ASHEVILLE, N.C. — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - North Carolina, Western), published as received.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Stephanie Miranda Neace, 32, of Blairsville, Georgia, was sentenced today to 84 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for the 2023 kidnapping and robbery of an elderly victim, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In April, Neace’s co-defendant, Jordan Nathaniel Hedden, was sentenced to 121 months in prison in April for his role in the victim’s kidnapping.

James C. Barnacle, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in North Carolina joins U.S. Attorney Ferguson in making today’s announcement.

According to evidence presented at Neace’s trial, filed court documents, and witness testimony, on November 30, 2023, the victim, a 71-year-old female, was driving from Georgia to North Carolina, when she saw Neace and Hedden walking. The victim offered them a ride because it was cold outside. Neace and Hedden accepted the ride, and soon after they entered North Carolina, Hedden instructed the victim to drive to his car. When they arrived at the location, a car was not there. Hedden then ordered the victim to stop the vehicle, and when the victim refused, Hedden forced the victim to stop the car and get in the back seat. Hedden then took over driving.

According to evidence presented at trial, the victim began to cry and Hedden yelled at her and told her to shut up. Trial evidence showed that Hedden appeared to be high and agitated and became paranoid that the victim had a tracking device. At one point, Hedden stopped the vehicle, and he and Neace searched the car and the victim herself for tracking devices. Then, they took the victim’s phone and disabled it. Hedden also demanded money from the victim, but the victim only had $2. Fearing for her safety, the victim told the defendants to take her to an ATM and the defendants agreed. During the drive into Tennessee, Hedden made the victim promise that she would not identify them to the police.

During the drive to the ATM, the victim convinced Hedden to let her withdraw money from a gas station ATM instead of a bank. The victim also told Hedden that she would give the defendants the money if they let her stay behind safely at the gas station. When they arrived at the gas station, the victim took her purse and her car key fob. She told Hedden to turn off the car so the headlights could not be seen from the people inside the gas station, and Hedden complied. As the victim and Hedden were walking toward the gas station, the victim began to run to the door and scream for help. Hedden ran back to the car, attempted to use it to flee but was unable to start the car without the key fob. Hedden and Neace then fled on foot and escaped into the woods but were apprehended days later.

Neace will remain in federal custody pending placement by the Federal Bureau of Prisons at a designated facility.

In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney Ferguson thanked the FBI for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Don Gast and Alexis Solheim of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville are prosecuted the case.