Woman sentenced for locking seniors out of home

EPHRATA — A Moses Lake woman was sentenced for locking a man with Parkinson’s disease and a woman with multiple sclerosis out of their Moses Lake home.

Nina Oliver, 49, of Moses Lake, pleaded guilty in Grant County Superior Court to criminal mischief while armed and two counts of third-degree criminal mistreatment. Superior Court Judge David Estudillo followed a joint recommendation between Deputy Prosecutor Mark Laiminger and defense attorney Rafael Gonzales and sentenced Oliver to 40 days in jail. Oliver was initially charged with third-degree assault, but the charge was dropped in a plea agreement.

On Dec. 23 the Moses Lake Police Department received a report of a possibly intoxicated driver in the 800 block of North Vista Drive. The reporting party told police they saw a man drive up to a residence and said he could not walk straight when he got out of his vehicle. The person who contacted police believed the man was going to get back into his vehicle and drive again, according to police records.

Police contacted the man and discovered he was not intoxicated, but had Parkinson’s disease. In addition, officers learned the man’s wife, who was also in the vehicle, had multiple sclerosis. The man said he had been locked out of his Vista Drive residence by Oliver, whom he identified as his family’s caregiver. The man said they had gotten into an argument and returned to the house, but Oliver blocked the door so he couldn’t get in.

When the man went to the back of his house Oliver opened the front door, grabbed the house keys, which were still in the door knob, and locked the man out of the house. Police attempted to get Oliver to come out of the residence, but she did not respond when officers knocked on the door.

When police gained entry into the house Oliver was in the bathroom and informed officers she did not respond and come to the door because of medical conditions she has, including diarrhea. Officers eventually got Oliver to come out of the bathroom and she was placed into wrist restraints.

“I was able to maintain control of the arm and placed her in wrist restraints. Oliver began to scream that she could not go to jail,” wrote an MLPD officer. “Oliver jumped up and down slamming her feet on the floor as she screamed. Oliver yelled out she could not go to jail because (the victims) needed her.”

As she was being transported to the Grant County Jail, Oliver told an officer she was going to commit suicide and could not go to jail. She hit her head on the rear door window and kicked the back divider glass of the police vehicle. She stated the man and woman were fine outside of their house in their car and said she wanted an hour to herself after they had just argued, according to police records.