HAMLET — The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office has charged a woman for allegedly robbing another with a hammer after purporting to be delivering food.
According to court documents, 34-year-old Tiara Whitley, of Church Street in East Rockingham, went to a home on Sallie Lane in Hamlet on Dec. 18 and told the alleged victim that she was there to deliver food.
The victim reportedly told investigators that she invited Whitley, who was carrying a box of food with a folder on top, into her home. Whitley was reportedly wearing a hair bonnet, glasses, a surgical mask and burgundy shorts.
When Whitley sat the box down, she allegedly pulled out a green-handled hammer and demanded the victim’s money and cellphone, saying someone else was outside the house and would shoot the victim if she didn’t cooperate.
Whitley allegedly took the victim’s purse containing two Visa gift cards, $20 in cash and iPhone and an unspecified number of pill bottles — one containing oxycodone — and left the home.
The victim’s son reportedly told investigators that he had seen a silver Cadillac Escalade down the road when he left minutes before the alleged robbery.
According to investigators, the victim’s phone was tracked to an area near High Street in Hamlet.
Soon after, an officer with the Hamlet Police Department reportedly saw a vehicle matching the description traveling down Spring Street, which later pulled into the parking lot of La Cabana. The driver reportedly went inside the restaurant and returned outside, where she was detained.
The driver, Whitley, reportedly matched the description of the alleged robber given by the victim.
Investigators reportedly called the victim’s phone, which was on the dash of the vehicle. A hair bonnet, green-handled hammer, two prescription pill bottles and an envelope or folder were also visible, according to court documents.
Whitley reportedly asked a deputy to get her cigarettes out of the vehicle and, while doing so, the deputy noticed that the bottles bore the victim’s name.
While investigators were still on scene, an employee of the restaurant reportedly brought out a pocketbook that contained the gift cards and cash the victim said were stolen.
Investigators obtained a search warrant, issued by Superior Court Judge Dawn Layton, and seized the bonnet, two pill bottles and hammer as evidence.
Whitley was arrested and charged with a single felony count of robbery with a dangerous weapon. She was released on bail on Dec. 20, according to Richmond County Jail Records, and is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 6.
Online records show Whitley has no other pending charges or previous criminal convictions in this state.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
