A Green Hill School corrections employee accused of possibly having an inappropriate sexual relationship with an adult inmate, helping facilitate an inappropriate sexual relationship between another corrections employee and an adult inmate, and of talking to the other employee about the case following her arrest was arrested on Thursday.
Emily Norene Baker, 29, of Chehalis, was reportedly under investigation for suspected custodial misconduct at the time fellow Green Hill corrections employee Angel M. Misner, 32, of Ethel, was arrested on July 24, according to previous Chronicle reporting.
Misner was charged July 25 with first-degree custodial misconduct, second-degree custodial misconduct and witness tampering for allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with a former Green Hill inmate and providing the inmate with contraband.
Child Protective Services referred the investigation to the Chehalis Police Department on July 19 after Green Hill corrections staff found recordings of phone calls between Misner and the adult inmate following his transfer to a state Department of Corrections (DOC) facility in Shelton.
The adult inmate was one of the 43 adult inmates who were transferred to DOC custody in July in an effort to reduce overcrowding, according to court documents. A Thurston County Superior Court judge ordered Friday, July 19, that those inmates must be returned to the facility within two weeks.
“During the conversations, it was revealed that an additional staff member, Emily Baker, was involved in similar sexual misconduct,” according to charging documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court.
The adult inmate reportedly “mentioned that Baker had photos or video of them on a cellphone together in her locker,” according to court documents. Investigators later found security video footage of Baker entering a supply closet on April 1, 2024. The adult inmate was seen entering the same supply closet six minutes after Baker entered. The inmate is seen leaving the closet about 18 minutes later, and Baker is seen leaving the closet about 14 minutes after the inmate left.
“There are no cameras in the supply closet,” according to court documents.
Investigators did find “group chat” messages and calls between the inmate while the inmate was in DOC custody, according to court documents. The recovered messages included “boudoir-type photos of both Misner and Baker” that were sent to the adult inmate.
After Misner’s arrest on July 24, Misner allegedly called Baker, who allegedly added the adult inmate to the call, creating three-way conversations on the jail’s phone system.
During those calls, Baker and the inmate allegedly told Misner “not to write anything incriminating” and “discuss the news reporters that are likely to be in court, discuss whether or not anyone has come to talk to (the inmate) about what happened, and discuss a similar case with a former Green Hill staff member and how she got caught,” according to court documents.
In another three-way call, Misner allegedly “tells Baker she always tries to see the positive in everything, to which Baker replies, “If anything happens to me, I hope I get this, but I probably won’t.” She also allegedly said “I really hope I get this with you guys, I’m serious.”
Baker, Misner and the inmate also allegedly discussed the details of Misner’s case, including “how there is a witness but they don’t know who it is” and discussing getting prepaid SIM cards and delivering them to relatives “because they are obviously listening to their phone calls” from the jail phones, according to court documents.
Baker also allegedly said she received a text telling her not to go to Green Hill School’s facility in Chehalis because “it was a trap.”
Misner, who was fired from Green Hill without her apparent knowledge the week before her arrest, was taken into custody at the Green Hill campus after she was asked to go there as part of the investigation, according to previous Chronicle reporting
On Aug. 8, Baker allegedly facilitated a phone call between the inmate and a law office “regarding the sexual abuse of him by a Green Hill staff member,” according to court documents. After the law office declined the case and hung up, Baker and the inmate allegedly used a slur to refer to the law office and then called another law office.
Baker was booked into the Lewis County Jail at 3:40 p.m. on Aug. 8, according to jail records.
She was charged Friday, Aug. 9, with one count each of abuse of office and tampering with a witness.
“Given the nature of this case, who she is tampering with or assisting in tampering, I am going to ask for a high bail,” Deputy Prosecutor Paul Massiello said during Baker’s preliminary hearing in Lewis County Superior Court on Friday.
Masiello asked for Baker’s bail to be set at $100,000, an amount defense attorney Rachael Tiller disputed.
“The allegations here are completely different than the ones Mr. Masiello is referring to,” Tiller said Friday, referring to Misner’s case.
Tiller also referenced Baker’s lack of criminal history and the presence of her family in the courtroom on Friday to support her.
“She understands that under no circumstances is she to have any contact with witnesses in this case,” Tiller said.
“That’s my concern, is that she doesn’t understand that she’s not to have contact with witnesses in this case,” Judge Joely Yeager said in response, adding that the details of the phone calls included in the allegations indicate Baker is “clearly not taking (the case) seriously.
While she acknowledged that there was little risk of Baker fleeing or posing a community safety risk, Yeager said, “The biggest concern here for the court is that she’s likely to interfere with the administration of justice.”
Yeager ultimately granted Masiello’s request for $100,000 bail.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 15.
Baker’s case is the fifth filed so far this year in Lewis County Superior Court against corrections staff at Green Hill School for alleged offenses at the facility.
In addition to Misner’s arrest, another corrections staff member was arrested in July for allegedly selling meth and other contraband to an inmate on June 15. That employee was charged with one count each of possession of a controlled substance in a state or county correctional facility by a non-prisoner and second-degree introducing contraband.
A corrections staff member was arrested in March for allegedly “turning a blind eye” while two Green Hill inmates attacked another inmate in early January. The employee faces one count each of prison riot, abuse of office and fourth-degree conspiracy to commit assault.
Months earlier, another corrections staff member was arrested for allegedly bringing controlled substances into the facility, according to the Chehalis Police Department.
The juvenile detention has been criticized by former Centralia Police Chief Stacy Denham and Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, on several occasions in the past year, with Braun calling on Gov. Jay Inslee to open an investigation. Inslee has refused to do so, though he has noted that there have been security improvements at the facility since JNET served the warrant.
The state Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCFY), which runs Green Hill School, announced Friday, July 5, that the juvenile detention center would temporarily suspend entries until the facility reaches “sustainable levels” of population.
The move came five years after the passage of JR to 25, which allows some offenders to serve their sentences in juvenile rehabilitation even after they become adults, took effect.
Instead of being sent to either Green Hill or Echo Glen, newly sentenced offenders would remain in custody at county facilities, according to DCYF, with the department providing financial support.
After multiple counties sued DCYF over the move, DCYF announced Friday that it has “reached an agreement” with county governments to lift the intake freeze. Intakes resumed at Echo Glen “a few weeks ago” and intakes resumed at Green Hill on Aug. 9, according to a news release.
When two reporters from The Chronicle toured Green Hill in late March, a spokesperson said the facility housed more than 200 residents, which exceeded “best practices.”
