(AP) -- The South Carolina mother of a toddler missing since Thanksgiving has retained a notable Columbia criminal defense attorney.

Hemphill Pride II told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he now represents Zinah Jennings and has visited her at a psychiatric hospital where she is being evaluated.

Amir Jennings was 18 months old when his grandmother said she last saw him over Thanksgiving. The boy's 22-year-old mother is charged with lying to police about where her son is.

Authorities say Zinah Jennings first told them in late December that she didn't have a son before saying he was with friends in the Carolinas and Georgia.

Jennings had also been arrested on prostitution and drug charges in Georgia shortly before her son disappeared.

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