Paso Robles woman who helped daughter kidnap son from county worker sentenced
The mother of a Paso Robles woman who kidnapped her son from a San Luis Obispo County Child Welfare Services employee at knifepoint, sparking a multi-county Amber Alert, was sentenced for her role as getaway driver on Monday.
Serbina Bullock, 50, had pleaded no contest in late February to a single felony count of kidnapping for the July 2019 incident in Paso Robles that involved Bullock’s daughter, Rashawna Bullock, and Rashawna’s 1-year-old son.
The boy was not hurt in the incident and soon returned to his father.
On Monday, Serbina Bullock was sentenced as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors in which she will serve no more jail time after already spending 224 days in custody, according to court records.
The Paso Robles woman will be required to comply with three years of formal, supervised probation, and a sealed protective order has been filed in the case.
The conviction will count as a “strike” under California’s Three Strikes Law.
Earl Conaway III, Serbina Bullock’s defense attorney, said following Monday’s hearing that his client’s sentence was fair given her limited involvement in the crime and her lack of any previous criminal history.
“I would say it’s very unlikely we see her back in the court system again,” Conaway said.
But Serbina Bullock’s daughter, Rashawna Bullock, is expected to spend several years in state prison for the kidnapping.
At a hearing March 18, Rashawna Bullock pleaded no contest to felony kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon. In exchange for the plea, the county District Attorney’s Office moved to dismiss other charges of attempted second-degree robbery and making threats to commit violence.
For her plea, Rashawna Bullock, 25, is scheduled to be sentenced to five years in state prison on April 15.
Both Rashawna and Serbina Bullock were taken into custody near Calabasas on July 10, 2019, after they abducted the boy from a San Luis Obispo County Child Welfare Services worker during a scheduled visit at a Paso Robles park, police said at the time.
Rashawna Bullock, who was holding her son, brandished a knife and demanded the child welfare worker’s cell phone, said Sgt. Tod Rehner of the Paso Robles Police Department.
When the worker didn’t comply, Rashawna Bullock — who drove herself to the visit — fled with the child in a car driven by her mother, Serbina Bullock.
The child welfare worker called 911 immediately following the incident, and the CHP issued the Amber Alert.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies began searching for the Bullocks’ vehicle when the alert was issued and when they located and stopped the vehicle, Rashawna Bullock attempted to flee on foot before she was apprehended, Rehner said.
The child was found to be safe, and the Bullocks were taken into custody.
This story was originally published April 6, 2020 at 12:48 PM.
