Spanaway Woman Charged In Infant Abduction Scheme

TACOMA, WA — Prosecutors filed two charges Tuesday against a 38-year-old woman accused of drugging a Pierce County mother and planning to steal her newborn baby.

Juliette Leilani Parker faces a second-degree assault charge and a second-degree attempted kidnapping charge. Prosecutors said further charges could be filed as the investigation continues.

The News Tribune reports Parker pleaded not guilty to both counts Tuesday afternoon.

According to Pierce County prosecutors, the victim met Parker through a Facebook childbirth support group. Court filings said Parker made posts in the group advertising free photoshoots for women who were at least 37 weeks pregnant or had a newborn less than a week old. The sheriff's department said she had made posts under three names, including Juliette Parker, Juliette Noel and Juliette Gains.

Related: Detectives: Newborn Abduction Plan Leads To 2 Arrests In Spanaway

The victim told investigators she met with Parker at her home on Feb. 5 and said the suspect had brought along her teenage daughter. Prosecutors said Parker offered the woman cupcakes and encouraged her to try a bite from each of the three types. The victim said she noticed she was the only one who had taken a bite from a certain kind of cupcake, shortly before her lips and face began to feel numb.

Court documents said the victim began to feel numb all over and asked Parker and her daughter to leave multiple times. The pair left after the woman went to lay down, but she later noticed her house keys were missing. Prosecutors said the victim texted Parker about the keys, and the suspect denied taking them, then later claimed she had found them in her yard.

According to prosecutors, the victim had blood work done on Feb. 7 and doctors said her symptoms were similar to those associated with the drug GHB. A spokesman for the sheriff's department said toxicology reports were still pending.

Detectives said they discovered Parker had previously contacted a man she used to date and asked him about getting the drug and talked about taking a child from a homeless person and raising it together. Investigators said the man told them she offered to marry him "on the spot," if he found her a baby girl.

According to court documents, Parker's daughter told the man that she knew of somewhere where they could kidnap a baby.

During the investigation, detectives said they learned of at least three other women who had met with Parker and her daughter under the guise of having infant photos taken. According to Det. Ed Troyer, close to a dozen women reached out to investigators and said they had some form of contact with the suspect.

Bail for Parker was initially set at $50,000, which was posted on Feb. 16. At Tuesday's hearing, prosecutors asked the judge to raise the bail amount by $200,000. The Associated Press reports new bail was set at $150,000 and Parker was re-booked into jail.