Couple Indicted for Allegedly Planting Drugs to Frame School Volunteer

A Grand Jury indicted a pair of married attorneys Friday for allegedly conspiring to plant drugs in the backseat of an elementary school volunteer's car to have her arrested because they felt she wasn’t adequately supervising their child.

Irvine residents Kent Wycliffe Easter, 38, and Jill Bjorkholm Easter, 39, were indicted Thursday on one felony count each of conspiracy to procure the false arrest and charging of the parent volunteer, false imprisonment, and conspiracy to falsely report a crime. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of three years in state prison.

The Easters are both registered attorneys; Jill Easter is listed as "inactive" on the State Bar of California's website. Kent Easter has been a member of the State Bar since 1998, and his status is listed as "active." Neither of the attorneys have any record of discipline, according to the State Bar's website.

According to Deputy District Attorney Chris Duff, the Easters are charged with conspiring to put painkillers—Vicodin and Percocet— and some cannabis and a pipe behind the driver's seat of the victim's vehicle.

The parents were upset about the parent-volunteer's supervision of their son at an elementary school in Irvine, Duff said. The couple called and texted one another as Kent Easter drove to the woman's home to plant a bag of Vicodin, Percocet, marijuana, and a used marijuana pipe behind the driver’s seat of her unlocked vehicle just after midnight on Feb. 16, 2011, Duff alleged.

That afternoon, Kent Easter allegedly called Irvine police using a fake name and phone number from a Newport Beach hotel near his workplace. Prosecutors say Kent Easter told police he was a concerned parent who saw the school volunteer's car being driven erratically at the campus. Kent Easter also allegedly told police he saw Jane Doe hide a bag of drugs behind the driver's seat of her car.

Irvine police stopped the woman, who agreed to let police search her car and home. Officers began to doubt the drugs belonged to the woman, and the investigation led to the Easters, Duff said.

The duo were scheduled for arraignment on Aug. 23, but neither appeared. Their attorneys told the judge a "health emergency" necessitated a new hearing date.

The Easters remain out of custody on $20,000 bail and are scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment Nov. 9 in Santa Ana.