Activist admits to kidnapping

BOISE – A Nampa mother once praised for her work on legislation protecting teenage partners from abusive relationships has pleaded guilty to a kidnapping charge in a case involving abduction, drug dealing and a violent death.

Barbara Dehl, 49, pleaded guilty to second-degree kidnapping in 4th District Court on Friday. In exchange for the guilty plea, Ada County prosecutors dismissed multiple charges against her.

Larry Hanslovan, Dehl’s live-in boyfriend at the time, also pleaded guilty to second-degree kidnapping Friday.

Prosecutors say Dehl, Hanslovan, and another man, Ronald Huntsman, were involved in the kidnapping of a young couple they suspected of stealing jewelry, drugs and cash from a safe in Dehl’s Nampa home in March 2005.

Dehl, Hanslovan and Huntsman were involved in a series of events that led to the killing of 22-year-old John Schmeichel, of Boise, police say. An Ada County grand jury indicted the three in April 2005.

Huntsman is charged with first-degree murder in Schmeichel’s death. He awaits trial for kidnapping and murder charges.

Investigators said the three questioned the couple for hours at Dehl’s home, at times beating them. After the interrogation, the three turned their suspicions on Schmeichel, who was an associate, investigators said.

Police say Schmeichel was fatally shot in Dehl’s sports utility vehicle. His body was discovered in a shallow grave in the Owyhee County desert March 24, 2005; police suspect he had been killed several days earlier.

A few years ago, Dehl was hailed as a crime fighter by former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who appointed her to serve on a national anti-domestic violence committee. In 2003, she attended a White House ceremony at which President Bush announced new initiatives to combat domestic violence.

Dehl is scheduled to be sentenced on May 25; Hanslovan’s sentencing is set for May 23.