Mom of missing Washington 5-year-old going to prison on charges involving other kids
.jpeg "Oakley Carlson, 5, was last seen over a year ago in Oakville, Washington. Her mother, Jordan Bowers, was sentenced to 20 months in prison on child endangerment charges related to Oakley’s siblings on April 22, 2022.")
The mother of a missing 5-year-old girl was sentenced to prison in a Washington court on charges involving her other two children.
Jordan Bowers, 33, was sentenced to 20 months in prison on two counts of child endangerment with a controlled substance on Friday, April 22, in Grays Harbor County Superior Court.
She pleaded guilty to the charges earlier this month.
Andrew Carlson, the father of two of the children, had a lighter sentencing for the same charges. He was sentenced to one year in prison on March 28 because he didn’t have a criminal history, McClatchy News previously reported.
Jordan Bowers and Andrew Carlson were arrested on Dec. 6, 2021, after a welfare check prompted the search for their 5-year-old daughter, Oakley Carlson in Oakville.
Oakley was not found when authorities looked for her and she hadn’t been seen in over a year. The couple gave police information about Oakley that was “quickly proven to be false and misleading,” according to a criminal complaint.
Authorities also discovered their 6-year-old child wasn’t receiving necessary medication. They also learned two of their children had been exposed or ingested high levels of methamphetamine, KING-TV reported.
Bowers and Carlson were initially charged with second-degree abandonment of a dependent person when authorities learned they failed to provide medication to their 6-year-old for 15 months, but those charges were dropped, according to court documents.
The child is disabled and the medication is necessary or “significant physical impairment” could occur, court documents show.
Bowers faced a 15-20 month sentencing range for each count, but Superior Court Judge Katie Svoboda sentenced her at the highest end.
She will serve her time for each charge concurrently.
“It’s a parent’s job to protect their children and Ms. Bowers failed to do that.” Svoboda said. “I am convinced beyond any doubt that they both knew that their children were being exposed and they took no steps to stop it.”
Bowers did not make a statement during her hearing.
“Ms. Bowers always insisted that she was not responsible for this,” her attorney Michael Nagle said during the hearing.
In addition to her 20-month sentence, Bowers will have no unsupervised contact with any child.
Oakley’s disappearance has gained a large following online with a public Facebook page garnering over 13,000 followers.
A group of people holding signs also showed up to Bowers’ sentencing and chanted “Where is Oakley!” as she was being escorted into the superior court.
Oakville is about 30 miles south of Olympia.
This story was originally published April 22, 2022 at 3:58 PM with the headline "Mom of missing Washington 5-year-old going to prison on charges involving other kids."
