LONGVIEW — Heather Annette Hughes was sentenced Monday to more than 20 years in prison for supplying a former Longview car dealer a child for sex in 2017.
Presiding Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Patricia Fassett said that while Hughes, 50, of Longview, was not the chief culprit, the crimes would not have occurred without her involvement.
The victim, who was 12 in 2017, said during trial Hughes introduced her to Jay Douglas, 61, the former owner of the used-car dealership Triangle Motors. He was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison in 2022 for raping and molesting the girl.
Hughes was convicted in May.
Hughes was sentenced Monday to 23 years and four months to life in prison. Fassett also issued lifetime community custody and a lifetime no-contact order, preventing Hughes from having any further contact with the victim.
A pre-sentencing report shows Hughes still believes she and Douglas are not guilty.
The report states Hughes “knows she is innocent of this crime and doesn’t understand why (people) would lie on the stand.”
Hughes told officials that she took the child to Douglas’ residence to try on Halloween costumes. However, during the trial, the prosecution said Hughes helped the victim change into lingerie after the child felt dizzy from eating pizza at Douglas’ home prior to the rape.
Fassett voiced concern about Hughes’s mental health Monday, questioning whether it was caused by drug use or if Hughes relied on drugs to self-medicate.
Hughes, dressed in a jail uniform, teared up during the proceeding, occasionally wiping her eyes with crumpled tissues.
Hughes did not testify at her three-day trial. Though she was arrested in 2018, she wasn’t considered competent to stand trial until January, according to court records.
She was found guilty May 16 on seven of eight charges, which included rape of a child, two counts of child molestation, human trafficking, dealing in depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, commercial sexual abuse of a minor, and another charge of promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor.
Hughes was found not guilty on one charge of promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor.
According to a police report filed after her initial arrest, Hughes was detained on allegations that she transported the child to Douglas’s home and car dealership for sex.
Douglas’s car dealership was destroyed in a fire in 2019 while Douglas was on bail.
