A Marine mother found herself wrongfully imprisoned this holiday.

Jennifer Heath Box shivered on a mat on the floor. Her back was pressed against the other prisoner’s back. as they desperately tried to keep warm. Cold air conditioning fans blow through the Broward County Jail in south Florida. A guard walked past wearing a coat and beanie.

It was Christmas Eve and her son, a Marine, Leaving on December 1st, 27 years old, will be stationed in Okanawa City. Japan for 3 years

And the police arrested the wrong person, “Jennifer.”

Jennifer Heath Box was arrested on December 1, on September 24, 2022, for sharing two-thirds of her name with another woman wanted for child endangerment. (Sheriff’s Office Fox News Digital/Broward through the Institute for Justice)

Anúncios

The Justice Department suspended the DEA’s random searches of travelers at airports after a report found “Serious concerns”

“The fact that it was so easy to arrest me. It just makes you wonder how many other people are like this,” Box told Fox News Digital while sitting in her Texas home two years after she was arrested and jailed on charges of Three nights following someone else’s arrest warrant

Box is now suing the Broward Sheriff’s Office, alleging that officials violated her Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. When they fail to “Basic due diligence to confirm whether the person they plan to arrest is actually under a warrant or not.”

‘I think you guys have the wrong person.’

Box and her husband rushed to the front of the line, eager to get off their cruise ship on Christmas Eve 2022. They had just spent six days at sea with Box’s younger brother. Celebrating his second recovery from cancer, Box now wants to return home to celebrate Christmas with her children, the last time the family will be together before her son travels to Okinawa for a time. At least three years

But when she scanned her ID card to get off the ship, Authorities said security was needed to meet Box, and police and Customs and Border Protection soon surrounded Box and her husband.

“They asked if I was Jennifer. Heath?” she told Box, giving Heath her middle name after marrying her husband.

She repeatedly asked law enforcement officers standing around her what was going on. Finally, they said they had a warrant for her from Harris County, Texas.

“It is a danger to children,” the deputy governor said.

Box’s eyes widened. her husband says “I think you have the wrong person.”

Police have issued an arrest warrant for Jennifer Delcarmen Heath, who is 23 years younger and nearly half a foot shorter than Jennifer, who just got off the cruise ship.

Body camera and patrol car video show Jennifer Box’s arrest on Christmas Eve 2022. (Broward County Sheriff’s Office via the Institute for Justice)

‘We will fight’: Colorado woman says she went ‘to war’ when county tried to claim her personal property

According to a July 2022 court filing, Jennifer DelCarmen Heath is accused of endangering her children, ages 1 and 3.

Jennifer Heath Box, who was 48 years old at the time, had no minor children. The suspect on the arrest warrant is younger than one of her daughters.

“Is it dangerous for children? What child will I harm?” Box asked in shock.

Deputies handcuffed her and placed her in a sheriff’s office SUV. Internal video shows Box still insisting something went wrong as she was transported to the Broward County Jail.

Booking officials said she didn’t see any warrants in Box’s system when she scanned her driver’s license, but Deputy Peter Peraza confirmed they would book her anyway. According to the complaint filed against the Sheriff’s Office, Peraza and other officials and corrections employees.

Box’s attorneys at the Institute for Justice , a nonprofit civil liberties law firm, said Broward County officials overlooked at least 10 important differences between Box and the subject of the arrest warrant. Including wide age and height differences. Different Social Security and FBI Numbers and differences in eye color, hair and skin. The only information regarding Box was a copy of her DMV photo attached to the arrest warrant.

Box is humiliated and frightened when she is strip-searched. They were dressed in prison uniforms and placed in cold, dirty cells. She said she saw constant screaming and violence in the adjacent men’s area.

She woke up on Christmas morning after a restless night on the floor next to a stranger and was denied bond because another “Jennifer” had an extradition warrant, according to the complaint. Harris County has the maximum amount of time. 30 days to pick her up one official told Box.

At home, both Box’s brother and her husband were battling multiple layers of bureaucracy. Harris County officials said they wanted BSO to provide Box’s arrest warrant and fingerprints for comparison, but BSO refused, according to the lawsuit.

Jennifer Box has three children, who were between the ages of 19 and 30 at the time of her arrest. The suspect in the child endangerment warrant is 25 years old, Hispanic and five inches shorter than Box. (Courtesy Jennifer Box)

New Mexico police chief claims he has constitutional right to leave his body cameras after accident: report

Finally, on the evening of Dec. 1, on Sept. 26, Box was able to file a complaint, asking BSO to compare her fingerprints to the suspect’s fingerprints.

Box walked out of jail at about 10 a.m. on Dec. 1, 27. Her son was boarding the plane.

“They took things from me that I will never get back,” Box said. “I will never have that time back with my kids. I will never have the opportunity to have those memories.”

She recalls talking to the officer who took her out of the detention center about all the things she missed over the holiday. His expression began “Extremely arrogant,” she said, but softened when she told him she hadn’t seen her son before he left for the Marine Corps.

“’Something happened,’” Box recalled the officer saying.

That was the closest to an apology she’d ever gotten.

‘No wrongdoing of employees found’

Broward Sheriff’s Office said Fox News Digital In a statement that They “sympathize with the difficult situation Ms. Jennifer Heath Box is in” but blame Harris. County for such accidents

“If it weren’t for the arrest warrant filed by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Customs and Border Patrol will not flag Ms. Box and BSO will not be notified. And she will not be arrested,” a spokesperson wrote.

The statement added: “Deputy BSO’s actions related to Ms. Box’s arrest were reviewed by the Broward Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs Division and no employee misconduct was found.”

Institute for Justice Attorney Jared McClain said that while Harris County and CBP made mistakes in the case, “It does not excuse the behavior of Officer Peraza and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.”

“They have a duty to make sure that the person they arrest is actually under a warrant. Especially in the face of Jennifer convincingly insisting over and over that they have the wrong person.”

CBP provided Box’s name to BSO before her departure, according to her attorney. Giving the officer enough time to confirm her identity. “Before they decided to arrest the wrong Jennifer.”

Georgia City Pays Officers $55,000 to Train Free Speech After Veteran Arrested on DUI ‘PANHANDLING’

Jennifer Heath Box is one of at least 160 people named “Jennifer Heath” living in Texas. According to her complaint (Fox News Digital)

BSO made similar errors with at least two others. false identity The arrests included one in which a man was jailed for five days before police scanned his fingerprints and confirmed he was guilty, according to the lawsuit.

“Despite a history of jailing innocent people who share the same name as someone with an outstanding warrant, Broward County has failed to adequately train its officers. or adopt new policies, practices, or traditions. This is to ensure that BSO officials will verify the identity of those arrested,” the suit alleged.

BSO did not respond to Fox’s questions about whether the department had made any policy changes. After Box’s arrest?

The lawsuit asks for an admission that the defendants violated Box’s constitutional rights. Including the damage.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

As Box prepares to decorate her Christmas tree this year, she told Fox News Digital that she would like to see more checks and balances. So that no one would endure what she had to go through.

“I want to hold those people accountable,” she said. “You’re messing with people’s lives, it’s not just (fun and games) or whatever, and ‘I’m going to put someone in jail. I’ll check the box. And I’m going home to my family.’ You hurt a lot of people in this situation. other than myself.”

Elizabeth Heckman contributed to the accompanying video.