EVERETT – The little girl is haunted by nightmares of the man who snatched her away from her mother.
She is afraid to sleep and cries every night before she goes to bed, her mother wrote in a letter to Snohomish County Superior Court Judge George Bowden.
“My daughter is not the same girl,” the mother said through an interpreter on Thursday. “I ask you, judge, to give the man the maximum penalty. I want everyone to know this man is very dangerous.”
Bowden sentenced Brent Walter Lee-Fendall to 41/2 years in prison – six months less than what prosecutors recommended and on the low-end of the sentencing range under state law.
Lee-Fendall, 20, pleaded guilty to first-degree kidnapping in October. He told police that he went into the apartment early the morning of Aug. 15 looking for something to steal. When he was at the girl’s bedroom door, he was about to go inside when the 5-year-old opened it.
Lee-Fendall grabbed the girl and ran. He later threw her to the ground as her mother frantically chased after her daughter, screaming at Lee-Fendall to release the child.
“This is a very serious and violent offense,” Bowden said, adding that the central question in his mind was what motivated Lee-Fendall to abduct the girl.
Bowden said he couldn’t find any evidence to support an underlying sexual motivation for the kidnapping. Lee-Fendall apparently panicked.
“If I felt (the abduction) was racially or sexually motivated, I wouldn’t hesitate to impose the maximum sentence,” Bowden said.
Lee-Fendall had no prior criminal convictions. He has a drinking problem and was intoxicated when he broke into the apartment, the judge said. He encouraged Lee-Fendall to seek treatment while in prison.
“I’m sorry for my actions,” Lee-Fendall said.
Public defender Marybeth Dingledy told the court that her client was remorseful that the little girl will always see him as a monster.
His mother, Kerry Foy, said Thursday that she hopes one day the family will know that her son never intended to hurt the girl.
The girl’s mother, however, was not satisfied.
“It’s not sufficient for the harm he has done to my daughter,” she said after the hearing.
The family was forced to move because living in the apartment was too traumatic, the mother said, and she and her daughter are still regularly visiting a psychologist.
“This person does not deserve to be free,” the woman said.
Reporter Scott Morris contributed to this story.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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