DSS was caring for a child. 2 workers conspired to abandon him at a gas station, SLED says
Two employees of the S.C. Department of Social Services have been arrested after abandoning a child in their custody at a gas station earlier this year, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
On Monday, SLED charged 42-year-old Michelle Lorraine Holmes, a DSS case manager, with unlawfully placing a child at risk and willfully abandoning a child, a felony, according to a news release. A second DSS case manager, 26-year-old Marcus Antonio Hutchins, was charged with criminal conspiracy, also a felony.
The pair were transporting a child to the Spartanburg County DSS Office on March 6 when they stopped at a gas station on Fairforest Road in Spartanburg, according to an affidavit. The child had been placed in DSS custody by the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office as a “foreign national” with no known family in South Carolina. The child’s age was not disclosed.
Hutchins took the child to a public bathroom inside the gas station while Holmes waited in the car, according to an affidavit. Once the child was in the bathroom, Hutchins exited the store, and the two case managers left the property.
When the child, who had limited knowledge of English, was unable to find Hutchins or Holmes, a gas station employee called 911.
Hutchins and Holmes later arrived at the DSS office. They led a supervisor to believe that the child had wandered off, according to SLED.
DSS declined to comment on the arrests, but said Hutchins and Holmes are no longer with the department.
Both of the defendants were booked at the Spartanburg County Detention Center. The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office will prosecute the case.
If found guilty, Hutchins could face a fine and up to 10 years in prison, according to South Carolina law. Holmes could be fined up to $5,000 and face up to five years in prison.
