A Columbus man was arrested for strong-armed robbery after he allegedly robbed a female hitchhiker.
Steven Douglas Williams, 38, of 68 Sanders Mill Road in Steens, was arrested by deputies with the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department early Friday morning after he allegedly stole an undetermined amount of money from a woman.
Details of the incident are unclear but LCSD Investigator Daryl Nabors said Williams and his brother were driving on Yorkville Road near Casey Lane in New Hope at approximately 11 p.m. Thursday when they saw two females walking on the side of the highway. The brothers pulled their vehicle over and asked the two women if they needed a ride. The women got in the car and asked to be driven to the Budget Inn in Columbus, where one of the women was staying with her boyfriend. The women claim that is when Williams robbed them.
“They got in the car and his brother was going to take them to the motel and they said he went crazy and jumped on one of them and snatched money out of her hand,” Nabors said.
One of the females got out of the car and ran to a nearby home where she called 911. Instead of reporting a robbery, the female told the operator that Williams was attempting to kidnap her friend.
“That’s when it got misconstrued as a kidnapping,” Nabors said. “She thought he was trying to do something else to her.”
Law enforcement responded to the scene and received different versions of the story from Williams and the victim, Nabors said.
The victim claims Williams stole $41 dollars from her while Williams claims it was $21. The two originally claimed that they did not know each other but then both changed their story and said they had “seen each other around but were not acquaintances,” Nabors said. Both of the females, aged 22 and 39, are from Columbus.
The Budget Inn is 5.8 miles from Casey Lane or a nearly two hour walk according to Google Maps. Nabors said it is unclear why the two women were walking alone in the middle of the night.
Williams was arrested on scene and charged with robbery. He is currently in the custody of the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center on a $5,000 bond. The incident is still under investigation.
Sarah Fowler covered crime, education and community related events for The Dispatch.
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