U.S. Department
of Justice
Press Release
Kidnapping Suspect Appears In Federal Court
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Mississippi
Jackson, Miss. - Jesse Mae Pollard, 54, of Northport, Alabama, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Ball today pursuant to a criminal complaint charging her with kidnapping, announced U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Davis and FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel McMullen.
The Court found that Pollard should be detained pending action of the federal grand jury, specifically finding that probable cause exists to show that Pollard committed the crime charged in the Complaint.
According to the Complaint, a black female entered East Kemper Elementary School in Scooba, Mississippi and took six (6) year old Jashayla Hopson out of school. Later that evening, video surveillance cameras at a hotel in Bessemer, Alabama indicate that Jesse Mae Pollard was at the hotel with Jashayla Hopson. Jashayla was held in the hotel room overnight and dropped off the next day on the side of the road in Enterprise, Mississippi.
The penalty for kidnapping is a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, Mississippi Highway Patrol, Kemper County Sheriff's Office and Lauderdale County Sheriff's
Office conducted the investigation in this case.
The public is reminded that a Criminal Complaint is an accusation and a defendant is
presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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Updated January 7, 2015
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