Oak Harbor teen held on $10,000 bail in gunpoint kidnapping case

An Oak Harbor teenager remained held on $10,000 bail after Island County Superior Court found probable cause to believe he took part in a gunpoint kidnapping and assault case that has rattled North Whidbey families worried about violence involving local teens.

Judge Carolyn Cliff ruled there was probable cause for second-degree kidnapping and fourth-degree assault when the boy appeared in court on April 10. Deputy Prosecutor Amy Mirabile asked for the $10,000 bail, telling the court the teenager posed a danger to the community, especially if he had access to a gun. Defense attorney Natalie Findley-Wolf argued for a far lower amount, said her client denied the allegations and said police had not confirmed he had a firearm. Cliff sided with the prosecution on the danger question and set bail at $10,000.

The case began just before 1 a.m. on April 10, when a 15-year-old girl called 911 and said she had been held at gunpoint and beaten. Deputies from the Island County Sheriff’s Office and officers from the Oak Harbor Police Department responded to a North Whidbey residence, where they looked through a window and saw the boy and girl in a room. The boy ran. Officers entered after the boy’s mother let them into the home, and the girl was found in the bedroom.

According to the sheriff’s report, the girl told investigators the boy had left to hide drugs and later returned through the back door. She also said he and a friend had held her captive at a trailer on the property the day before. She alleged both boys were armed, that the friend pointed a gun at her head, and that both punched her at different times. The girl allegedly recorded part of the assault on her phone, but the deputy wrote the video was not clear enough to identify a firearm.

Mirabile told the court police had not yet identified the second person allegedly involved. The deputy also wrote the boy had previously been reported as carrying a firearm. Court records show he had been booked into juvenile jail 10 times since 2023.

The latest filing came just days after the teen appeared before Judge Christon Skinner and admitted probation violations in a minor-in-possession case. A probation counselor told the court his behavior had been escalating and said he admitted using fentanyl and methamphetamine.

Island County Superior Court hears juvenile offender and adult criminal calendars at 1:30 p.m. on regular court days, and county records rules make many case files accessible in the courthouse lobby. For Oak Harbor and the wider Whidbey Island community, the case puts a sharp focus on how probation, drug use and firearms can converge in a single household and quickly become a public-safety crisis.