HAMLET — A woman involved in a missing baby hoax last year is now accused of robbing a retail store.
According to the Hamlet Police Department, 32-year-old Danilla Missy Bethea walked into the Dollar General around 8:20 p.m. Oct. 5, went to the check-out and pointed a gun at the head of the cashier, demanding that the register be opened.
During the investigation, police say Bethea was identified as a suspect. She was arrested Oct. 8 and charged with one count of armed robbery.
Bethea is being held in the Richmond County Jail under a $50,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on that charge Oct. 22.
Online court records show Bethea is also facing a misdemeanor charge of breaking and entering after allegedly breaking into her brother’s home on June 7 — not long before the apartment caught fire.
In February of 2019, Bethea was charged after investigators in Scotland County said she filed a false report about a woman who was being held against her will and whose child had been sold for drugs — all in a ploy to get money.
Bethea was initially charged with 10 felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses and one felony count of making false reports to a law enforcement agency pertaining to a missing child.
Records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction show she was convicted in June of that year on one count each of misdemeanor larceny and making a false report to police radio.
Records show Bethea was convicted in 2005 of misdemeanor larceny in Hoke County, and in 2013 of littering in Scotland County.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
