Woman gets 60 days for assisting fugitive uncle

Arielle Engh, 19, of Vancouver was sentenced Thursday to 60 days in jail for driving an alleged crime ring leader to the U.S. border with Mexico.

She pleaded guilty Thursday in Clark County Superior Court to second-degree rendering criminal assistance and methamphetamine possession.

Judge Robert Lewis agreed to sentence Engh to 60 days, which was the recommended amount negotiated between Engh’s attorney Susan Stauffer and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Engh drove her uncle, Fred J. Engh, 30, of Vancouver to the U.S. border with Mexico in July when he fled from authorities. Fred Engh was apprehended in early November and is in the Clark County Jail without bail.

He is accused of being the ringleader of a network of shoplifters who stole merchandise and then returned it for store credit on a gift card, according to court documents. The shoplifters, often called “boosters,” then sold the gift cards to Fred Engh for 40 to 75 percent of their value, and he resold the gift cards online, court documents say.

The crime ring operated for a period of at least three years in Washington, Oregon and Nevada, officials say.