Woman sentenced to mental health treatment
Pair mistakenly jailed based on lies she told
A woman who repeatedly made up elaborate allegations that led to a man spending six months in jail and a woman spending six days incarcerated is going to a community treatment facility.
Eboni Sanders, 37, who has already served 11 months’ incarceration awaiting sentencing, was ordered to serve six years of probation with part of that time in a community residential rehabilitation program through Justice Related Services. There she will receive mental health and drug and alcohol treatment.
“Ms. Sanders’ mental health needs would benefit from a little closer supervision from our courts,” defense attorney Brandon Herring said. “It’s a good program if the defendant is willing to work it.”
Sanders, who has been diagnosed with anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, pleaded guilty in September to three felony counts of terroristic threats, three counts of false reports, criminal use of a communication facility and access device fraud.
She also pleaded guilty to escape for walking away from the halfway house, Renewal Center, while her cases were pending.
At her sentencing hearing Wednesday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, Sanders apologized to the victims.
“I never meant to cause so much displacement and fear in your lives,” she said. “I’m truly and sincerely sorry. Please forgive me.”
In February 2016, Sanders claimed that a man named Thomas Mowbray, who lived at the Downtown Wood Street Commons, where she was also a resident, groped her.
She filed charges against him through Pittsburgh police, and he was arrested.
Six times over two years, Sanders made false claims against Mr. Mowbray, including that he threatened her with a knife and made threats against her while she was at UPMC’s resolve Crisis Center in Point Breeze.
While those charges were pending against him, Mr. Mowbray spent six months in jail, and although most of the charges were dropped, he ultimately pleaded no contest to summary counts of harassment and disorderly conduct so he could be released.
Later, Sanders made claims against Mr. Mowbray’s girlfriend, Patrese Thompson, including that Ms. Thompson had called the
Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh to threaten her.
Sanders eventually confessed, but not before Ms. Thompson was arrested twice and also jailed.
In a letter Ms. Thompson submitted to Judge Jill E. Rangos prior to sentencing, she said that she does not believe Sanders will be helped through a community program, noting that Sanders had worked with several prior to her arrest and that they “have all been manipulated
by her and used to further her ill intent since our ordeal began.
“We have tried to come to terms with the failure of the system in all of this,” Ms. Thompson wrote. “We cannot move on with our lives nor have any peace if we cannot trust the system to protect us.”
Deputy District Attorney Janet Necessary told Judge Rangos that she also did not believe a community placement was appropriate “for the damage the defendant caused” to “two people who had done nothing wrong.”
Sanders ripped the North Side couple from their
homes and destroyed their sense of security, Ms. Necessary said.
“She is a very good actress. She fooled a number of police officers.”
The prosecutor said she believed there should be more serious charges available for what Sanders did, but under state law, there are not.
Both Mr. Mowbray and Ms. Thompson were disappointed
by the sentence.
“It’s unsettling that she gets to abuse the system over and over and over again,” he said. “How many chances can somebody be given?”
“Is something going to happen in a few weeks? A few months? We don’t know, so we’ll be somewhat uneasy for a while,” Ms. Thompson said.
In the meantime, Mr. Mowbray is trying to have his record expunged. The charges still appear on his record because he has been unable to finish paying off his court costs and fees on the summary case.
Even though there was no conviction on the more serious charges, Mr. Mowbray said that potential employers and landlords see the arrests and don’t want to look any further.
In sentencing Sanders, Judge Rangos said, “Do not mistake this opportunity as in any way my minimizing the seriousness of these charges or your conduct here, which is appalling, and the impact it has had on these two peoples’ lives.
“I’m going to give you a chance to get help, which you very much need.”