Amber Alert hoax teen faces charges

HILLIARD

By ROBERT BAKER
Item Staff Writer
bbaker@theitem.com

MANNING — A Manning teenager who falsely said last month that she’d been kidnapped by two men is facing charges from the State Law Enforcement Division.

Tajah Monique Hilliard, 18, of 1152 Loblolly Drive, was charged Wednesday with unlawful use of a telephone and giving false information, both misdemeanor offenses.

The charges stem from an incident that occurred on March 17, when Hilliard told her mother that she’d been abducted by two men who were driving a black vehicle headed for Georgia. She was later released on a $2,000 personal recognizance bond.

“We found out later that she was where she wanted to be,” Clarendon County Sheriff Randy Garrett told The Item last month.

According to reports, Hilliard left school early that morning and called her mother around 2:20 p.m. to tell her that she’d been abducted and did not know her location.

Acting on that information, SLED issued an Amber Alert, which was called off at about 11 p.m. that day after officials talked with Hilliard on her cell phone.

Shortly after the incident, Garrett said that his department would likely not charge Hilliard with any malfeasance because her correspondence was with her mother only.

“All the correspondence there was with her parent and not with law enforcement,” Garrett said in March, directing further questions to SLED.

Law enforcement officials later discovered Hilliard was at a party at Allen University in Columbia.

They were even able to track her cell phone’s global positioning system to an address on Two Notch Road near there.

Hilliard returned to Manning on March 18 but wrecked her 2002 Ford Taurus near Paxville and was treated for minor injuries at Clarendon Memorial Hospital before being released later that day.

On Wednesday, Garrett said that he had to turn Hilliard’s case over to SLED because Makeva White, Hilliard’s mother, is an employee of the sheriff’s department.

Asked if he did so to avoid a conflict of interest, Garrett simply answered, “Yes. That’s why we did it.”

According to a SLED release, the division consulted with the Third Circuit Solicitor’s Office before making charges. Neither office could be reached for comment.

If convicted, Hilliard could face up to 30 days in jail and fines for both offenses.

Contact Staff Writer Robert Baker at bbaker@theitem.com or (803) 435-8511.