In March 2024, Penny McCarthy was working in the yard in front of her Arizona home when she claims a bunch of U.S. marshals unexpectedly approached her, rifles out, and ordered her to raise her hands.
They claimed that because she had an outstanding warrant, they were come to arrest her.
In body camera footage, a bewildered McCarthy said, “For me?”
“Yes, for you,” a marshal yelled.
“Who am I” said McCarthy.
The marshals were there to arrest Carole Rozak, not McCarthy, but they didn’t respond.
McCarthy, who was 66 at the time, insisted she was not Rozak, but marshals nevertheless arrested her. It marked the start of what she describes as a terrifying twenty-four hours, during which she was taken to a federal prison facility over an hour from her residence and subjected to three strip searches.
According to the Institute for Justice, McCarthy has now sued the marshals for wrongful arrest.
“I’m still afraid that one day I will be pulled over and again mistaken for a criminal,” McCarthy stated. “I’m suing because I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. Unless someone is held responsible, someone else will go through this same nightmare.”
Following a “sleepless night in a cold jail cell,” the grandma made her first appearance before a court. When she explained her situation to a public attorney, he asked for further time to obtain the findings of the DNA and fingerprint comparisons.
She was released by the judge pending the outcome of the fingerprint and DNA comparison. Once it was established that McCarthy was not Rozak, the case was abandoned by the authorities.
But according to her lawyers, the damage was already done. They claim that she is afraid to go outside and walk her dog because she moved out of state following the incident.
Paul Avelar, a senior attorney with the Institute of Justice, said that the arrest was illegal under both federal and Arizona law.
“To make matters worse, even if Penny had been the fugitive they were looking for, the officers’ over-the-top display of force was uncalled for, given that the fugitive was wanted only for failing to check in with a probation officer after being released from prison twenty-five years ago for nonviolent crimes,” Avelar stated.
According to the 79-page lawsuit, the marshals did not perform the necessary basic tests to verify McCarthy’s identity, such as looking at her photo ID.
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“Had officers taken any steps to investigate Penny’s background, they would have learned that Penny was not Carole Rozak,” according to the lawsuit.
According to police, Rozak’s failure to follow up with a parole officer following her conviction for bank fraud was the grounds for the arrest warrant.
McCarty is claiming for Fourth Amendment violations, malicious prosecution, and wrongful imprisonment.
The U.S. Marshals Service in Arizona admitted that it had made the incorrect arrest, but Colleen Grayman, a public information officer, stated that the department does not comment on administrative investigations or personnel issues.
“Notwithstanding the above, we regret any inconvenience caused to Ms. McCarthy by her arrest and remain committed to lessening similar incidents in the future,” she stated.
