A Vancouver mother of three was sentenced Friday in Clark County Superior Court to 10 years in prison for soliciting the murder of her lover’s wife and stalking another woman.
Lori Lyn Goulet, 40, sent an anonymous letter Oct. 29 to her estranged brother, Kevin Newsom, asking him to kill Carmady Perez, 26, of Vancouver, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in court. Perez was never harmed. In the letter, Goulet falsely accused Perez of child abuse, court documents say.
“The solicitation for murder was not just for me,” Perez told Judge Daniel Stahnke at the sentencing hearing. “They would have had to hurt my children.” She said her children are always with her.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Camara Banfield said that the investigation of the crime led detectives to another victim, Debra Mora.
Goulet cyberstalked Mora for a decade, Banfield said. During that time, she made a false report of child abuse about her — an act she would later repeat against Perez, Banfield said. Child Protective Services temporarily took Mora’s children away based on the false report, Banfield said.
Goulet also spread lies about Mora around their neighborhood, Mora’s church and family members, causing rifts with loved ones and neighbors, Banfield said.
“I’m sorry for destroying everyone’s life,” Goulet said. She said the crime had destroyed her marriage to her high school sweetheart and separated her from her three sons.
Goulet offered Newsom $500 to commit the murder, said Judge Daniel Stahnke. In email that followed the letter, she provided Perez’s address, the time of day the murder should be committed, a description of vehicles parked at the residence and how to handle the family’s dogs, according to the affidavit. She gave specific instructions not to hurt Perez’s husband, Edward Perez, who was reportedly Goulet’s lover, or the couple’s three children.
Goulet worked with Edward Perez at ABM Janitorial Services.
The murder solicitation was “just words,” Goulet said. “There was nothing (that) was going to happen. I didn’t have the money (to pay for the murder).”
Goulet’s attorney, Steven Rucker, said that Goulet was a victim of child abuse. He asked the judge to consider that Goulet had no prior criminal history and that she accepted responsibility for the crime by pleading guilty June 28 to second-degree solicitation to commit murder, misdemeanor stalking, cyberstalking and filing a false report of child abuse. That saved taxpayers the cost of a trial and saved the victims from the trauma of a trial, Rucker said.
Goulet had faced a maximum sentence of 165 months, Banfield said. The 120 months was jointly recommended by the prosecution and defense as part of a plea agreement.
Paris Achen: 360-735-4551; http://twitter.com/Col_Courts; paris.achen@columbian.com.
