Stepmom of starved girl sentenced to prison

SEATTLE - A Carnation woman accused of starving and withholding water from her 14-year-old stepdaughter in a nightmarish case of child abuse was sentenced Friday to 41 months in prison.

The sentence against Rebecca Long was handed down in King County Superior Court after she entered a plea Sept. 4 to one count of first-degree criminal mistreatment in the case.

The stepdaughter, now 15, was in the courtroom and told Judge William Downing a 41-month sentence was not enough punishment for the horrific abuse she underwent at the hands of Long.

"If I had to impose a sentence it should be for 11 years - one for every year she abused me," the stepdaughter said before the courtroom, reading from a letter she had written.

Long showed no emotion or reaction as her stepdaughter read from the letter. She did not make any statement on her behalf or express remorse at the sentencing.

Long earlier entered a so-called Alford plea to one count of first-degree criminal mistreatment, which means that Long does not admit her guilt but believes that a jury would likely find her guilty. Prosecutors had asked for the maximum possible sentence of 41 months, and the judge granted it.

Defense attorneys tried to avoid a prison sentence for Long by claiming that she was mentally ill with dissociative identity disorder. But the judge said the evidence for that was "thin," and that attorneys did not make a sufficient link between the disorder and the crime she committed.

Long will serve her sentence at the Washington Corrections Center for Women at Purdy.

The girl's father, Jon E. Pomeroy, also was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his part in the abuse on Sept. 18. Before his sentencing, Pomeroy read a tearful statement expressing remorse for his part in the abuse against his daughter.

The detective handling the case said it was the worst case of child abuse he had ever seen in a 16-year career of investigating abuse and neglect.

Sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart says the girl weighed only 48 pounds when rescued in August 2008, and had been given only little food and water for several years.

Long and Pomeroy were arrested Oct. 10, 2008 - several weeks after deputies removed the then 14-year-old girl from their Carnation home.

The investigation began when Child Protective Services was called to the house on Aug. 13, 2008, after neighbors reported hearing screaming the night before.

Deputies interviewed the girl privately when her father told detectives she was the one screaming.

The girl told deputies her mother disciplined her by restricting her water intake, and was primarily given toast to eat. She said she hadn't seen a doctor in several years.

Long was the girl's stepmother and Pomeroy is her biological father.

The girl and her then 12-year-old brother were taken from the home and the girl was admitted to Children's Hospital for treatment of severe malnutrition. She was in the hospital for two weeks.

During the investigation, investigators said they found the girl's mother restricted her water intake to about half of a small Dixie cup per day. The mother only let the girl shower every two or three weeks, and watched her during each shower and bathroom break to keep the girl from surreptitiously drinking water.

"She looked more like she was 8 or 9 years old. Clearly very, very malnourished," Urquhart said after the arrests. "All of her teeth had to be either pulled or capped."

The girl and her brother were forced to sleep on the floor in the same room as their parents, and a heavy dresser was pushed in front of the door to keep her from sneaking out and getting water, Urquhart said.

The girl said the dresser was placed there after she was caught one night sneaking out of her own room to drink water from the toilet, so the stepmother wouldn't hear water running from the bathroom faucet.

The girl told deputies that on one occasion, her mother duct-taped her hands behind her back and dunked her head in the toilet as a form of discipline.

According to case documents released last year, the girl was so depressed that she told social workers she would rather have a "lethal injection" than go back home to her father and stepmother.

The girl reported the abuse at her school in 2005, but nobody followed up on her cry for help.

The girl's foster father said that both children are now doing remarkably well, and they've totally recovered physically. In the past year, the girl's weight has doubled and she has grown 6 inches in height, he said.

He earlier said the daughter is so bright and articulate she can do anything she wants, and that she's talking about being a lawyer or scientist.