By Isabelle Wilson-
Sacramento teacher has been arrested after she allegedly hid a missing 15-year-old boy for nearly two years.
Holga Castillo Olivares, 61, a Sacramento City Unified School District employee, was arrested Thursday in the case of a Rancho Cordova teenager who was reported missing on June 9, 2020, according to a Sacramento County Sheriff.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office records show Ramirez was last seen on May 18, 202o but was not reported missing until weeks later.
Olivares, a second-grade teacher at Alice Birney Waldorf-Inspired K-8 School, was arrested on suspicion of detention of a minor with the intent to conceal from a parent and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, authorities said. She is scheduled to appear Monday in Sacramento County Superior Court.
The school didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Two years ago, police searched for the missing teen, whom The Times isn’t naming because he’s a minor, but they couldn’t find him, according to the release. The teen returned home on March 11, nearly two years later.
Katte Smith, the boy’s guardian, told KCRA-TV in Sacramento that the teenager ran away from home after a disagreement with family members.
“He ran away,” she said. “He felt the grass was greener on the other side.”
The boy’s guardian, Katte Smith, said that on 18 May 2020, the child – 15 at the time – left his family home after a heated argument about house rules. “He felt like the grass was greener on the other side,” Smith said to KCRA, a local news affiliate.
The family later filed a missing person’s report on 9 June but was unable to find the boy for nearly two years. In the time that the boy was missing, police interviewed his family and friends, including Olivares, but they also could not find him.
Then, on 11 March this year, the boy reappeared at the family home, asking to move back in. He told Smith he had been staying at the home of Olivares, who is the mother of one of his friends.
Smith described feeling “robbed” of time with the missing boy.
“You can’t just hide someone’s kid and think that’s OK,” Smith said to KCRA.
Olivares was charged last Thursday with detaining a minor with the intent to conceal from a parent – a felony – and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
She was being held without bond and was expected to make a court appearance on Monday afternoon.
The Sacramento city unified school district released a statement confirming that Olivares is a district employee.
“The charges filed are for acts unrelated to the employee’s assigned duties,” the statement read in part.
The school district added that Olivares
They begged social workers to save 8-year-old Sophia Mason. She was found dead in a bathtub
Oct. 19, 2022
The boy told his family that he had been staying at the home of his childhood girlfriend, whose mother is Olivares, according to KCRA.
Detectives have asked anyone with more information related to the case to contact the Rancho Cordova Police Department at (916) 362-5115 or leave an anonymous tip at (916) 874-8477.