Carnation-area woman pleads guilty in stepdaughter's starvation case

A Carnation-area woman accused of starving and withholding water from her 14-year-old stepdaughter last year entered a modified guilty plea Friday to first-degree criminal mistreatment.

Rebecca Long's plea came just days after her husband, Jon Pomeroy, 43, pleaded guilty to the same charge. On Monday, Pomeroy said that Long was punishing his daughter and he did not intervene, according to court paperwork.

The girl was 4 foot 7 and weighed just 48 pounds when authorities found her in August of 2008. She suffered dehydration so severe that all of her teeth were rotting, according to court documents.

A veteran King County sheriff's detective said it was the worst case of abuse he had ever seen.

Long, 45, blotted tears and spoke timidly in King County Superior Court during Friday's hearing.

She repeatedly told the judge that she was entering an Alford plea, in which she does not admit guilt but acknowledges a jury would likely convict her if she was tried.

Defense attorney Robert Wayne said Long was abused as a child and suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, which he described as similar to multiple personality disorder.

He also said Long was abused by Pomeroy and added that the couple are in the midst of a divorce.

At the sentencing hearing Nov. 6, Wayne plans to ask that Long be released into mental-health treatment, without serving prison time.

Prosecutors will be asking for a high-end sentence of more than three years in prison.

"I have had a chance to briefly meet with her [mental-health] experts and read their reports," said Senior Deputy Prosecutor Zachary Wagnild after Friday's hearing.

"What she has reported does not seem to be consistent with all of the other evidence about what was going on inside that house."

Pomeroy, in his plea paperwork, said he did not know that his wife was mentally ill and denies abusing her. He will be sentenced Sept. 18.

King County sheriff's deputies discovered the malnourished girl Aug. 13, 2008, after they were called to the home at the request of Child Protective Services (CPS).

Court documents say Long systematically deprived her stepdaughter of sustenance.

Investigators say the girl told them that Long permitted her half a Dixie cup of water a day and supervised the girl's showers and toothbrushing so she could not sneak a drink.

The girl said once she was so thirsty she drank from the toilet but was caught.

The girl told a detective that her father was "aware of the water restrictions but chooses not to interfere," according to court documents.

Wagnild said the girl, now 15, has gained weight but the abuses will probably stunt her growth.

The tiny dark-haired girl appeared in court at Friday's hearing with her brother and their foster family. The girl and her brother are living together in foster care, Wagnild said.

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Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com