Father of Oakley Carlson sentenced for child endangerment of another child
GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY, Wash. - The father of a missing 5-year-old Oakley Carlson is scheduled was sentenced Monday in a case regarding a different child.
The judge sentenced Andrew Carlson to 12 months. He is eligible for early release in August and will have a review hearing on Sept. 12 to review his court-ordered dependency evaluation. Should Carlson fail the evaluation, he will go back into custody. He is also not allowed unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18, including his own children.
"It’s a father’s job to protect their children, and you certainly failed in that, Mr. Carlson," said Grays Harbor Superior Court judge Katherine Svoboda.
In a brief address to the court, Carlson said, "I deeply regret my failings as a father. I haven’t done a lot of things correctly in the last seven years or so. I’m very ready to turn that around and if I can’t be a father to my children, then I can at least be an example they can look at and say I did the right thing."
Earlier this month, Carlson pleaded guilty to two counts of endangerment with a controlled substance. He changed his plea to guilty of the two felony counts.
Oakley Carlson has been missing since February 2021, and the charges are not connected to her disappearance but another 6-year-old who was living in their Oakville home.
For months, Jamie Jo Hiles has been longing to know what happened to Oakley. She was the child’s foster mother for two and a half years before the state and courts decided to return Oakley to her biological parents in 2019.
"I know I didn’t give birth to Oakley, but she was my child. I’ve said it before—I saw her first steps, I was there for her first dance recital, I mean she was my little girl. And it’s been really hard waking up every morning realizing that I have to remember every day that we don’t know where she is. How can you lose her?" said Hiles.
Investigators said the circumstances of Oakley's disappearance are suspicious. The parents claim the last time they saw Oakley alive was Nov. 30.
"We’re continuing to review warrants as they come back in, and cellphone data, and GPS data from the phones and stuff like that. Trying to find more answers, but we still have all hands on deck. Any tip that we get usually will send us in three or four directions, and we’re following up on those leads and hoping somebody will have some answers for us," said Kevin Schrader, chief criminal deputy for the Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Department.
If you have any information that may be helpful in this case please contact detectives at the non-emergency number at 360-533-8765 or Detective Sgt. Paul Logan 360-964-1729. You can also email sodetectives@co.grays-harbor.wa.us.
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