ABC News(MIAMI) — The woman who pleaded guilty to kidnapping a baby from a Florida hospital hours after she was born was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison.
Gloria Williams posed as a nurse and stole Kamiyah Mobley from a Jacksonville hospital in July 1998 before giving the child a different name, Alexis Manigo, and raising her as her own in South Carolina.
Williams, who was arrested in 2017, entered guilty pleas to charges of felony kidnapping and interference earlier this year as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
At Friday’s sentencing, Williams, 52, was given credit for her 511 days of time served.
After the sentencing was announced, Mobley’s birth mother left the courtroom with a smile on her face.
Last month in court Williams apologized to Mobley’s birth parents.
“I know I wronged you and I’m so sorry,” Williams said. “So many days … I wanted to pick that child up and say, ‘Let’s get in this car and go’ — I just couldn’t.”
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