Lawyer gets 6 months for setting up school volunteer in faked drug case
A California lawyer convicted last month of helping his wife try to set up a volunteer at their son’s elementary school in a faked drug case has been sentenced to six months in jail.
Kent Easter, 40, was taken into custody after a jury found him guilty, so that time will be credited against his sentence in the Orange County Superior Court case, reports the OC Weekly’s Navel Gazing blog. He must also perform 100 hours of community service and complete three years of probation.
His wife, Jill Easter, who is herself a law graduate of the University of California-Berkeley, pleaded guilty last year to the same charge, false imprisonment by fraud and deceit. She was sentenced to one year in jail (that sentence was stayed, except for 120 days) and 100 hours of community service.
Kent Easter is a law graduate of the University of California-Los Angeles.
Prosecutors said the two, angry at the volunteer concerning the way they perceived her interaction with their son, arranged to plant drugs in her car in 2011. Kent Easter then called police from a public hotel phone, using a neighbor’s name and a phony accent. He reportedly accused the volunteer of driving erratically and said he had seen her hide a bag of drugs behind the driver’s seat of her car.
Police found the drugs in the volunteer’s car and questioned her, but a consent search of her home turned up no evidence of drugs or drug use. Eventually, investigators linked the hotel phone call to the Easters, who they say spoke with each other on cellphones repeatedly as the 2011 incident unfolded.
The volunteer, Kelli Peters, filed a civil suit against the Easters in 2012.
Related coverage:
New York Daily News: “PTA volunteer openly weeps during retrial of rival parent who allegedly planted drugs in her car”
Navel Gazing (OC Weekly): “Not Free at Last! Kent Wycliffe Easter Taken into Custody for Drug-Planting Conviction”
