Julie Hudson, a 31-year-old African American Ph.D. candidate from Philadelphia, was mistakenly identified as a suspect in a robbery in Texas even though she had never been to that state. She was detained for a week.
While attempting to apply for a job, Hudson learned about the false allegations. Potential employers had turned her down a number of times because background checks seemed to indicate she had a criminal history.
Julie Hudson visited the Philadelphia police station on January 5 in the hopes of resolving the situation, but she was instead taken into custody. She was detained as a result of a warrant for her arrest that Webster, Texas police were looking for.
Using the images she had shared on social media, it was erroneously claimed that Hudson was the same person who was caught shoplifting in a security camera. The suspect, according to the police, is a Julie Hudson as well.
“When you know that you didn’t do anything wrong, it makes you feel crazy,” Hudson told NBC News. “Everybody is sure that you did something, that you’re [a] criminal, but you know that that’s not who you are.”
Following her arrest, her family contacted law enforcement in both Texas and Philadelphia to clear her name.
The case was dismissed after nearly a week and Hudson was finally released on January 11. It was proven that Hudson was wrongfully arrested as police concluded that she was at work in Philadelphia when the robbery happened and she had never been to Texas.
Her family said they were still working on getting the false accusation taken off her record. They are also considering taking legal action as Hudson is still searching for answers over what happened.
“I want to find out what happened,” she said. “I want to find out how this happened and I want it to not happen to anyone else ever again.”
