By A 52-year old woman from South Carolina has pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and interference with custody, almost two decades after allegedly posing as a hospital nurse and taking a newborn girl in 1998. Gloria Williams allegedly took Kamiyah Mobley just hours after she was born on July 10 of that year from a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.
Kamiyah’s mother, Shanara Mobley, has stated that on that night, a woman she thought was a nurse entered her hospital room. She asked the woman to put the baby in the baby carrier but instead, according to a report filed with the sheriff’s office, the nurse walked out with the newborn.
How Did She Get Away with It for So Long?
Authorities have stated that Williams used “fraudulent documents” to create and grow a new identity for Kamiyah, after which she raised her just northwest of Charleston, South Carolina. The child, who is now 19 years old, grew up with the name that was given to her by her kidnapper: Alexis Manigo. She still goes by this name.
Court documents show that Manigo actually may have discovered the truth about her past several months ago. After a tip was given to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the fall of 2016, a witness was interviewed who said that Manigo claimed she was kidnapped from a Jacksonville hospital as a baby.
During the investigation, a DNA test revealed that Manigo was indeed Kaniyah Mobley.
What’s in Store Now for Williams
Prosecutors in the case are looking for up to 22 years in prison for Williams for the kidnapping charge, in addition to another 5 years on the interference charge under the negotiated plea deal. According to David Chapman, a spokesman for the Florida state’s attorney office for the fourth judicial circuit, sentencing is set for this week. The plea bargain spared Williams from possibly facing life in prison, if the case would have gone to trial and ended with a conviction.
In addition to a sentence of up to 22 + 5 years in prison, Williams is forbidden from writing any books or making any movie deals to profit from the situation while she is incarcerated. She is being held in the Duval County Jail and is protected from prosecution in South Carolina and federal courts.
What Does Kamiyah Mobley Think of It All?
Kamiyah Mobley, still going by her given name of Alexis Manigo, has accepted what police and authorities have told her; she knows she was born with a different name and a different family, and that she was stolen from the Florida hospital. She will not say when she began to think something was wrong, but she has met her biological parents.
According to HLN’s Ashleigh Banfield, Manigo said last year that she still considers Williams as her mom and she still loves her. “I still feel the same way about her; my feelings toward my mother will never change,” she explains. So far, Williams’ attorney has not been able to be reached for comment.
*Image – ABC News
