ORLANDO, Fla., May 28 (UPI) -- A 9-year-old girl whose mother allegedly perpetrated a kidnapping hoax was reunited with her father Thursday in Florida, authorities said.
Neither Anthony Rakoczy nor his daughter, Julia, said anything as they left the Orange County Sheriff's Office in Orlando, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Thursday. Rakoczy earlier told ABC's "Good Morning America" he was "elated" to hear Julia's voice on the telephone.
Rakoczy's ex-wife, Bonnie Sweeten of Feasterville, Pa., was arrested Wednesday night at a hotel at Walt Disney World. Sweeten is accused of faking a 911 call to police in Philadelphia, claiming she and her daughter had been kidnapped, and then using a former co-worker's driver's license to board a plane for Florida.
Sweeten faces misdemeanor charges in Pennsylvania of filing a false report and using the driver's license, and could face additional, more serious, charges. Her former employer, Lydia Carlitz, accuses her of stealing thousands of dollars from her law practice.
Carlitz, whose law license is suspended, had set up a foundation and named Sweeten as a director. She told the Philadelphia Daily News Sweeten laundered the stolen money through a foundation account.
