Elderly Woman Arrested By US Marshals In Case Of Mistaken Identity

An elderly woman from Arizona was wrongly arrested at gunpoint by US Marshals in a case of mistaken identity.

Elderly woman arrest caught on camera

Video footage released by ABC15, after multiple requests to federal authorities, reveals the intense moment law enforcement officers, armed with rifles, mistakenly targeted 66-year-old Penny McCarthy.

During the March 5 event, McCarthy, bewildered and scared, initially had no clue she was on the radar of the Marshals.

She later told ABC15, “I truly felt like I was being kidnapped.”

The officers approached her Phoenix residence with weapons drawn, ordering her to “put your hands up!” An officer asserted, “We have an arrest warrant,” to which McCarthy, still confused, replied, “For me?” An officer confirmed, “Yes. For you.”

Seeking clarity, McCarthy asked, “Who am I?” while receiving conflicting commands from multiple officers, like

“Turn away. Turn around. Turn away. We’ll discuss it later. Turn away. You’re gonna get hit.”

While standing on her driveway, McCarthy showed doubt about the agents’ identities as law enforcement. “I truly felt like I was being kidnapped,” she said to the outlet.

“Stop moving, stop looking back. Stop looking back!” an officer yelled. McCarthy made an unclear comment mentioning “police,” leading a Marshal to respond, “Ma’am, you see that we’re the police.” She replied skeptically, “How do I see that?”

After being handcuffed and led to their vehicle, the officers revealed they mistook her for 70-year-old Carole Ann Rozak, a fugitive from Oklahoma.

Rozak is wanted by the Marshals for violating parole in 1999, when she neglected to report to any federal probation officer after serving time for non-violent crimes.

McCarthy countered, “That’s not who I am.” Despite this, the Marshals completed the arrest process.

It wasn’t until ten days after ABC15 highlighted the error that the US Marshals conceded their mistake, coinciding with an Arizona judge dismissing the charges against McCarthy, who had already spent time in jail due to the error.

The Deputy U.S. Marshal in Oklahoma initially made the wrong identification based on a Facebook photo, then claimed a mistaken digital fingerprint match between Rozak and McCarthy. However, a thorough fingerprint analysis later invalidated this claim.

“I’m a senior citizen that got picked up at gunpoint in her front yard. And taken to prison,” McCarthy said about the ordeal. “Nobody believes it.”

McCarthy noted her frustration about the entire process, stating, “They did nothing but treat me like crap and lie to me. Sorry, I am so disappointed in my government. It’s not funny.”

While in custody, she was strip searched three times in what she described as a “humiliating and degrading” experience, and forced to spend the night in jail, despite providing Marshals with her birth certificate, driver’s license, and being identified by both her sister and daughter.

McCarthy was released the day after her arrest, until a an identity hearing that was scheduled for April 9.

A day before the hearing, an Arizona judge dismissed the case, when the Marshals admitted to arresting the wrong woman.

Lawyer blasts marshals

Josh Kolsrud, a former federal prosecutor turned criminal defense attorney, voiced serious concerns about the manner of McCarthy’s arrest.

“This case is concerning because of the manner in which Miss McCarthy was arrested,” he informed ABC15. He described the situation as “a textbook example of federal agencies not doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”

After reviewing the body cam footage, Kolsrud concluded that the Marshals applied excessive force.

“Anybody watching this video can see that this was an aggressive arrest and aggressive apprehension,” he stated.

“And it’s unreasonable on so many levels,” he added, questioning the Marshals’ lack of certainty regarding McCarthy’s identity.