Kennewick teen gets 4 years for taping woman, 73, to chair during home invasion

A 14-year-old boy will be locked up in a juvenile facility until he is 18 for helping tape 73-year-old woman to a recliner and stealing guns from her Kennewick home.

Luis Palomo Olmedo was one of four charged in connection with the Dec. 18 home invasion, and the second case to resolve.

Ezekiel I. Salazar, 16, already is serving 2 1/2 years for tipping off his friends to target the woman. He used to do household chores and yard work for Laura Dunbar, and knew she lived alone and owned guns.

Dunbar chewed through the duct tape and freed herself to call 911 once she was sure the burglars were gone. She had to be treated at the hospital for heart issues.

Dunbar has been present for many of the court hearings, including the sentencing of Palomo Olmedo and Salazar.

Co-defendants Eric A. Rosas, 21, has a June 12 trial in Benton County Superior Court, while Jefferson Palomo Olmedo, now 13, is back in juvenile court on May 31.

They’re charged with first-degree burglary, first-degree kidnapping and theft of a gun, with aggravating circumstances of victim vulnerability and deliberate cruelty.

Dunbar told police that she fell asleep in her chair about 5 p.m. and awoke to strangers trying to tie her up.

Dunbar reported one teen put his hands over her mouth, while another grabbed her arms and said, “Keep quiet or I’ll kill you b——.”

Her wrists were taped, her head and chest were taped to the chair, and her head was covered with a pillowcase.

Dunbar heard her assailants speaking Spanish as they knocked things over and opened drawers, documents said. She estimates they were in the house for a half hour.

Officers found Dunbar’s home had been ransacked and she was missing a safe, jewelry, .22 revolver and a .380 Ruger semiautomatic.

Deputy Prosecutor Andrew Howell said Dunbar never would have been attacked if not for Salazar.

Salazar – who has prior convictions for residential burglary and gun theft – served as the lookout and did not go inside with Rosas and the Palomo Olmedo brothers, said Howell.

The following morning, police checked known hangouts for the brothers and found a van with the stolen items inside. Investigators also found distinctive shoe prints outside a trailer that matched ones found in snow at the crime scene and were linked to Jefferson Palomo Olmedo, court documents said.

Salazar pleaded guilty in March to residential burglary and gun theft.

Luis Palomo Olmedo admitted the three charges of burglary, kidnapping and gun theft.

During his recent sentencing, Court Commissioner Jerri Potts agreed with the prosecution’s request for a range that is roughly 1 1/2 times the standard range and imposed 184 to 231 weeks.

Potts noted that Luis Palomo Olmedo talked in court about the crime, but did not apologize to Dunbar or express true remorse, Howell said.

With that range, the teen will be in a state juvenile facility for the minimum three-year, 10-month sentence but more time up to the maximum can be ordered if he does not do well while locked up.