersey.”
Addiego and Rudder will introduce another bill that makes it a crime to initiate a false Amber Alert warning. The fourth degree crime is punishable by up to 18 months in prison, a fine of $10,000, or both.
“We will not tolerate the abuse of the Amber Alert system,” said Assemblywoman Addiego. “We can not allow the effectiveness of the system to be eroded by false reports. When we light the highway signs and broadcast the reports, it has to be the real thing, not Chicken Little crying that ‘the sky is falling.’”
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