A woman pleaded guilty Monday to hiding a missing 16-year-old girl at her Vancouver home for 15 days during a high-profile search by law enforcement.
Lori M. Kingrey, 48, of Vancouver is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 9 in Clark County District Court for one count of harboring of a minor, a gross misdemeanor. She faces up to 364 days’ confinement and a fine of $5,000.
Judge Sonya Langsdorf ordered a presentence investigation, which she will use when determining a sentence.
A local media blitz surrounded the search effort for Isabella Castillo, who ran away from home on March 25.
Isabella was in a relationship with Kingrey’s 17-year-old son, Robert L. Rogers, at the time. Rogers arranged for Isabella to stay with him at his mother’s house in the 900 block of West 17th Street, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in court.
Kingrey allowed Isabella to stay at the home because she was concerned about the girl’s welfare, her defense attorney, Meaghan McCredie, said Monday. Kingrey was unaware of the “media storm” surrounding the search for the girl because she doesn’t watch the news, McCredie said. Kingrey also has mental health problems and was taking her medications inconsistently, which “impaired her judgment.”
Court records indicate Kingrey and her son repeatedly misled law enforcement when officers inquired whether they knew of Isabella’s whereabouts.
After a March 28 visit to Kingrey’s home, Vancouver police Officer David Brown wrote in the affidavit that “neither Robby, nor his mother, disclosed that she (Isabella) was inside the house, knowing that she was listed as a runaway and that law enforcement was looking for her.”
Kingrey finally recanted April 7 after a second visit from law enforcement and admitted Isabella had been staying with her all along.
Rogers, now 18, had faced a similar charge in Clark County Juvenile Court, but Superior Court Judge John Nichols dismissed that charge on May 17.
