Mall 'swatting' suspect proclaims innocence

The Manchester woman charged with making a bomb threat to the Ocean County Mall is proclaiming her innocence and said she had let a stranger use her phone prior to the May 30 incident.

Showander Descarte (Toms River Police)

Showander Descarte, 24 tells the Asbury Park Press “I told the cops what they wanted to hear. I told them: ‘Yes, I did it.' But unfortunately I didn’t do it." She said she confessed in order to get bail set so she could get home to her two children age 1 and 3. She explained that from watching episodes of NBC's "Law and Order SVU" that suspects who confessed would get a better deal from police.

Descarte told the newspaper that she worked at two stores in the mall but has since been fired from both.

Toms River Police arrested Descarte on Tuesday and charged with creating a false public alarm and terroristic threats by the Toms River Police Department Criminal Investigation Bureau for the May 30 threat which closed down the mall on Hooper Avenue in Toms River and brought a large police response to the mall.

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office High Technology Crimes Unit traced the call to her cell phone by matching the serial number of the phone used to make the May 30 threat. Descarte tells the newspaper she had let a stranger use her phone earlier that day.

No arrests have been made in a threat made to the mall on May 27 which brought a similar large response.