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Monday, Sept. 8, 2008 | 7:03 p.m.
Laurinda Drake
Elaine Clermont
Sun Archives
Two women were arrested Monday on first-degree kidnapping charges in North Las Vegas in connection with the kidnapping of a 6-year-old boy.
Police were contacted by the Clark County School District Police Department at about noon after the reported kidnapping of the Jo Mackey Elementary School student.
North Las Vegas investigators learned that at about 9:30 a.m., the Las Vegas boy was kidnapped from the school at 2726 Englestad St.
Police learned that 40-year-old Laurinda Drake of North Las Vegas took the boy to show the Clark County School District Board that Jo Mackey is not secure enough to provide for the safety of students.
Drake picked the boy up near the school and drove around the area to several locations, including a Wal-Mart store and the house of a friend, 40-year-old North Las Vegas resident Elaine Clermont.
From Clermont's home they called several media outlets asking them to meet at the Clark County School District Board's office in the 5100 block of West Sahara Avenue, saying the boy then would be turned over to school district officials.
Drake and Clermont said this was to show that someone can easily remove a child from a school without proper safety measures.
At about noon, Drake and Clermont turned the child over to school district authorities.
The boy is listed in good condition and Drake and Clermont were arrested on the kidnapping charges. They were taken to the North Las Vegas jail.
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Good intentions that were done in a very bad way.
Sometimes it takes extreme measures to enact change or to fix a flawed system but this was over the top. Did they know the kid personally or was it a random child? I worry daily for my childrens' safety while they are gone, thinking something like that may happen. There are a lot of screwed up people in the US and Vegas has more than its share. In a way I'm glad this was brought to light but then again if it were one of mine; I'd kill somebody.
I feel that this is TOTALLY out of control. It should not matter whether or not if the student wanted to go back to school, that is where he SHOULD of been taken. These two ladies deserve what is happening to them, because if it were my child, I would not be happy with them. I hope that they need to serve time for this crime. How dare you kidnap a child just to prove a point!!! Also, why are their kids still at Mackey if it is such a bad school? I have followed their quest for change at Mackey since Feb. and feel that if you are not happy with how your child is being educated and you think that the staff stinks, then get your kids out of there!! If they did had taken them out over the summer, then they wouldn't be in SO much trouble.
those two faces would give a kid a lifetime of nightmares.
Is it not better to pick up a young child out wandering alone and keep him/her safe until you can get the child back where they belong than to just let the child continue to wander alone for fear of being accused of a kidnapping attempt. Ya, let the kid keep wandering and eventually someone WILL pick him/her up - for their own perverted devices. The parents of this kid should be thanking these women. And was the kid led into the car kicking/screaming - he should have been - if not then shame on the parents/school for failing to get the whole stranger danger point across. If he got into the car quietly and even remotely willingly then there's been a real breakdown in communication when it comes to teaching kids about safety hasn't there?
that was the dumbest comment I've ever read azsk8fan!!!!
you are just as loony as these to stupid a#* women! never in the article or the news reports did it say the the child was wandering off alone. The kid was at school, on school grounds were he was supposed to be!
If this would have happend to my child these two dumb women would have been dead! You see they just didnt mess with the right parents!
azsk8fan your an idiot. if that was your child they took. i am sure you would have a different outlook on it. I hope they bury these woman underneath the jail. why don't i go and rob a bank and drive around with the money for a while and say hey i was just trying to prove a point. that is so stupid. i wonder what these two woman would say if someone kidnapped there children to prove a point. dumb!!!! this was not a good thing to do to prove a point.
It was foolish for those women to take that child, they should have known better. What will the prosecutor do? The women meant no harm and no harm was done,except scaring the day light out of a few people. Some lessons were learned. I believe charges should be dismissed against those two women and O. J. Simpson and his friend and they all be given some community service duties. The country will be watching this one.
please.... i hope the judge sets a good example and throws the book at them. so others will know you don't kidnap a child. to make a point or not. and how do you know there was no harm done. the kid was taken by someone that he didn't know. what would have happened while this lady is driving this child around and got in an accident. and the kid is put in the hospital. would you still say charges should be dismissed? If they are dismissed i will fight to get that judge removed from the bench. and sarge354 the o.j. Simpson trial has nothing to do with this case. and on that matter i hope that o.j. spends the rest of his life in jail.
I just LOVE the way this story was written up. Could it POSSIBLY have been more biased?! Who wrote this? What happened that day with Laurinda Drake is by no means known to have been for media attention! Those of you who are interested in this case can watch the trial on COURT TV; this woman has been ASSUMED to have had all these political motives for picking up a wandering child that NOONE CAN NOW PROVE SHE HAD.
Agreed, there was some pretty stupid decision-making here, but an hour and a half later that child was returned to his Mom! She did the right thing with a wandering child in the wrong way. Would you put her in JAIL for that? Just watch the trial.
Actually..SMB.. The child was not on the school campus and was found wandering on a deserted street. The child was NOT kidnapped, I do hope you followed the case. That's the problem with people that pre-judge instead of listening to the facts. Yes the woman had an axe to grind, no she did not kidnap the child, yes she was trying to prove a point. get it right