A 35-year-old Washington state woman allegedly told police she identifies as a 15-year-old boy after she was arrested for sexting and providing alcohol and drugs to a crew of runaway teens that she planned to leave town with.
Amanda Dorrough (also known as “Taz”), who was known to the teens by her nickname, was charged with ‘unlawful harboring of minors,’ after the Port Angeles Police Department discovered a plan to have her flee to Seattle.
According to a case report, the vice principal of Port Angeles High School contacted the police on May 4, after two students admitted to a planned runaway in the school’s office.
According to reports, the vice principal told the reporting officer that eight students were going to hang out with Dorrough “in a gully near a Church.”
According to the incident report, police had received 10 reports about Dorrough’s involvement with minors. The first reported report was made on April 11th, 2023. Since then, there have been 11 reports, including the most recent one that led to Dorrough’s arrest.
Two days prior to the arrest, on May 2, several officers searched for the minors in the apartment of the suspect.
Three teenagers were spotted “running away from Dorrough’s apartment through the parking lot.” After several failed attempts, an officer heard the suspect’s apartment moving but was unable to contact anyone inside. The report stated that he then visited the gully, where Dorrough was reportedly seen hanging out with the students.
The case report stated that Dorrough had been spotted sitting with one of the runaway students.
According to the report, the police contacted Dorrough the following day (May 3), and informed her that the runaway child was the child.
Four minors were also seen “cuddling on the ground.” The report stated that one was on the runaway list and had a juvenile arrest warrant.
After receiving confirmation that Dorrough was aware that one of her students was listed on the runaway list, the reporting officer thought that there was probable reason to arrest Dorrough.
Police said Dorrough told Clallam County jail staff she identified as a teenager. She had earlier said she identified as a teen boy. According to the police report, Dorrough allegedly told an officer that she felt that teenagers “understand” her better and that she “identifies better with teenage children.”
The report stated that while searching the area where the minors had been found, “two empty packets of condoms, one condom which was not opened, a bra and an empty packet of cigarettes with a lighter” were discovered by the police.
Dorrough’s neighbors had previously called the police to report minors “constantly entering and exiting the suspect’s flat. One neighbor reported Dorrough being spotted shirtless, braless, and in the hallway with a boy who appeared to be thirteen years old.
Police said that a client of a therapy clinic reported getting a tip from the staff at the Boys & Girls Club that Dorrough was “sexting” with a 12-year-old and had been “removed by the Boys & Girls Club due to perceived predatory’ behavior”.
A parent who lost her runaway child reported finding it at Dorrough’s house. The daughter then told the officer she had smoked “shiny marijuana” at the suspect’s place, which she mistakenly thought was spice. She also said she had consumed vodka. According to police, the daughter said that she also used meth.
A parent reported to police that they tracked their son’s location on his phone. This revealed that he was in the vicinity of Dorrough’s home. However, when police arrived at the house, they were unable to find her son.
In an article, Seattle Radio host Jason Rantz who first reported on the case stated that a young alleged victim told him the suspect said she liked him and that when he did not reciprocate, she became upset and “almost committed suicide.”
Dorrough was charged on one count with distributing a controlled drug (marijuana/cannabis), and posted bail on May 14.
