A woman has filed a complaint to sue the United States Marshals Service (USMS) after a case of mistaken identity when she was arrested at her Phoenix home last year.
Penny McCarthy, 66, was at home after work on March 5, 2024, when she says three unmarked white vans pulled up to her driveway and began shrieking that they had a warrant out for her arrest. In a body-cam video of the incident, USMS officers can be heard asking McCarthy to put her hands behind her back and look away.
McCarthy’s attorneys, however, claim that USMS did not have a warrant for her arrest but rather a 25-year-old warrant from an Oklahoma court for someone named Carole Anne Rozak. The Institute for Justice, a nonprofit public interest law firm that works to safeguard the Fourth Amendment and is identified as one of McCarthy’s attorneys on the complaint, claims she has no connection to Rozak and has never had one.
McCarthy can be seen in the body-cam video being driven away after officers emerged from the vans with weapons drawn, warning her that they would “hit” her if she did not comply.
She claims they then stopped at a local grocery store, where she was transferred to another car and driven to a Florence prison. McCarthy stated that once there, she continued to inform the officers that she was not Rozak. She claims she was never told of her rights or permitted to contact her family or an attorney.
“Nobody should be this far against the law,” McCarthy said in an interview on Tuesday. “Do I live in 1940s Germany or America because this is crazy!”
McCarthy revealed in an emotional interview that she signed all of the documents required at the detention center with her complete name, parents’ names, and birthdate. She stated that one officer asked her why she was “making things difficult” by doing this. McCarthy repeated that it was because she was not who they believed she was.
She was strip-searched three times while never leaving USMS custody, according to the complaint. McCarthy explained that this was especially distressing for her because she had been a victim of child sexual assault.
“I have spent 20 years in counseling, and this was all undone as I had to be strip-searched by one woman for something I did not do,” McCarthy said through tears.
McCarthy stated that she had her fingerprints taken twice, provided a DNA sample, and had images of her tattoo and face taken. She spent the night in Florence before being bused back to Phoenix for her first court appearance.
McCarthy was allowed to return home by the judge after the hearing, but she had to return in a month for another hearing to confirm her identification. McCarthy’s DNA and fingerprints were eventually found to differ from Rozak’s.
“The federal government dismissed the proceedings against Penny, but the damage from her wrongful arrest and continued detention is long-lasting. She now fears being alone and taking her dog for a walk. While she sold her home and moved out of the state, the psychological effects from the whole experience have stayed with her,” the Institute for Justice said in a statement.
McCarthy said she still has not received an apology. “I am terrified all the time,” she said.