I don't if any of you heard about this, but it's pretty freaky. I had heard about this on the Orlando news this morning, but they were still treating it as a kidnapping and abduction of the two at that time.

The freaky thing is that I live about 5 minutes from Feasterville, PA, and I was at the Grand Floridian about an hour before this all went down.

From NBC10 Philadelphia:


What began as a bizarre abduction report that set off a massive local, state and federal search for a Pennsylvania mom and her daughter turned out to be an elaborate hoax.

Bonnie Sweeten, 38 of Bucks County, was taken into custody at the Grand Floridian hotel on the grounds of the Walt Disney World Resort outside Orlando, Fla. at 8:40 p.m. Wednesday, Bucks County district attorney Michelle Henry said.

She was charged with making false reports and identity theft -- the charges are misdemeanors. Police placed her daughter Julia Rakoczy, 9, into protective care. Anthony Rakoczy, the girl's biological father, will be traveling to Florida to retrieve his daughter.

Officials believe Sweeten approached a co-worker earlier this week and asked to borrow the woman's drivers license. She told the woman she needed the ID to take care of something related to a pension plan.

Sweeten then bought tickets for her and her daughter using the co-workers identification, prosecutors said. Surveillance video captured the woman and her daughter boarding an airplane at Philadelphia International Airport bound for Orlando, Fla. around 4:15 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, officials said. The two were alone when they boarded the plane. FBI officials noted that Rakoczy did not need to provide identification to board the plane because she is a child.

Investigators also found that the woman made various bank withdraws throughout the week totaling around $12,000.

Officials plan to extradite Sweeten back to Bucks County, but could not set a timeline.

HOW IT BEGAN

This story began Tuesday afternoon when the Philadelphia 911 dispatch center received a call from a woman who claimed to have been kidnapped and locked in the trunk of a car.

Sweeten told dispatchers that she and her daughter Julia had been physically hit and thrown into the back of a dark-colored 1990's Cadillac by two black men after they rear-ended her silver GMC Yukon Denali in Southampton, Pa. When police got to scene at Street Road and Second Street Pike, they didn't find any evidence and were not able to find anyone who saw an accident, FBI Special Agent J.J. Klaver said.

Officials traced Sweeten's call to a cell tower in the 200 block of 12th Street in Philadelphia. Police searched the area for both cars at that point and didn't find either. 911 operators took more than half a dozen calls from Sweenten's cell phone Tuesday afternoon, but were only able to speak with the woman twice, police sources said. Soon after the last call was received Sweeten's phone was shut off.

Almost 12-hours later at 1:30 a.m., a Philly police officer discovered Sweeten's silver GMC Yukon Denali around at 15th and Chestnut Streets in Center City. The truck was found just five blocks from where police first traced the mother's frantic cell phone call Tuesday.

Ironically, there was a parking ticket on the windshield with a time stamp of 2:20 p.m., police said. There was no sign of damage to the truck, prosecutors said.

As the inconstancies in the woman's story continued to mount Wednesday, officials continued to treat the case as a kidnapping. Pennsylvania State Police issued two Amber Alerts for the little girl as FBI officials turned their focus to surveillance video near the scene where the SUV was found. It seems they also turned their attention to the airport.

A HUSBAND'S PLEA

This case has put Sweeten's family, friends and the entire Philadelphia region on an emotional roller coaster. Her husband Richard Sweeten made an emotional plea to his wife Wednesday afternoon.

"I don't know what’s going on Bon, but here's your daughter…she misses you," said Sweeten with a rocky voice while holding his youngest daughter Faith up to a TV camera. "You have a ton of support. Whatever kind of trouble you're in, whatever's going on everybody will come together and help you out. I'm here for you. We have a brand-new daughter who needs her Mom. Please come home and turn yourself in and don't do anything stupid."

When asked if there was any reason why his wife would flee to Florida said he had "no idea." Sweeten noted that he was finding most of the information on his wife and step-daughter's whereabouts through the local news.

THE EFFECTS

Sweeten, who lives in Feasterville, is a married mother of three girls. She was driving her husband Richard's SUV to a doctor's appointment at the time of the abduction.

Richard is Julia's stepfather. Julia's biological father Anthony Rakoczy had nothing but good things to say about his ex-wife, "She's a great mother. She's very organized. Always on top of the stuff the girls have going on…She's just a very good mother."

Rakoczy made a plea for their return on national television Wednesday morning during an interview on The Today Show.

"I would like to tell them to let them go there's no reason to keep them I don't understand why they'd want to keep them. Just let them go. I mean, you know, we don't have money," said Anthony Rakoczy. He had a hard time keeping his composure as he talked about his daughter Julia, who he'd just spent Memorial Day with, "She loves the Phillies. She plays softball. She's always dancing around the house."

Sweeten's oldest daughter, Paige, 15, wrote about the kidnapping on her Facebook page saying, "I'm asking everyone, to please pray for my Mom and sister pray please."

Now, the burning question is what would cause Sweeten concoct such a story and flee.

Investigators are looking into possible domestic and financial problems within the Sweeten family, but would not elaborate citing the open investigation.