Escaped inmate found hiding inside clothes dryer in SC home, deputies say

The manhunt for an escaped inmate ended when she was found hiding inside a clothes dryer in a South Carolina home, the Florence County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.

After escaping from custody Monday, 32-year-old Lake City resident Megan Marie Hickman was found the following day, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

Both Hickman and Anthony Robert Wright-Post, a 29-year-old who lives at the same address as Hickman, were arrested, according to the release.

Hickman was charged with escape, while Wright-Post was charged with aiding an escape, jail records show.

Hickman was being held at the Florence County Detention Center following an Aug. 17 arrest on a shoplifting charge, according to jail records. On Monday, she was sent to an area hospital for treatment of a medical issue, and that’s where the escape happened, the sheriff’s office said.

Hickman was in the emergency room when she asked to use the bathroom, according to the release. A female nurse took Hickman to the bathroom, but a short time later it was determined that Hickman had escaped the hospital, the sheriff’s office said.

A manhunt in the area of the hospital immediately began, and on Tuesday, Hickman was located and taken into custody at a residence on Johnnie Lee Lane in Coward, according to the release. That’s about 19 miles north of the home where Hickman and Wright-Post are residents.

Information about how Hickman ended up in the Coward home was not available, and there was no word how law enforcement tracked her down there, where the 5-foot-2, 120-pound woman hid in the dryer.

Hickman was returned to the Florence County jail, where Wright-Post is also being held, the sheriff’s office said.

An initial $1,087 bond was set for Hickman on the shoplifting charge, and now an additional $5,000 bond was set on the escape charge, Florence County court records show. Hickman is scheduled to return to court on Nov. 21 on the escape charge, according to judicial records. She had been scheduled to appear in court Aug. 31 on the shoplifting charge.

A $1,500 bond was set for Wright-Post, who’s scheduled to return to court on Nov. 21, according to judicial records.

If convicted on the felony escape charge, Hickman faces a maximum punishment of 15 years in prison, and that sentence would be served consecutively with any term from a possible conviction on the shoplifting charge, according to South Carolina law.

A conviction on the misdemeanor aiding escape charge means Wright-Post faces a maximum punishment of 2 years in prison and a $500 fine, according to state law.