PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles woman is set to be arraigned in Clallam County Superior Court next Friday after being accused of taking a car with a 10-month-old girl in it.
Michaela Danielle Diamond, 24, was charged in Clallam County Superior Court on Wednesday with one count each of second-degree kidnapping, second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission and driving under the influence with a child in the vehicle.
The charges stem from Diamond allegedly getting into a car Sept. 13 at Ocean View Cemetery in west Port Angeles and driving along 18th Street toward the city’s transfer station and landfill with the child in the car.
The girl was found by police unharmed inside the vehicle on a piece of private property near the landfill about 15 minutes after the mother called police at about 3:15 p.m.
Diamond was arrested 15 minutes after the car was found while riding a bicycle on the northwest corner of the landfill, according to Port Angeles police accounts.
Diamond, who remained in the Clallam County jail Thursday on $50,000 bail, is set to be arraigned Friday, Sept. 27, in Clallam County Superior Court.
Police account
An arrest report gave this account of the events leading to Diamond’s arrest:
Diamond had driven with the mother of the child to the cemetery along 18th Street to visit the grave of the mother’s grandmother.
The mother had the 10-month-old and two other children of hers in the car and got out with the two other children to visit the grave site, leaving Diamond and the 10-month-old in the car.
Diamond told police she started to feel uncomfortable with the mother when the mother “started acting strange.”
‘My baby, my baby’
Diamond said she started the car with keys that already were in the ignition and started to drive away, with the mother yelling, “My baby, my baby,” as Diamond did so.
Diamond admitted to police she knew the 10-month-old was in the car as she drove up a dirt road near the city’s landfill.
Diamond told police she then saw a “shiny red bicycle” leaning against a tree and stopped the car.
Diamond said she rolled down the car’s windows to give the 10-month-old air, unstrapped the child from her car seat and rode away on the bicycle.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
