Press Release: Pensacola, FL – A bogus report that a Pensacola woman, wishing to turn herself in on a warrant, was being held against her will by her boyfriend, prompted a SWAT standoff early Sunday.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Department received a call around 7:15 a.m. from a woman who identified herself as 32-year-old Lateefah Moore. The caller told Sheriff’s dispatchers that she had a warrant for her arrest and wanted to turn herself in. When dispatchers confirmed the warrant was valid they dispatched deputies to the address she provided, 1500 East Johnson St.
When deputies arrived at the address they attempted to serve the warrant but could not get anyone to answer the door. One of the responding deputies called the telephone number recorded by dispatch and a female answered. The deputy, thinking he was talking to the warrant suspect, asked her to come to the door. The female then began to cry and told the deputy that her boyfriend was holding her against her will.
“At the time of this phone call, we believed that we had a man holding his girlfriend and two children hostage,†said Sheriff’s spokesperson Deputy Chris Welborn. “The patrol supervisor made the decision to call out our hostage negotiations and SWAT teams.â€
The Sheriff’s special weapons and tactics team took up positions around the residence while hostage negotiators tried to contact the female or her boyfriend.
“Our hostage negotiators were finally able to make contact with Moore, but she denied being held against her will and was a bit frightened by all the activity,†said Welborn. “Our negotiators talked her into coming out and we were able to get to the bottom of this.â€
Upon further investigation, it was determined that Moore’s boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend, identified as 27-year-old Kaneatha Sheri Harris of Pensacola, had made the phone call to the Sheriff’s office and identified herself as Moore.
Patrol deputies tracked down Harris at her residence in the Sunrise apartment complex at 4350 Fairfield Dr. She was taken into custody and charged with making a false report and two counts of obstructing justice.
Moore was also arrested on a violation of probation warrant.
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If Kaneatha Sheri Harris had called CrimeStoppers on Moore, she could have made $1000.
