Playing hooky leads to felony charge for mom



MONROE, Wash. -- Who doesn’t play hooky once in a while, especially as a high school student?

But one local mother is now facing a felony charge of first-degree criminal impersonation after cops say she called a Monroe school and pretended to be another student’s mother to excuse him and his buddy from class.

Cops say Jackie Sevillano, 32, pretended to be another boy’s mother so that he and her son could play hooky.

Matthew LaPlante, 16, owns up to what his buddy’s mother allegedly did to get him out of school.

Sevillano allegedly told the school to let Matthew out of class to go to a doctor’s appointment – all while pretending to be his mom.

The school let the two boys out of class – but when staff saw the kids wandering around outside, they called the other boy’s real parents, who said they were afraid for Matthew’s safety.

Court documents said cops caught up with Matthew and Sevillano's son on Main Street in Monroe, where they admitted to smoking pot while playing hooky.

The Snohomish County prosecutor said Sevillano is no stranger to the justice system; she’s been convicted of writing bad checks, theft, and reckless driving.

Matthew doesn’t think his friend's mother should have to face such a serious charge for pretending to be his mom.

“I don’t think that’s really fair,” Matthew said. “She’s had a lot of problems in her past and I don’t think this needs to be one of them. This happened a year ago and I think this needs to be dropped.”

Matthew said the plan might have worked – if only the school receptionist hadn’t noticed that his so-called mother had a strange voice.

“She knew my mom’s voice and knew that it wasn’t her; she just put it together,” Matthew said.

Prosecutors said Sevillano was supposed to be in court for an arraignment hearing Monday but she never showed.  A warrant has been issued for her arrest.