DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. — A woman on a fixed income says she was told either go to jail or fork over the last money she had to a deputy who said she had warrants.
It turns out the man threatening to lock her up wasn’t a deputy at all, and now he’s in jail.
“I couldn’t afford to go to jail. I couldn’t go to jail,” Vicki Libro said.
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Libro told Channel 2’s Tom Jones that “Steven McCarty” called her, claiming to be a Douglas County deputy and threatening to lock her up because she had two failure to appear warrants.
“I was really scared. You know I’ve never been arrested ever,” she said. “I’ve had like what, two tickets my whole life.”
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says the man calling himself Steven McCarty was 27-year-old Tavius Hill.
Libro didn’t know that when he called her in March, saying he sounded like the real thing.
She says Hill told her she had $6,000 worth of warrants, and she needed to send $1,000 to avoid going to jail.
“I got $475 and couldn’t do anymore,” Libro said.
She sent the money through text message but eventually got suspicious and called police.
Deputies were able to track down Hill and arrest him.
Libro says she wrote him a text message telling him his mother wouldn’t be proud of what he did to her. She says jail is where he needs to be for scaring her and having her thinking she would be locked up here.
He now faces charges of theft by deception, impersonating an officer and exploiting elder persons.
Libro is on a fixed income and really needed that $475.
She is urging people to hang up when they get a similar call.
“Do not just take anybody’s word for anything,” she said.
Deputies offer the same advice. They say they won’t call you if you have a warrant, they will come and find you in person.
Hill is being held on a $15,000 bond.
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