Who is Holga Olivares? Teacher, 61, arrested for hiding missing boy, 15, for two years at her home
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SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA: A 15-year-old boy from Rancho Cordova in Sacramento County, California who disappeared in 2020, returned home to his parents after two years. A Sacramento City Unified School District teacher Holga Castillo Olivares, 61, was arrested for letting the minor boy stay at her house without informing police.
Michael Ramirez, then 15, ran away from his home on May 18, 2020, following a heated family dispute. It was not until June 9, 2020, the family filed a missing person complaint. Michael returned home on March 11, 2022, without any reason and that's when the family found out that he was staying at his childhood girlfriend's home and the mother of that friend was the teacher.
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The family who is now seeking justice after they lost about two years without him said, "There's no words that can really explain how you feel when you have a missing child," Katte Smith, the boy's aunt and legal guardian, told KCRA." "There were some restrictions on him because he broke some rules and he wasn't happy about that and for him, you know, he ran away."
Smith who had five other children said that "any parent out there that has a missing child, you think the worst." "You think the absolute worst." She added, "My husband had a real hard time, emotionally, feeling like he was a failure. This is his biological nephew." Smith said, "We felt so robbed of all this time with him." Olivares was questioned throughout the time of Michael's disappearance but she did not utter a word to the police, reported the outlet. "You can't just hide someone's kid and think that's ok," Smith said.
(Credit: KCRA)
"When we heard that she'd been arrested, we were floored." She added, "We're getting justice, you know, in seeing that someone is being held accountable for doing the wrong thing." Olivares faces charges related to the detention of a minor with the intent to conceal from a parent(s) and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, the Sheriff's Office told KCRA. Olivares "was taken into custody at the school after students were dismissed for the day." The Sacramento School District said "the charges filed are for acts unrelated to the employee's assigned duties." Olivares is on administrative leave while the school district investigates.