OC Couple Sentenced To Prison For Role In Planting Drugs In Volunteer's Car
SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — A former attorney and his wife were sentenced Friday for plotting to have a school volunteer arrested and falsely imprisoned by planting drugs in her car.
According to the Orange County District Attorney's Office, Kent Wycliffe Easter, 40, of Irvine was sentenced to six months in jail and three years of informal probation.
On Sept. 10, he was convicted of one felony count of false imprisonment by deceit in a retrial case as the former jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
Jill Bjorkholm Easter, 41, of Irvine pleaded guilty Oct. 30, 2013, to one felony count of false imprisonment by deceit and was sentenced to one year in jail and three years of formal probation.
In 2010, the victim was a parent volunteer at an elementary school in Irvine, where the Easters' son attended.
In February 2011, Jill became angry with the victim because she believed her son was not being properly supervised. She and her husband then plotted in retaliation against the victim.
Around 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 16, 2011, Kent drove to the victim's home and placed a bag of vicodin, percocet, marijuana and a used marijuana pipe behind the drivers seat of her unlocked vehicle in plain sight.
Kent then went to a hotel business center near the law firm we was working at and called a non-emergency Irvine Police Department phone number, providing a false name and phone number.
According to police, the phone call was recorded on surveillance video, which revealed that Kent told the dispatcher he was a concerned parent who had witnessed an erratic driver park at the elementary school.
He identified the victim by name, and said she hid a bag of drugs behind the drivers seat of her vehicle. Kent also provided the dispatcher with a description of the vehicle and license plate number.
During this time, Kent and Jill were in constant cellphone and text message contact as Kent committed the crime.
Irvine Police Department officers went to the school parking lot and identified the victims vehicle, which contained a bag of marijuana visible through the car window.
Officers contacted the victim on school campus and conducted a search warrant with her consent. She explained the drugs, however, did not belong to her and she did not know how they ended up in her vehicle.
Officers detained the victim for about two hours while officers further investigated the case.
The investigation revealed that the victim was in a classroom at the time when Kent claimed to have seen her hide the drugs in her car.
After consenting to a search warrant of her home, no evidence supported the victim to have drug use or possession of drugs.
Officers also said there was no evidence supporting that the victim was knowingly in possession of the marijuana or prescription pills found in her vehicle.
At the time of the crime, Kent was an active member of the State Bar of California since 1998. Jill was also admitted to the Bar in 1998, but her license has since expired.
During the sentencing Friday, the victim said "the defendants have affected her life for so long" that she plans "to put this aside and move on."
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