A California woman who falsely accused a Black teenager of stealing her phone was arrested after a viral hotel confrontation — but the arrest happened more than five years ago, not this week. The case began with a December 2020 encounter in Manhattan and later became a New York hate-crime prosecution.
The story now circulating on Tampa Bay 28 describes an arrest that took place on Thursday, January 7, 2021. The report identified the woman as Miya Ponsetto, who was 22 at the time and living in Ventura County.
What Happened In Piru
According to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, deputies stopped Ponsetto near her home in Piru over a fugitive warrant tied to the New York case. She did not stop until reaching her residence, refused to leave her vehicle and was forcibly removed before being booked without bail pending an extradition hearing.
New York Police Department detectives traveled to Ventura County to coordinate the arrest, which followed days of intense coverage and demands that Ponsetto face criminal charges. The local sheriff’s release said she was being held in Ventura County while New York authorities pursued the case.
The Phone Was Found After The Confrontation
The underlying incident occurred on December 26, 2020, at the Arlo SoHo hotel in Lower Manhattan. According to CBS New York, Ponsetto accused 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr. of taking her phone, followed him through the lobby and grabbed or tackled him as his father tried to intervene.
Video recorded by Keyon Harrold Sr., a jazz trumpeter, showed the confrontation as the family repeatedly denied that the teenager had the phone. The missing device was later found in the back of an Uber and returned after the encounter, turning what might have been an ordinary lost-phone complaint into a nationally watched example of racial profiling and vigilante accusation.
The Case Later Became A Hate-Crime Prosecution
After Ponsetto was brought back to New York, she faced charges that included attempted robbery, grand larceny, attempted assault and endangering the welfare of a child, according to ABC News. Prosecutors later pursued hate-crime charges connected to the confrontation with Harrold Jr.
In April 2022, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced that Ponsetto pleaded guilty to second-degree unlawful imprisonment as a hate crime. She also pleaded guilty to aggravated harassment, avoided prison under the agreement and was required to continue counseling, follow the terms of her California probation and stay out of further legal trouble for two years.
For readers encountering the story in 2026, the timeline matters: the hotel confrontation occurred on December 26, 2020, the California arrest came on January 7, 2021, and the guilty plea followed on April 11, 2022. It is a resurfaced case, not a new arrest in Ventura County.
