Woman whose false claims jailed two people pleads guilty
A Pittsburgh woman pleaded guilty Monday to making up elaborate allegations that led to two people being falsely arrested and jailed — one for six months.
Eboni Sanders, 37, will be sentenced Dec. 11 by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos.
Ms. Sanders pleaded guilty to three felony counts of terroristic threats and three counts of false reports, as well as criminal use of a communication facility and access device fraud.
She also faces a charge of escape from walking away from the Renewal Center, a halfway house, while her charges were pending and a separate probation violation.
Both victims of Ms. Sanders’ crimes spoke at the hearing Monday.
“This has been going on for more than two years,” Thomas Mowbray said. “I don’t know why Eboni Sanders targeted me the way she did. I just know I’m going to have to live with it forever.”
Pittsburgh police spokesman Chris Togneri said, “As a result of this case, detectives bureauwide are now aware of unique ways in which an apparent victim can use deception to create a narrative that is believed by many, but is in fact false.”
Mr. Mowbray and Ms. Sanders both lived at the Downtown Wood Street Commons in February 2016. He said she hit on him, and he turned her
down. Then, a few days later, he said he saw her crying. He put his hand on her shoulder to console her, he said, and 12 days later was charged by Pittsburgh police with indecent assault. She claimed he had groped her.
Over the next two years, police filed charges six times against Mr. Mowbray based on Ms. Sanders making a range of allegations against him, from threatening her with a knife to intimidating her on the street.
She also made claims twice against his girlfriend, Patrese Thompson, including that Ms. Thompson had called the Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh and made threats against Ms. Sanders.
Mr. Mowbray spent six months in jail while he awaited trial. Ms. Thompson spent six days.
It wasn’t until a detective working the women’s shelter case was able to put all the pieces together that officers from three different Pittsburgh police zones realized that Ms. Sanders had called them repeatedly about Mr. Mowbray. Throughout all of those calls, Mr. Mowbray’s attorney said, the officers failed to investigate the allegations or collect evidence that would have shown Ms. Sanders was lying.
She later confessed in an interview that she had made up the claims against Ms. Thompson. The remaining counts against Mr. Mowbray were withdrawn because of Ms. Sanders’ credibility.
District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he found it unacceptable that officers on the South Side had access to potential video footage that would have shown Ms. Sanders was lying when she made her accusations against Mr. Mowbray, but that they chose not to pull it.
During their victimimpact statements, Mr. Mowbray and Ms. Thompson questioned what would stop Ms. Sanders from committing the same crimes again once she is released from the Allegheny County Jail.