[1]Erin Stiebritz, right, and her lawyer face Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The counselor accused of having sex in her office at Green Hill School with a student-inmate pleaded guilty today, as charged.
Erin Stiebritz, also known as Erin Snodgrass, appeared in Lewis County Superior Court with her lawyer this afternoon who spoke to news reporters after the hearing.
“My client made a terrible decision, she’s taken responsibility,” defense attorney Blake Kremer said. “She’s going to be paying for it for a long time.”
Stiebritz, now 37, was arrested earlier this year following an investigation conducted in 2015 for incidents that occurred during the latter half of 2014. She has been free on bond since she was charged.
Judge James Lawler today accepted her guilty plea to one count of first-degree custodial sexual misconduct.
Lewis County prosecutors wrote in charging papers that the then resident-counselor had an intimate relationship with an incarcerated boy who turned 18 during that time. Stiebritz had begun working there in June 2013.
Green Hill is run by the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration, a division of the Department of Social and Health Services. It’s a medium to maximum security fenced facility in Chehalis that provides male offenders education and vocational training.
She remains free until her sentencing, which is set to take place in September after a pre-sentencing investigation is done.
The standard sentencing range for the offense is six to 12 months in jail, however, prosecutors have agreed to recommend an exceptionally shorter sentence, according to Kremer.
If the judge goes along with it, she would get 14 days in jail and 46 days converted to treatment, Kremer said. Then she would also have to register as a sex offender for 10 years, he said.
Judge Lawler today also agreed to seal portions of documents in the file he said contained personal and private information about the defendant as well as other people.
Her hearing is scheduled for Sept. 21.
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For background, read “Counselor-inmate sex alleged at Green Hill School” from Tuesday January 12, 2016, here [2]