“How is it a crime for a girl to blame a man for a phone call?” Ponzeto asked CBS Mornings presenter Gale King. The 23-year-old California woman pleaded guilty Monday to felony criminal mischief – second-degree imprisonment for hate crime – for falsely accusing the 14-year-old of stealing her phone and then attacking him, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. In the Ponceto agreement, prosecutors dropped several other charges and will allow Ponceto to eventually plead guilty to a misdemeanor if left out of legal trouble for two years. If she does not, Ponceto will face up to four years in a New York state jail. Under New York State law, a person commits a second-degree illegal imprisonment if he “interferes effectively.” [a victim’s] freedom by moving him from one place to another or by restricting him. ” When the victim is under the age of 16, the law not only prohibits anyone from using physical violence, bullying or deception, as is the case with adults, but also “by any means, including consent”. Ponsetto – known as “SoHo Karen” – was videotaped in the lobby of the Arlo Hotel in New York accusing a black teenager, Keyon Harrold Jr., of stealing her phone in December 2020. The video shows her facing him. teenager, shouting that she would not let him go. He then chased him and threw him to the ground. A few minutes later, an Uber driver returned Ponzeto’s phone, which he had left in his car. A woman falsely accused guests of the Black Hotel of stealing her phone. A viral video sparked a police investigation. The district attorney described Ponceto’s behavior as “outrageous.” “As a Black man, I have personally experienced a racial profile countless times in my life and I sympathize with the young man who died as a result of this incident,” Bragg said in the statement. “This appeal ensures proper accountability for Ms Ponceto by addressing the underlying causes of her conduct and ensuring that this conduct is not repeated.” Neither Ponzeto nor her lawyer, Paul D’Emilia, responded to requests for comment from the Washington Post on Monday night. But D’Emilia told NBC News in a statement that he and his client were pleased with the “unfortunate misunderstanding”. [was] closer to a final solution “. Ponceto hopes Harold “accepts her regrets and apologies for her behavior that night and that everyone involved can move forward,” the statement said. Ponzeto already has it, D’Emilia added. “Miya Ponsetto is living an exemplary life from this incident with the young man a year and a half ago.” But her apology was not accepted. The teenager’s father, a distinguished jazz musician Keyon Harrold Sr., told the New York Times that Ponsetto’s words were misplaced as his son was “unjustly and aggressively attacked” in an “unprovoked attack”. Her apology “minimizes the trauma,” she said. He confronted a teenager through a lost phone. Her bizarre apology interview was a mistake, says the lawyer. In March 2021, Harold sued Ponzeto, the Arlo SoHo Hotel, and his manager, who was working on December 26, 2020, when the attack occurred. In the lawsuit, Harold accused the manager of helping Ponceto present racist evidence and falsely accusing his son. Arlo Hotels did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post, but in the days following the attack, the hotel apologized, admitting that the manager had not done enough to “de-escalate the dispute,” The Post reported. Harold Jr.’s lawyer, Ben Crump, told NBC News that the deal with Ponzeto was “very disappointing”, as it probably means he will escape jail. “We will not change the culture until we hold people accountable for their outrageously bad behavior,” he said. After attacking the teenager, police said, Ponceto left the hotel. The California sheriff’s deputies, armed with warrants from the New York Police Department, tried to pull her over a week later, but Ponceto did not stop until she got home, The Post reported at the time. As soon as she got there, she refused to get out of her car as her deputies said she was in custody. In an interview with King, Ponzetto apologized for what she did to Harold, admitting that “he could have approached the situation differently.” But it was not a crime, she said, adding that she considered herself “super sweet”. “I do not feel that I am who I am as a human being. “I do not feel that this one mistake defines me.” Andrea Salcedo and Meryl Kornfield contributed to this report.
