Natrona Judge Orders Mom Of ‘Ninja Dorian’ Held Without Bond
A judge ordered a Casper woman held without bond after violating the terms of her probation for the sentence she received after defrauding donors out of money for her son -- nicknamed "Ninja Dorian" -- who supposedly had terminal cancer.
Natrona County District Court Judge Thomas Sullins on Friday ordered Krishelle Layton held without bond until her defense attorney Kurt Infanger and District Attorney Mike Blonigen can receive medical records, as Infanger put it, that would give some context to the violations.
Layton was arrested Jan. 28 after the Natrona County Sheriff's Office received a notice about probation violations in December.
Prosecutors say not long after Layton and her son moved to Casper, she began telling charitable donors between December 2013 and March 2014 that her son had terminal brain cancer.
The Wyoming Department of Criminal Investigations contacted the boy's doctor and learned the brain tumor was not terminal. A later scan showed the tumor was gone.
Layton, who was 35 when arrested, was given first time offender status, and was sentenced to one to five years of probation, after she entered an Alford Plea in April 2015 to one charge of obtaining goods by false pretenses. An Alford plea is not an admission of guilt, but an acknowledgment that prosecutors have enough evidence to get a guilty conviction from a jury.
It was unknown where the donations went. The court ordered her to pay $5,170 in restitution.
Sullins read the probation office's report, saying Layton violated the terms by not letting the probation office know of her whereabouts and by failing to make regular and consistent restitution payments.
She quietly responded "yes" in admitting the violations.
Infanger asked Sullins if she could be released on bond to receive treatment for mental issues at the Veterans Administration facility in Sheridan.
Sullins refused, but would revisit the matter in a couple of weeks if she has a bed and a program in place in Sheridan, he said.
If the defendant absconded once, there's a real risk of it happening again," he said.