Photo by LCSO Briana Turnbull

Courtesy Kaden Clark-Guthrie

A 23-year-old North Platte woman was found guilty of three misdemeanors after she helped a 17-year-old boy escape from state custody and hid him for three months.

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Briana P. Turnbull pleaded no contest and was found guilty of attempted violation of a custody order, attempted juvenile escape and contributing to the delinquency of a child in Dawson County Court May 20.

In a plea agreement with special prosecutor Charles Brewster, a Kearney attorney, Briana had two felony charges reduced to misdemeanors. She could face a maximum three years in prison, fines of $3,000 or both when sentenced.

A pre-sentence investigation was ordered by Kearney County District Judge Terri Harder, who was appointed to oversee the case.

Turnbull is the daughter of Lincoln County Judge Kent Turnbull. .

Turnbull was a staff employee of the Salvation Army Quinn Wilcox House in North Platte, a youth facility for troubled teens.

Kaden Clark-Guthrie, 17, of Trenton, was a resident of the Wilcox House. Clark-Guthrie, a state ward, had been ordered to the Wilcox House by Hitchcock County Court after his arrest for burglary.

The pair became close, according to Robin Schaffert, Clark-Guthrie’s mom. She said Turnbull smuggled cigarettes and Flexeril, a muscle-relaxing drug, into the facility for her son. After Clark-Guthrie was caught with the cigarettes and tested positive for drugs, he was to be shipped to YRTC in Kearney, Schaffert said.

Schaffert said Turnbull and Clark-Guthrie hatched a plan to run away together.

On Nov. 16, 2008, Turnbull and Clark-Guthrie left the facility together and ran away to Carthage Missouri, where Turnbull had secured an apartment.

For the next three months, the couple lived together while the North Platte police searched for Clark-Guthrie.

Schaffert said it was a month before anyone connected Clark-Guthrie’s disappearance with Turnbull’s sudden departure.

North Platte police Lt. Rick Ryan said investigators got almost no cooperation from the Carthage Mo. police department and the investigation stalled.

“We continually called them and asked them to assist,” Ryan said. “They never followed up and would not return phone calls.”

Eventually, Turnbull got wind that the police were closing in and she and Clark-Guthrie came back to Nebraska Sunday, Feb. 22, according to Ryan. Turnbull dropped Clark-Guthrie off at his grandmother’s house and came to North Platte. She was arrested Feb. 24.

Schaffert said she was angry with Turnbull and wanted to insure that Turnbull was never able to work with teenagers again.

“My son is a mess,” Schaffert said at the time. She said he was very emotional and upset over the whole incident.

Schaffert said her son was in treatment, had received his GED and was doing much better.

Other cases

Turnbull’s case is just the latest of three recent cases of women being charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

In 2007, Kristen M. Fierro, 28, 1110 West 11th, was charged with two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two counts of procuring alcohol for minors after she allegedly became involved with several young men from the Salvation Army’s Quinn Wilcox House.

According to the North Platte police, Fierro worked at the Wilcox House and began furnishing several teenage residents there with cigarettes and alcohol.

A police spokesman said Fierro drove the boys around and took them places where they drank and smoked and engaged in inappropriate behavior.

Fierro eventually pleaded guilty to both counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in Lincoln County Court in March 2008. She was sentenced to a term of 18-months probation and ordered to pay court costs and probation fees.

Bella A. Barerra, 35, 1102 West 11th, was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, harboring an escaped juvenile and false reporting after she allegedly hid a 14-year-old boy who escaped from the Salvation Army’s Quinn Wilcox House.

A North Platte police spokesman said Barerra hid the boy and drove him around after he ran away from the group home. When questioned by the police, the spokesman said Barerra lied to investigators about her involvement.

Barerra eventually pleaded guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor and false reporting. The felony charge of harboring an escaped juvenile was dismissed in a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Barerra was sentenced to six months probation and ordered to pay court costs and probation fees in April 2008.

In all three cases, felony charges were reduced to misdemeanors in exchange for a plea.