Erin Stiebritz is escorted out of a courtroom after her sentencing hearing in Lewis County Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon in Chehalis.
Erin Stiebritz is escorted out of a courtroom after her sentencing hearing in Lewis County Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon in Chehalis.
Erin Stiebritz makes an apologetic statement to Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler during her sentencing hearing on Wednesday afternoon at the Lewis County Law and Justice Center in Chehalis.
A former Green Hill School counselor who pleaded guilty in July to sexual misconduct with a teenage resident at the Chehalis juvenile detention facility on Wednesday apologized for the damage she caused to the facility and her family.
Her apology came during a sentencing hearing in Lewis County Superior Court.
“Sorry isn’t even the word,” said Erin L. Stiebritz. “This has done a lot of damage to my family and friends.”
Stiebritz, also known as Erin Snodgrass, 37, of Centralia, pleaded guilty July 27 to one count of first-degree custodial sexual misconduct.
The standard sentencing range for the crime, given Stiebritz’s lack of criminal history, was six to 12 months in prison.
However, the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office and Steibritz’s attorney, Blake Kremer, negotiated a much lower sentence of 60 days, 14 of which must be served at the Lewis County Jail. The remaining 46 days is to be spent in counseling.
Several considerations led to the lower sentence, Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead told the court Wednesday, including the fact that Stiebritz pleaded guilty.
Also, the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office was not able to obtain a recorded statement with the alleged victim, Halstead said.
The Washington State Patrol began investigating the allegations of sexual misconduct by Stiebritz at Green Hill in 2015, although, according to court documents, Stiebritz had been on an alternate assignment at the facility since November 2014, after allegations first surfaced.
Halstead told the court Wednesday that the alleged victim, a teenage inmate at the facility, initially denied that he and Stiebritz had a sexual relationship. However, the Washington State Patrol reported that he later changed his story and admitted to a sexual relationship beginning after he turned 18, but was still a resident at the facility.
“The State Patrol didn’t tape it,” Halstead said of the victim’s admission of the relationship. “It was not a recorded interview.”
When Halstead attempted to interview the victim, he again denied the allegations against Stiebritz.
“There was plenty of other circumstantial evidence to prove this case,” Halstead said.
Green Hill School is a medium/maximum security facility for juvenile offenders located in Chehalis and managed by the state Department of Social and Health Services’ Juvenile Justice and Rehabilitation Administration. The facility provides educational and vocational training to older, male, juvenile offenders.
Stiebritz was given credit for two days already served at the jail and was taken into custody immediately following her sentencing hearing. She was also given credit for 14 days of counseling and treatment.
She will also be monitored for up to 12 months by the state Department of Corrections.
Stiebritz’ attorney, Blake Kremer, told the court about how the case has affected his client.
“There are many victims here,” he said, noting that his client has damaged the reputation of Green Hill and has caused pain to her family. “She understands she has injured them … She takes all this very seriously.”
Kremer said Stiebritz recently found a job, but was fired due to her conviction and requirement to register as a sex offender.
“This is an example of how people are going to be thinking about her and looking at her,” he said. “She made a terrible mistake in judgement that she’ll be paying for forever.”
