Valley News – Claremont woman pleads guilty to hindering investigation into attempted robbery and shooting

NEWPORT – A 21-year-old Claremont woman who cleaned blood stains from a vehicle used to transport a man who was shot and seriously injured while trying to break into a downtown apartment has pleaded guilty to the of obstructing police in their investigation of the crime. However, she will avoid prison time provided she abides by the terms of her sentence.

Emily Engerman, who spent four days in jail after her arrest last year, pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count of hindering the apprehension or prosecution of a felony and was given a deferred sentence April 18 in Sullivan County Superior Court sentenced to six months in prison, according to court documents.

Engerman, a 2020 graduate of Stevens High School, must continue to successfully participate in drug counseling and other treatment programs ordered by the court as part of her conditions to avoid prison time, documents show.

Prosecutors dropped Engerman’s original charge of tampering with evidence as part of her plea agreement.

“It was right that the crime was dismissed and Emily was not sentenced to prison. She briefly found herself in a difficult situation that she did not create. She has accepted responsibility for her mistake and is moving on with her life,” Richard Guerriero, Engerman’s attorney, said via email Thursday.

Police said Engerman hindered their investigation into an attempted robbery and shooting last summer in Claremont by wiping blood stains from a vehicle in which a man she was having a relationship with at the time was being transported to the hospital , after he was shot He and an accomplice forced their way into a ground-floor apartment in downtown Claremont.

The resident of the apartment told police he shot the intruder, Loren Richardson, 35, when he saw Richardson raise a gun. Richardson and his alleged accomplice, Kody Bardin, 30, fled the scene.

Police concluded that the resident of the apartment had acted in self-defense and did not press charges against him.

Richardson was seriously wounded in the abdomen and appeared at Claremont’s Valley Regional Hospital, where he was then transferred to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon for treatment.

According to court documents, a police investigation revealed that Engerman later cleaned blood stains from the vehicle in which Richardson had been taken to the hospital.

Richardson was not immediately charged following the July 31, 2023, shooting. But seven weeks later, in September, he was charged with four counts of burglary and two counts of threatening with a deadly weapon.

Bardin, Richardson’s alleged accomplice, is charged with two counts of burglary and two counts of threatening with a deadly weapon.

Both cases are still pending in court.

Contact John Lippman at [email protected].