The California woman who accused a14-year-old black teenager of stealing her cellphone at a New York hotel lobby in December, was charged with a hate crime on Wednesday.
A New York grand jury indicted Miya Ponsetto, 22 on four charges including unlawful imprisonment, as a hate crime, endangering the welfare of a child, and aggravated harassment, according to CNN. She pleaded not guilty.
Paul D’Emilia, Ponsetto’s attorney, slammed the charges as “absurd” and said District Attorney Cy Vance chose a “craven and opportunistic path in indicting” his client.
“The charges alleged are a brazen and clear overreach of the intent of the statute. In sum, they are absurd, and a perversion of our legal system. As truly violent criminals maraud and run rampant through New York City, this DA exhibits zero interest in law-enforcement and prosecution. Instead, he turns his prosecutorial fury on a distraught and panicked young woman stranded without her lifeline, her phone, thousands of miles from home. Shameful,” D’Emilia said on a statement.
On Boxing Day, Ponsetto accosted Jazz musician Keyon Harrold and his son 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr., in the lobby of the Arlo Hotel in Soho, New York and demanded that the boy handed over her phone even though he kept saying that it was his phone.
Security video released by the NYPD at the time shows Ponsetto frantically grabbing at the teen as he tried to get away from her through the hotel’s front door. She’s seen clutching him from behind before both tumble to the ground.
Her phone was later returned to the hotel by an Uber driver.
Ponsetto remains under court-supervised release in California and is set to make her next appearance in court in October. Earlier this year, she was charged with attempted robbery, grand larceny, acting in a manner injurious to a child and two counts of attempted assault.
