LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Police are looking for a woman who falsely reported that a man robbed and kidnapped her at knife-point.
Gwinnett County Police received a call the morning of Sept. 15 from a woman who said she had been kidnapped at knife-point and narrowly escaped her attacker.
Hillary Black, 33, said the attack happened when she visited an ATM outside the Publix store in the 900 block of Duluth Highway, according to police. She withdrew $200 but had $1,200 in her purse to make a mortgage payment, police said.
After returning to her car, she told police a Hispanic man jumped into the passenger seat with a box cutter. Black told police the man gave her turn-by-turn directions to an abandoned shopping center, near Five Forks Trickum Road and Johnson Road.
Black told police she thought he would sexually assault her, so she fought him and got “several superficial cuts” on her arm.” According to the original report, Black said she used pepper spray on the man before he fled.
After that, police said Black returned to the Publix where she told an officer the man stole $1,400 in cash from her. Police noticed the cuts on Black’s arm and attempted to find the abandoned shopping center but could not find it.
Police then looked at surveillance video and said the officer didn’t see anyone enter Black’s vehicle after she visited the ATM. Crime Scene Unit examined the vehicle and could not find any evidence that indicated anyone else was inside her car during the time of the crime.
When police re-interviewed Black she, at first, stuck to her original story. When the detective mentioned the surveillance video, Black said she made it up. Black told police the money withdrawn was in her purse and she never had the $1,200. She also said the cuts on her arm were from an unrelated event, police said.
After escorting Black out of the building, the officer obtained a warrant for false statements. He called to tell Black her warrant was active and she said she would turn herself in, according to police.
Black has still not been booked into the Gwinnett County Jail and the warrant remains active.
“Combined, over 38 hours were spent investigating an incident that never happened,” police said in a release. “It’s unfortunate that so many officers spent their time dedicated to a crime that never happened rather than using their time to patrol neighborhoods, conduct traffic enforcement, follow up on investigations, and completing reports to name a few.”
