The father of a still-missing 5-year-old girl was released early from jail in a case involving his other children in Washington, authorities said.
Andrew Carlson, 37, had pleaded guilty to two counts of child endangerment with a controlled substance in March and was sentenced to one year in jail on March 28, KOMO reported.
But he was freed on Wednesday, Aug. 3 — several months early — according to jail records.
Carlson’s case was prompted by a welfare check for his 5-year-old daughter, Oakley Carlson. Police in Oakville discovered Oakley had not been seen by anyone in a year, including her father and mother, Jordan Bowers.
The couple then reported their daughter missing after police questioned them about her whereabouts, according to a criminal complaint.
Authorities searched for the child but could not find her. And Carlson and Bowers gave police information about Oakley that was “quickly proven to be false and misleading,” the complaint says.
Oakley is still missing.
As police continued to investigate Oakley’s disappearance, they found that other children in the home were being mistreated, court documents show.
The couple was arrested in December 2021 on charges of second-degree abandonment of a dependent person when authorities learned they failed to provide medication to their 6-year-old daughter — who is blind and has other ailments — for 15 months, according to court documents.
Those charges were later dropped.
Carlson and Bowers were also charged with two counts of child endangerment with a controlled substance after test results aken on Dec. 10, 2021, showed that their 6-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son had been exposed or ingested high levels of methamphetamine, KING-TV reported.
After pleading guilty to the charges, Bowers was sentenced to 20 months in jail on April 22, 2021. Oakley’s disappearance has gained a large following online with a public Facebook page garnering over 14,000 followers.
News of Carlson’s release from jail outraged many members of the Facebook group.
Oakville is about 30 miles south of Olympia.
