BUTLER COUNTY, Ohio (CBS) — A sheriff’s deputy says a woman lied when she claimed to have been tied up, gagged and kidnapped, CBS affiliate WKRC in Cincinnati reports.
Thelma Williams, 38, has been charged with making false alarms after telling detectives that a masked man broke into her home this week, tying her up and cutting off her clothes. Police said she claimed the intruder used her phone to record the incident and posted it to her Facebook account.
One Facebook post read: “Do any of you know where your precious thelma is? I do.”
Williams told police the intruder called a contact in her phone and that person called 911. Authorities found her in her basement, loosely tied up with her clothes ripped and gagged with women’s underwear.
Sheriff Richard Jones said a police helicopter searched for the suspect and officers blocked off the nearby highway. Police said there were inconsistencies with Williams’ story and she eventually admitted to making it up for attention. Jones said she’d recently broken up with her boyfriend.
Jones said fake crimes are an insult to victims of real crimes. He called Williams’ story was a “total fabrication” and people who make up similar stories are the “lowest of the low.”
Williams is being held on a $10,000 bond and is expected in court on Oct. 6.
