PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge signed an order Monday, dismissing the case against a Valley woman falsely arrested by federal agents and taken to prison.
Penny McCarthy, 66, was originally set to have an identity hearing on Tuesday in a federal court where she was going to have to prove she wasn't an accused criminal in Oklahoma who had violated her parole.
“The United States does not intend to proceed forward at that hearing, and therefore dismissal of this matter and vacatur of the hearing is in the interest of justice,” says the motion filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“This says we screwed up and we’re going to make this go away. And I’m supposed to just lay down and play dead, and I’m not going to do it,” McCarthy told AB15.
McCarthy and her family are demanding accountability for how the system got it so wrong.
“You showed up with six Marshals looking like something out of ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’ coming to my door, threatened to tase me twice in my own driveway,” she said recounting the arrest outside her Phoenix home last month.
The ABC15 Investigators first reported her story after she provided extensive documentation that her name was Penny McCarthy, but said federal agents insisted she was 70-year-old Carole Anne Rozak.
“Now they want to just dismiss this. They want to sweep it under the rug,” McCarthy said.
According to the federal court paperwork, Rozak – the woman police say is McCarthy, had a checkered past. But her crimes and parole violation date back to the 1990s in Oklahoma.
The same federal records show Rozak went to prison for all non-violent crimes again committed three states away, including bank fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property, and false statements to a financial institution.
According to the Deputy U.S. Marshal in Oklahoma, Rozak’s digital fingerprints appeared to initially match, but they are still trying to figure out what happened.
ABC15 continues to push for answers in this case and has requested an on-camera interview with the U.S. Marshals Service.
“What do I want? I want my life back. I want my DNA in my possession. I want my mug shots that they took in my possession,” McCarthy said.
ABC15 will air another follow-up report at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Have a tip for the ABC15 Investigators? Email Investigator Jennifer Kovaleski at jennifer.kovaleski@abc15.com
