(WND)—A woman is suing Broward County, Florida, after law enforcement officers there arrested her for something someone else did, refusing to accept her own identification and ignoring the fact that the description of the wanted woman didn’t match.
The Institute for Justice reports the complaint against the county is on behalf of Jennifer Heath Box. She charges authorities violated her constitutional right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, as well as due process.
The IJ explained the background:
In December 2022, Jennifer went on a cruise with family members to celebrate the news that her younger brother, Mark, had beat cancer for the second time. After a fun week aboard the Harmony of the Seas, the cruise ship returned to Port Everglades on the morning of Christmas Eve, giving Jennifer enough time to spend Christmas with her three adult children. But when Jennifer scanned her ID to get off the ship, police surrounded her and told her there was a warrant for her arrest for child endangerment out of Harris County, Texas.
The IJ reported the warrant did seek a woman named Jennifer, but it wasn’t this Jennifer. And she documented that her own children already all were adults.
“It was a really scary and confusing experience, because I’ve never had run-ins with law enforcement and I have no criminal record,” she explained. “I couldn’t believe that I could be stopped, arrested, and jailed, just because my name was similar to someone they were looking for.”
She knew the officers were wrong, so she cooperated calmly and provided police with her license and date of birth, as well as information about her children.
It didn’t matter to officers.
“Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Peter Peraza handcuffed her on the ship and took her to a police car for additional questioning. In the car, Jennifer continued to lay out evidence that Peraza had the wrong person, but he insisted everything on the warrant matched Jennifer’s identification. It didn’t,” the IJ said.
For example, the suspect’s name was Jennifer Delcarmen Heath, not Jennifer Heath Box, the suspect was 23 years younger than Jennifer, making her even younger than one of Jennifer’s children, the suspect was five inches shorter than Jennifer, the suspect had different color eyes, hair, and skin tone and the suspect had a different home address, driver’s license number, social security number, and Harris County System Person Number.
Then, in what would seem to be important, the law enforcement search was for a woma with “five young children.”
“Peraza had so much evidence that he had the wrong Jennifer, and he either ignored that evidence or deliberately misled other Broward County officials,” said IJ Attorney Jared McClain. “We must be able to hold government officials accountable when they overlook glaring evidence and arrest the wrong person.”
When Peraza arrived at the booking station with the wrong woman, the officer there confirmed she had no outstanding warrants, but Peraza didn’t believe him.
“Jennifer was then strip searched and booked. Over the next three days, she faced horrible conditions. A male inmate routinely tried to enter Jennifer’s cell while she was alone, and officers blasted death metal over the speakers and freezing air into the cell, making it so cold that she had to sleep back-to-back with another inmate just to keep warm,” the IJ said.
Her husband, a police officer, told the county to compare her fingerprints, but officers refused.
Finally, family members found that a Harris County employee had damagingly attached Jennifer’s driver’s license photo to the warrant, instead of the suspect’s photo.
IJ litigation lawyer Bobbi Taylor said, “This lawsuit is about making sure what happened to Jennifer doesn’t happen to anyone else. This needs to stop.”
The “mistake” cost her three days in jail, the holidays with her children, and a meet-up with a son who was being deployed with the Marines.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
At Last, a Company With Integrity in the Gold IRA Industry
For several years, I’ve been vetting out precious metals companies in search of the best. I believe in gold and silver but it’s hard to find integrity in the Gold IRA industry. The vast majority operate with shady tactics and gigantic spreads that take advantage of Americans who simply want to protect their life’s savings.
I’ve found a handful that I like and I’ve worked with some of them. By no means would I “unrecommend” them because, again, I vetted them out and found them to be above the fold. Unfortunately, it isn’t hard to be better than the rest when the rest are so darn awful.
After years of searching, I finally found a company that truly operates with integrity. Augusta Precious Metals has three important attributes that set them far above the competition:
- Non-Commissioned Sales Team: I cannot stress how important and unique this is. With just about every other company in the Gold IRA industry, the sales teams make commission from every account they open. This means they steer their clients toward the gold and silver products with the highest commission. With Augusta Precious Metals, the team is solely focused on putting the best gold and silver for their clients into their IRA. They get paid to serve the best interests of the Gold IRA client, NOT their own commission pay.
- Incredibly Low Fees: Most Americans would be shocked if they knew the spread other Gold IRA companies charge. Augusta charges just 5% versus up to 45% elsewhere.
- No Pressure, No Gimmicks: There’s an understanding among most in the Gold IRA industry that fear and pressure is the way to go. Augusta Precious Metals takes a sober approach when working with clients because they hold integrity in the highest possible regard. This is why they don’t offer gimmicks like “free” or “bonus” silver. It’s also why they do not apply pressure tactics to get quick sales. Their educational and transparent approach to doing business is exceedingly rare in the Gold IRA industry.
