Jennifer Heath Box shivered on a mat on the floor, her back pressed against another inmate's back as they desperately tried to keep her warm. Air conditioners blasted cold air at the Broward County Jail in South Florida. The security guard walked past wearing a coat and beanie.
It was Christmas Eve. Her son, a Marine, was scheduled to leave on Dec. 27 for a three-year station in Owa, Japan.
And the police arrested the wrong “Jennifer”.
Jennifer Heath Box was arrested on December 24, 2022, because she shared two-thirds of her name with another woman who was wanted on child endangerment charges. (Fox News Digital/Broward Sheriff's Office, via Institute of Justice)
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“Given the fact that it was so easy to arrest me, you wonder how many more there are.” [are] Box spoke to Fox News Digital while sitting in his Texas home two years after he was arrested on a stranger's warrant and spent three nights in jail.
Box is currently suing the Broward Sheriff's Office, alleging that deputies failed to perform “basic due diligence to determine whether the person they were planning to arrest was actually the subject of an arrest warrant.” The suit alleges that this violated the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures.
“I think you've got the wrong person.”
Box and her husband rushed to the front of the line, eager to get off the cruise ship on Christmas Eve 2022. They had just celebrated his second recovery from cancer by spending six days at sea with Box's brother. Now, Box wanted to go home and celebrate Christmas with her children, but it will be the first time in at least three years that the whole family will be together before her son leaves for Okinawa.
However, when she scanned her badge to disembark, the staff said a security guard would need to meet with the box. Soon, police and Customs and Border Protection surrounded Box and her husband.
“They asked me if I was Jennifer Heath,” she recalled. Box kept her middle name Heath after marrying her husband.
She repeatedly asked law enforcement officers standing around her what was going on. Eventually, they said they obtained a warrant against her from Harris County, Texas.
“It's about endangering children,” the deputy said.
Box rolled his eyes. Her husband said, “I think you guys are the wrong people.''
Police had a warrant for “Jennifer Delcarmen Heath,” who was 23 years younger and nearly half a foot shorter than “Jennifer,” who had just stepped off a cruise ship.
Body camera and police car video show Jennifer Box being arrested on Christmas Eve 2022. (Broward County Sheriff's Office, via Institute of Justice)
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Jennifer Delcarmen Heath was charged with endangering children ages 1 and 3, according to a July 2022 court filing.
Jennifer Heath Box, who was 48 years old at the time, had no minor children. The suspect on the warrant was younger than one of her daughters.
“Endangering a child? What kind of child would I put at risk?” Box asked, stunned.
Officers handcuffed her and placed her in a sheriff's SUV. Indoor video shows Box continuing to insist that something must have gone wrong before being transported to the Broward County Jail.
According to the lawsuit filed against the Sheriff's Office, Peraza and other agents and corrections officers, the booking officer said the warrant for Box was not found in the system when she scanned the driver's license. But staffer Deputy Peter Peraza insisted she be booked anyway.
Box's attorneys at the nonprofit Institute for Justice said Broward County lawmakers overlooked at least 10 significant discrepancies between Box and the subject of the warrant. Ta. eye, hair, and skin color. The only relevant information in the box was a copy of her DMV photo that was attached to the warrant.
Box felt humiliated and frightened when he was strip-searched, dressed in prison uniform, and placed in a cold, dirty cell. There, he said he witnessed constant screaming and violence in the adjacent men's area.
She woke up on Christmas morning after spending a sleepless night shivering on the floor next to a stranger, the complaint says, but was denied bail because the other “Jennifer” had an extradition warrant. . Harris County could take up to 30 days to pick her up, a police officer told Box.
At home, Box's brother and husband both struggled with the bureaucratic hierarchy. Harris County officials said they needed to send the warrant and the box's fingerprints to BSO for comparison, but BSO refused, according to the complaint.
Jennifer Box has three children and ranged in age from 19 to 30 at the time of her arrest. The suspect on the child endangerment warrant was 25 years old, Hispanic, and 5 inches shorter than Box. (Courtesy of Jennifer Box)
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Finally, on the night of December 26, Box was able to file a complaint and asked BSO to compare her fingerprints with those of the suspect.
Box was released from prison around 10 a.m. on Dec. 27. Her son was on the plane.
“They took something from me that I'll never get back,” Box said. “I'll never get back those moments with my kids. I'll never have the chance to have those memories again.”
She recalled telling the police officer who escorted her from jail about all the things she had missed on vacation. She said her son's attitude started to become “completely arrogant,” but softened when she told him she didn't get to see him before he left for the Marines.
“'Something's going to happen,'” Box remembered the officer saying.
It was the closest she ever came to an apology.
“We found no misconduct by our employees.”
This was announced by the Broward Sheriff's Office. fox news digital The statement said, “We sympathize with the difficult situation that Jennifer Heath Box was in,” but blamed Harris County for the accident.
“Had it not been for the arrest warrant filed by the Harris County Sheriff's Office, Customs and Border Protection would not have notified Ms. Box, BSO would not have been notified, and she would not have been arrested,” the spokesperson wrote. Ta.
The statement added, “The actions of the BSO deputy involved in Mr. Box's arrest were reviewed by the Broward Sheriff's Office's Internal Affairs Division, which found no misconduct by the employee.”
Institute of Justice Attorney Jared McClain said Harris County and CBP also made mistakes in the case, but “that does not excuse the actions of Officer Peraza and the Broward County Sheriff's Office.”
“They had a duty to verify that the person they were arresting was in fact the subject of the warrant — especially in the face of Jennifer's repeated and credible assertions that she was arresting the wrong person.” .
Lawyers say CBP reported Box's name to BSO before the cruise departed, giving agents sufficient time to verify her identity “before making the mistaken decision to arrest Jennifer.” .
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Jennifer Heath Box is one of at least 160 people in Texas named Jennifer Heath, according to the complaint. (Fox News Digital)
BSO made similar errors in at least two other cases Wrong person In one case, the man spent five days in jail before police took fingerprints and confirmed it was the wrong person, according to the complaint.
“Despite a history of incarcerating innocent people with the same names as people with outstanding warrants, Broward County fails to properly train its officers and ensure that BSO officers verify the identities of those arrested. “Failure to introduce new policies, practices, or customs,” the complaint alleges. .
BSO did not respond to Fox's questions about whether the department had made any policy changes since Box's arrest.
The lawsuit seeks an admission that the defendants violated Box's constitutional rights and damages.
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As Box prepares to decorate this year's Christmas tree, she tells Fox News Digital she hopes more checks and balances are put in place to prevent others from having to endure what she went through. he said.
“I want to hold those people accountable,” she said. “You're ruining people's lives. It's more than just that.” [fun and games] Or whatever, and “put someone in jail, check the test box, and go home to their family.” You hurt not only me but a lot of people in this situation. ”
Elizabeth Heckman contributed the accompanying video.
