Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges Ann Pettway with 1987 Kidnapping from Harlem Hospital

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and JANICE K. FEDARCYK, the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), announced that ANNUGETTA PETTWAY, a/k/a "Ann Pettway," was charged today with kidnapping in connection with the 1987 abduction of a 19-day-old girl from Harlem Hospital in Manhattan. PETTWAY, 49, of Raleigh, North Carolina, was arrested yesterday in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and was presented today in Manhattan federal court. According to the complaint, PETTWAY has admitted her role in the abduction.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA stated: "Nothing can compensate Carlina White or her parents for what was stolen from them when she was seized from the Harlem Hospital 23 years ago. But now they have been reunited, and the woman who allegedly kidnapped Carlina and deprived this family of the lives they would have had together will be prosecuted in Manhattan federal court."

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge JANICE K. FEDARCYK said: "An infant was snatched from her family 23 years ago, surely an unimaginable trauma for her parents. In a calculated deception, she was raised as the child of the woman now charged with her kidnapping. Those 23 years cannot be restored, but unlike most child abductions, this one, at long last, has a happy ending."

According to the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court today:

On August 4, 1987, a mother and father brought their infant daughter to Harlem Hospital, where she was admitted with a fever. In the early hours of the following day, hospital personnel discovered that the baby girl was missing. Earlier this month, the victim of the kidnapping (the "Victim"), who is now 23 years old, told a New York City Police Department Detective (the "NYPD Detective") that when she sought to obtain prenatal care for her own child, she asked PETTWAY for identification documents, such as a birth certificate. PETTWAY told the Victim that she did not have identification documents for her because she had been given to PETTWAY by a woman who used drugs.

The Victim also told the NYPD Detective that earlier this month she contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children ("NCMEC") to inquire about missing children from the late 1980s. NCMEC directed the Victim to a picture of a missing child from 1987. The Victim believed that the picture resembled baby pictures of herself. NCMEC put the Victim in touch with the mother and father who had brought their daughter to Harlem Hospital on August 4, 1987 (the "Mother" and the "Father").

Between January 4 and January 7, 2011, NYPD detectives obtained DNA samples from the Mother and the Father and from the Victim. On January 18, 2011, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner concluded that the DNA samples matched.

Yesterday, FBI agents interviewed PETTWAY, who told them that she had difficulty having her own children and had had several miscarriages. PETTWAY admitted going to Harlem Hospital, taking the Victim with her by train to Bridgeport, Connecticut, and raising her there as her own. PETTWAY also admitted to trying to create a fake birth certificate for the Victim.

PETTWAY is charged with one count of federal kidnapping. That charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison, and a maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.

Mr. BHARARA commended the swift and efficient work of the FBI and the NYPD in this important case. He also extended his thanks to law enforcement authorities in North Carolina and Connecticut for their assistance.

The case is being handled by the Office's General Crimes Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney ANDREA SURRATT is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges against PETTWAY contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.