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Reno mother sentenced to eight years for pandering daughter

RENO (AP) – A woman who used her 12-year-old daughter to solicit men in downtown Reno for drug money was sentenced to eight years in prison last week.

Elizabeth Bogard’s actions, which also included having the girl live with her in a convicted sex offender’s motel room, were condemned by Washoe District Judge Connie Steinheimer.

“That’s all there is to it … zero tolerance,” Steinheimer told Bogard, 49, whom she sentenced on two counts of child endangerment.



Bogard said endangering her daughter in those situations were the “stupidest things” she’s done in her life. She also has a grown son.

“My actions hurt someone I care about deeply,” she said. “She didn’t deserve that … I wish I could say it never happened, but it did.



“I want my clean and sober life back.”

Her daughter is in a juvenile residential treatment facility in Reno that helps children with emotional and substance abuse problems, court officials said.

Bogard will be eligible for parole in two years. She was facing a maximum of 12 years in prison.

Deputy District Attorney Kelly Partin said the emotional toll from the girl’s experience will never be known and was “unimaginable.”

Bogard pleaded guilty to coaching her daughter on how to solicit men for sex. The girl would then get inside a man’s vehicle, and once money was exchanged, she would run out. Other times, the girl would lead the men to their motel room where Bogard would have sex with them for money. The girl said she never had to perform any sex acts with the men but was aware her mother was doing it. The pandering, Bogard told police, earned about $160, which she used to buy drugs.

James Leslie, Bogard’s public defender, asked Steinheimer for probation. He said she has done well in substance abuse programs and loves her daughter.

“Triggers in her life cause bad judgment,” he said. “She has expressed horror about what she did and is in disbelief that she found herself capable of that. She was strung out on drugs.”

Bogard was arrested in May on charges of pandering and child endangerment stemming from the arrest of a sex offender with whom she and her daughter were staying. Officers found drug paraphernalia in the room, and the man admitted he had been smoking crack.


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