Kidnap hoax mom waives preliminary hearing

Bonnie Sweeten, the Bucks County mother whose abduction hoax touched off a national media frenzy, waived her right to a preliminary hearing this morning.

Sweeten, 38, of Feasterville, was scheduled for a July 24 arraignment in Bucks County Court on misdemeanor charges of identity theft and filing a false report. She remains free on 10 percent of $1 million bail.

On May 26, a frantic-sounding Sweeten had called 911, claiming that she and her 9-year-old daughter had been abducted by two black men along Street Road in Lower Bucks County in the middle of the afternoon.

Authorities, although skeptical of the story from the beginning, issued an Amber Alert repeating Sweeten's claims, drawing network TV coverage.

The interest intensified when Sweeten and her daughter turned up the next day at Disney World.

Sweeten is accused of using a former co-worker's identification to purchase a plane ticket for the flight from Philadelphia.

Sweeten's lawyer, Louis Busico, said there would have been no point in hearing any testimony at this point in the case. Still under investigation are allegations that Sweeten may have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars from family members and a law office where she had been a longtime employee.

District Attorney Michelle Henry said the investigation into additional charges is ongoing, but declined to elaborate.

Busico said Sweeten continues to undergo mental health treatment, and that she has been reunited with her three children, but must be accompanied by another adult whenever she is with them.

Busico declined to speculate about possible theft charges or to reveal where Sweeten currently resides.

Sweeten, appearing tense but composed, said little during the hearing before Magisterial District Judge William Benz in Richboro. Under questioning by Busico, she said she was waiving the hearing voluntarily.

Sweeten, accompanied by her second husband, Larry, and her father, William Siner, did not respond to reporters' questions as she arrived and left the district court.