Hamilton woman is found guilty
Story of being held against her will ‘a total fabrication.’
A former BUTLER COUNTY — Lemon Twp. woman has been found guilty of a misdemeanor charge of making false alarms after making up a story that she was being held against her will and posting a video on social media.
Thelma Williams, 38, formerly of South Verity Parkway and now of Hamilton, was charged with a felony count of making false alarms following an incident in September. Last month a Butler County grand jury declined to indict Williams for the felony and certified the case back to Middletown Municipal Court on a misdemeanor charge of making false alarms.
On Wednesday, Williams pleaded no contest to the first-degree misdemeanor and was found guilty by Middletown Municipal Court Judge James Sherron. Williams was sentenced to 180 days in jail. She was given credit for 10 days served in October and the remainder of the days were suspended. The judge also placed Williams on one-year probation.
Williams was arrested on Sept. 27 after Butler County Sheriff ’s deputies investigated her claims for hours, including using the department’s helicopter to search for an alleged suspect.
Williams initially said a masked intruder entered her home, bound her and cut her clothes off, said Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones.
Williams went on to say the suspect used her phone to videotape the event and later posted the videos to her Facebook account, according to deputies.
Williams said that, prior to leaving her home, the suspect called a contact on her phone and left the phone by her side. She even tied herself up and put underwear in her mouth as a gag, Jones said.
Detectives “found the story to be a total fabrication,” Jones said.