Two women arrested on kidnapping charges

By Mary Manning

Monday, Sept. 8, 2008 | 7:03 p.m.

Two women were arrested Monday on first-degree kidnapping charges in North Las Vegas in connection with the kidnapping of a 6-year-old boy.

Police were contacted by the Clark County School District Police Department at about noon after the reported kidnapping of the Jo Mackey Elementary School student.

North Las Vegas investigators learned that at about 9:30 a.m., the Las Vegas boy was kidnapped from the school at 2726 Englestad St.

Police learned that 40-year-old Laurinda Drake of North Las Vegas took the boy to show the Clark County School District Board that Jo Mackey is not secure enough to provide for the safety of students.

Drake picked the boy up near the school and drove around the area to several locations, including a Wal-Mart store and the house of a friend, 40-year-old North Las Vegas resident Elaine Clermont.

From Clermont's home they called several media outlets asking them to meet at the Clark County School District Board's office in the 5100 block of West Sahara Avenue, saying the boy then would be turned over to school district officials.

Drake and Clermont said this was to show that someone can easily remove a child from a school without proper safety measures.

At about noon, Drake and Clermont turned the child over to school district authorities.

The boy is listed in good condition and Drake and Clermont were arrested on the kidnapping charges. They were taken to the North Las Vegas jail.