Photo: TikTok
She's at it again/
By NyRee Ausler — Written on Jan 16, 2023
White women using Black men as scapegoats is no new phenomenon but it is equally shocking every time a new case of it emerges.
One of the most memorable cases what that of Susan Smith, the North Carolina mother who decided she no longer wanted her kids and drove them into a lake. She sent police and the media on a wild goose chase looking for a Black male perpetrator.
But a lesser-known case is that of Bonnie Sweeten, a Philadelphia mother who faked hers and her daughter’s kidnapping in 2009.
Bonnie Sweeten claimed she and her daughter were kidnapped by Black men.
Sweeten called 911 to report that she and her 9-year-old daughter had been kidnapped by two Black men in a truck. She claimed she was calling from the trunk.
This led to an intense investigation involving the FBI that ended at Disney World, where Sweeten was found hiding out and living it up with her daughter.
To make matters worse, Sweeten was using the name of a former co-worker whose bank accounts she had drained and whose identity she had stolen, to stay undercover on her trip.
Public outcry was fast and furious and that same year, the dishonest woman was sentenced to 9-23 months in prison for filing a false police report.
Sweeten was sentenced to an additional eight years in prison.
Sweeten’s crimes didn’t stop at potentially putting innocent Black men at risk. In 2012 she was charged and convicted of stealing more than 600,000 from her employer and family members.
A just found that Sweeten had stolen money from a law firm she worked at, its clients, and even a 91-year-old relative afflicted with dementia. She later admitted to using the money for fertility treatments.
She was sentenced to eight years in prison and said, “I am very sorry for my actions."
“Waking up in prison, it clearly is a reminder every day of my actions and the things I have done to so many people, most of all my children.”
When a person is sent to prison for almost a decade, they have ample time to think about the damage they have done and change their ways. In Sweeten’s care that didn’t happen.
A TikTok account called Stop Misusing Abusing 911 recently posted a video sharing that Sweeten was given a job and a second chance from a friend after being released and added them to her list of victims.
The video is captioned “Upon release 8 years later, she received an opportunity to rebuild her life, but instead, she stole thousands of dollars from employer.”
The video recapped the prior actions that had gotten Sweeten locked up then shared an update.
A friend had decided to give her a “golden opportunity” and hired her after she had served her time. Sweeten turned around and swindled tens of thousands of dollars from him as well.
In October 2022, she was charged in the Eastern District of Philadelphia with two counts of wire fraud.
This time Sweeten allegedly used her job as a bookkeeper to forge checks and make fraudulent purchases using the company credit card.
She entered a guilty plea and is awaiting sentencing. Her attorney, James McHugh Jr. claims that these crimes took place over five years ago and that Sweeten is now a “productive and law-abiding citizen.
NyRee Ausler is a writer from Seattle, Washington, and author of seven books. She covers lifestyle and entertainment and news, as well as navigating the workplace and social issues.