The California woman caught on camera abusing a black teenage boy whom she claimed stole her cell phone, harassing the boy and his family in the lobby of a New York City hotel, has been charged with a hate crime and other charges by a New York County grand jury, NBC News reports.
In December in the lobby of the Arlo Soho, an upscale, boutique Manhattan hotel, Miya Ponsetto accused the 14-year-old son of jazz musician Keyon Harrold of stealing her iPhone. She ranted that the boy should turn it over to him in an incident his father recorded on his phone. Security cameras in the hotel later filmed Ponsetto trying to bear-hug Keyon Harrold Jr., in an attempt to throw him to the ground.
The phone was later found in an Uber Ponsetto had ridden in and was returned to her. She had been charged earlier with attempted robbery, grand larceny, acting in a manner injurious to a child and two counts of attempted assault. The county grand jury added two counts of unlawful imprisonment as a hate crime, aggravated harassment, and endangering the welfare of a child. She pleaded not guilty.
In January, Ponsetto was arrested in Ventura County, California on a fugitive warrant issued by New York to face the initial charges. Police had to forcibly remove her from her car after she resisted arrested and tried to slam her car door on an officer trying to detain her.
Later, after the video of the event went viral, she made an appearance on the CBS Morning Show where she claimed she was “super sweet” and not responsible for any crimes. “The footage shows me attacking his son, attacking him how? Yelling at him, OK, I apologize. Can we move on?” she said. “Basically I’m a 22-year-old girl. I am, I don’t — racism — how is one girl accusing a guy about a phone a crime?”