Mother Gets 5 Years in Son’s Abduction

The mother of Nicholas Farber, the Palm Desert boy whose kidnapping triggered an Amber alert in August 2002, was sentenced Friday to five years in state prison for her role in planning the abduction.

Debra Rose, 39, and her boyfriend, Michael Riley, 49, paid two San Diego men to break into the Palm Desert home of Michael Farber, Nicholas’ father, and snatch the boy after Farber took him from Rose’s custody in Colorado.

Nicholas, who was 9 at the time of the kidnapping, was found unharmed two days later with Rose and Riley at a remote San Diego County campground. His mother had tried to disguise Nicholas by dyeing his hair and dressing him in girl’s clothing.

The two hired men, Rodrique Edgar Van Blake and Elias Gutierrez, both 29, told the court that Riley duped them into thinking the child was in danger and that the kidnapping was part of a CIA mission.

Riley has an outstanding warrant in Nebraska on charges of financial fraud and is accused of felony probation violation in Tucson, where he was convicted for a similar crime. He was repeatedly described as a con man during the sentencing, even by his own lawyer.

In October, all four were convicted of felony burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, child stealing, child concealing and false imprisonment.

Rose wept quietly as Judge Michele D. Levine handed down the sentence. Rose did not turn to face the crowded courtroom, or look at her 19-year-old daughter, Ashley Mejia, who was sobbing in the audience.

Riley, whom the judge described as the “CEO of the nighttime burglary,” was also convicted of felony kidnapping of a child. Levine gave him the maximum sentence -- 16 years -- and a harsh lecture.

“It appears that you were the mastermind of the ill-conceived, ill-fated and criminal activity,” Levine said. “I also find you carried out the activity with almost recreational abandon.”

Van Blake, a former Marine with no criminal history, was sentenced to eight years in prison. Gutierrez was sentenced to five years. Some in the courtroom gasped as Levine read Van Blake’s sentence. Three jurors had submitted letters to the bench asking for leniency and said they tried to speak at the hearing but were denied permission.

Regina McGrath, one of the jurors, cried as the sentence was handed down. She said she hadn’t felt completely comfortable with voting to convict Van Blake for something she saw as a lapse of judgment.

“Riley I had no problem with [in sentencing], but the other three, they’ve suffered enough,” she said. “They were misled and brainwashed by Michael Riley.”

Levine told Van Blake that while his clean record and military service suggested he was capable of living a good life, “What we expect from people in your position is good judgment as well.”

Farber’s abduction came at the end of a tense summer filled with Amber alerts, including a high-profile search for 5-year-old Samantha Runnion of Stanton, who was kidnapped in July, 2002. Her body was found in the Cleveland National Forest.

Michael Farber spoke at Friday’s hearing, his voice breaking as he described his son’s psychological trauma.

“I’m mad,” he said. “It didn’t just happen that one night. I now have a little boy who doesn’t like to go outside, who always has to make sure the doors and windows are locked, who doesn’t make friends.... These people violated me, they violated him. They deserve everything they have coming to them.”