Mom Arrested in Fl, Daughter safe

Philadelphia, PA– Police have recovered video evidence at Philadelphia International Airport indicating Bonnie Sweeten, and 9 year old Julia Rakoczy, previously thought to be abducted, are now in Orlando, Florida.

Following almost 28 hours of multiple Law Enforcement agencies engaged in an all out man hunt for Sweeten and her daughter following her 911 calls alleging they had been kidnapped and in the trunk of the family car, the gig is up.

Although Sweeten used a fake ID and cash to purchase two one way tickets to Orlando International Airport yesterday, immediately following her calls to 911. It has been discovered that Ms. Sweeten is also a notary public, which would make it very easy to falsify an identity.

Sources close to the investigation have confirmed to blinkoncrime that Sweeten has a prior arrest record, and has recently been accused of embezzling over $300,000 through her work at The Carltiz Foundation, located in New Hope, PA. Sweeten was the asisstant to the founder.

The Carlitz Foundation was founded by Debra Carlitz. Ms. Carlitz is a Pennsylvania attorney who in 2008 was given a one year suspension from the PA Supreme Court overseeing the PA bar for one year. Calls to the office of Ms. Carlitz were not returned.

Check Back to blinkoncrime.com for this developing story

Sweetens former husband and Julia’s Father, Anthony Rakoczy appeared this morning on NBC’s the Today Show and Good Morning America. He had last seen his daughter on Memorial Day.

“I’m still in shock,” he said on NBC’s Today show. “She’s a great mother.”

“I was thinking that this is not real, that this is stuff you see on TV.” He described Sweeten as very organized, on top of her children’s many activities, and as someone with no known enemies. “I don’t understand why anyone would want to keep them,” he said. “Just let them go.”

Yesterday, at approximately 1:47PM, Bonnie Sweeten called 911 and reported her and her daughter Julia were forced into a late 90’s model, dark colored Cadillac following a  “fender bender” on Street Road and Central Avenue while exchanging insurance information. Sweeten claimed 2 black males forced them into the trunk, where she was  also calling them from. In her initial call, she told police the child was with her. Where it becomes unclear, is that in her subsequent calls, she changes her account and states her daughter is in the rear of the Denali. Police were able to trace the initial and subsequent calls to the same cell tower in Center City. 

Declining to elaborate further, FBI Special Agent J.J. Klavers said investigators are following a number of leads in the hunt for Bonnie Sweeten and her daughter Julia Rakoczy.

 “We’re not really in a position to address some of these issues right now. Our priority is getting everybody back safely,” he said.

Both vehicles were thought to have been found in downtown Philadelphia; within a 2 block radius of the last traced cell phone call by Sweeten. However, blinkoncrime.com has learned that Police are still searching for the Cadillac. The similar car found earlier with front end damage and silver paint has been excluded. The Silver Denali owned by Sweeten was located unlocked and without keys. It has been impounded by the FBI following receipt of a warrant.

 A source inside the PA State Police has confirmed to blinkoncrime.com that has heard the 911 calls, that Sweeten does sound frantic during them, but classified her calls as “drastically inconsistent.”  When I questioned if that could be due to the conditions of the environment during the commission of the crime or other, I received a “That would not be my professional opinion after listening to them three times.”

Adding to mounting concerns of the validity of Sweetens accounts; The  Denali was found with a parking ticket which was time-stamped at 2:20 PM yesterday afternoon. The meters on that street are timed so that it is likely that vehicle would to have been in place at that location at 2 PM at the earliest. Without traffic, the area where the Denali was found is a minimum of a 40 minute drive.

Early this afternoon, the administrator of Julia’s Belmont Hills Elementary school, through their spokesperson Susan Phy,  disclosed Julia Rakoczy was withdrawn from school on May 1, 2009. It was not known if she had been enrolled in another school, or if playmates or neighbors have seen the child recently. 

Bonnie Sweetens current husband, Richard Larry Sweeten with whom she owns a Landscaping Business, has refused all requests for comment. Neighbors of the Sweetens speaking on condition of anonymity, have confirmed the couple had recently seperated. 

Update I- The 2005 Gold Denali was located at 1:30am this morning, with a parking ticket on the windshield, within 2 blocks of the last cell phone signal of Bonnie Sweeten. Julia Rakoczy, 8, reported to be inside the vehicle by her mother to 911 operators following her abduction, was not located.

Southampton, PA– Mother and daughter, Bonnie Sweeten and 8 year old Julia Rakoczy, were abducted during a carjacking this afternoon off of Route 132, Street Road, in Southampton, PA.

PA state Police have issued an Amber Alert for the little girl in accordance with Amber Alert regulations.

Folks- this is about an emergency situation as one gets. 

Police were called to the scene this afternoon at approximately 2 PM, following an alleged accident involving the Gold 2005 Yukon driven by Sweeten, and a 1990’s model Cadillac.

Sweeten told 911 dispatchers two black males exited the Cadillac, and forcibly placed Bonnie into the late model Cadillac, where she used her cell phone to call police from the trunk; and her daugher Julia was placed in the trunk of the Denali.    

Police are also looking for the Cadillac involved in the accident. Neither vehicle was located as Police arrived this afternoon.

Please check to blinkoncrime for updates. If you have any information about the whereabouts of Bonnie Sweeten and her daughter, 8 year old Julia Rakoczy, PA State Police are requesting you call 9 1 1.