239: A Bank Robbery & SoHo Karen

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A gunman rushed into the Texas Commerce Bank, barking orders. He wore a mask. He disguised his voice. Bank tellers Kelly McGinnis and Lisa Silvas were terrified. It had finally happened. The bank was being robbed. The young tellers had asked management to increase security measures. But management said that the motor bank, which only provided drive-thru service, was secure enough. The gunman proved them wrong.

Then Kristin tells us about Keyon Harrold and his 14-year-old son, Keyon Harrold Jr, who were staying at the Arlo SoHo Hotel on December 26, 2020. That morning, they headed down to the hotel’s restaurant for brunch. On the way there, an irate woman accused Keyon Harrold Jr of stealing her cell phone. When Keyon Harrold Senior told her to back off, she chased after them, tackling 14-year-old Keyon to the ground. A video of the incident went viral. People dubbed the woman SoHo Karen, though her true identity quickly became known. Her name was Miya Ponsetto, and she wasn’t very sorry.

And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.

In this episode, Kristin pulled from:
Keyon Harrold’s Instagram
“Woman pleads guilty to tackling Black teen she wrongly accused of phone theft,” by Jonathan Edwards for The Washington Post
“Miya Ponsetto, woman who falsely accused Black teen of stealing her phone at NYC hotel, makes plea deal,” by Zoe Christen Jones for CBS News
“Woman who tackled Black teenager at SoHo hotel is arrested,” by Mihir Zaveri for The New York Times
“Woman who falsely accused Black teen in SoHo is charged with hate crime,” by Precious Fondren for The New York Times
“Woman pleads guilty to tackling Black teen at SoHo hotel,” by Ed Shanahan for The New York Times
“Parents of the teen who Miya Ponsetto falsely accused say her arrest is the first step for justice,” CBS This Morning video on YouTube
“‘SoHo Karen’ is no-show in civil case, shows ‘disrespect’: judge,” by Tamar Lapin for the New York Post
“Jazz musician calls for charges against woman who falsely accused Black son of theft,” by Haley Yamada and Sabina Ghebremedhin for ABC News
“Video emerges of ‘SoHo Karen’ Miya Ponsetto fighting with cops during DUI bust,” by Rebecca Rosenberg for the New York Post
Miya Ponsetto’s interview with Gayle King for CBS This Morning on YouTube

In this episode, Brandi pulled from:
“The Almost Great Bank Robbery” by Skip Hollandsworth, Texas Monthly
“True Crimes: Don’t Mess With Texas (Banks)” by Kara Kovalchik, Mental Floss
“Ex-cop, bank robber in trouble again” by Guillermo Contreras, mysanantonio.com
“Sentencing delayed for former SAPD officer turned bank robber” KENS 5 News
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