Miya Ponsetto: 'SoHo Karen' has history of going berserk in hotels, had even assaulted a cop in February
Miya Ponsetto, who was dubbed "SoHo Karen" after she was seen in footage posted by Grammy-award winning trumpet player Keyon Harrold on Instagram on December 28, in which she was accusing his son of stealing her iPhone in a hotel lobby, has a history of causing disturbances at hotels, including assaulting a cop. The 22-year-old former cheerleader, who inside the Arlo Hotel in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, was seen falsely accusing the Black teen of stealing her phone only to have her Uber return it to her minutes later. But this isn't the first time she has caused a scene. In February 2020, she was busted after her mother Nicole and she allegedly caused a disturbance at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills by refusing to leave, TMZ reported. At the time, both of them were slapped with public intoxication charges.
According to the outlet, the hotel staff had asked the women to leave. When they refused, the police were alerted. Ponsetto allegedly assaulted an officer, pushing and kicked the cop. Her mother faces an additional charge of battery on a police officer. Both women are due in court later this month.
Just a day after she was charged with public intoxication for the Peninsula Hotel incident, on May 27, she was slapped with a drunken driving charge in Los Angeles County, where she pleaded no contest, TMZ said. Her hearing is scheduled for January 28. She was also arrested in May on four DUI counts, according to the Mail, and pled guilty in September with a sentencing hearing set for on January 14.
When a New York Post photographer approached Ponsetta coming out of a McDonald's in Fillmore, California, on Friday, January 1, she insisted that she could not understand why the incident had gone viral. “I’m actually 22, so I don’t know what the problem is here,” she said even after the photographer pointed to Harold's son's age. “And I’m also Puerto Rican so thank you. Take care of yourself.”
Ponsetto donned all black and a coronavirus face shield as she walked into the parking lot. When she was asked if she regretted what happened after the viral video emerged, she said, “I’m good, thank you. Have a very good day. Take care of yourself," before she climbed into a large Range Rover SUV.
NYPD is currently considering bringing a slew of charges against her, including assault, grand larceny and attempted robbery, reports said. She has reportedly fled to her family's $389,000 home in the small farming town of Piru, which is north of Los Angeles, after the incident at the New York hotel.
Harrold recorded the video in which the woman was seen lunging at him and his 14-year-old son as she desperately tried to claim that the iPhone in his son's possession belonged to her. "I hate I have to post this!!! I am furious!!! We see this crap happening all the time, but it hits different when it hits home!!! I typically try to keep things positive, but nothing about this video is positive. The lady in this video assaulted my 14-year-old son and me as we came down from our room in the @arlohotels Arlo Soho to get breakfast. This person quote on quote 'lost' her iPhone, and apparently, my son magically acquired it, which merely ridiculous," the musician wrote as the caption to his post.
In the clip, the unidentified woman is seen getting the attention of the hotel manager by claiming that the Black teen had taken her phone. As the teenager said, “This is my phone,” Harrold intervened, telling him: “You don’t have to explain nothing to her.” As the woman continued to frantically insist that it was her phone and asked the teen to prove that it was not, Harrold replied: “Are you kidding me? You feel like there’s only one iPhone in the world?”