'Abducted' Mom Charged With ID Theft, False Reports

Bonnie Sweeten is being charged with false reports and identity theft.

ByABC News
May 27, 2009, 12:31 PM

May 27, 2009 — -- A Pennsylvania woman who vanished after calling 911 to say she had been abducted and stuffed in the trunk of a car along with her young daughter apparently faked the abduction, booked a flight to Orlando, where she checked into a hotel under an alias and then took her daughter to visit a Disney theme park, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Bonnie Sweeten, 38, was taken into custody in Orlando after being apprehended by the FBI and Orange County police at the Grand Floridian resort and is being charged with false reports and identity theft, Bucks County, Pa., District Attorney Michelle Henry said this evening.

Sweeten will not face any federal charges at this time, the prosecutor said.

Her 9-year-old daughter, Julia Rakoczy, was with authorities in Orlando and was to be picked up by her biological father, Anthony Rakoczy, Henry said.

While Sweeten's motive for fleeing was unclear, Henry indicated that domestic and financial problems were likely at the root of it.

According to court documents, Sweeten used former coworker Jillian Jenkinson's drivers license when she bought airline tickets to Orlando after reporting the abduction. She obtained the license on Tuesday by telling Jenkinson that she needed to borrow her driver's license to photocopy it in order to roll over Jenkinson's 401k account. Jenkinson expected to get her license back later that day.

Sweeten and her daughter were last heard from about 1:45 p.m. when she called 911 to say she had been in a minor car accident in Bucks County, a Philadelphia suburb. She called a second time moments later to say she had been tossed in the trunk of a Cadillac by two black men, according to police.