Woman who provided drugs to high school students sentenced to prison

SAN DIEGO - A woman who provided prescription drugs, alcohol and other narcotics to her daughter -- a student at Cathedral Catholic High School -- and other minors was sentenced today to 11 years and eight months in state prison.

Kimberly Dawn Quach, 49, pleaded guilty in May to five felony charges, including furnishing Xanax to a minor and employing a minor to transport or sell marijuana.

Superior Court Judge Timothy Walsh -- who imposed the maximum term under the plea agreement -- said Quach's conduct fell "well short of being a good parent.''

"Her conduct is absolutely sickening to the court,'' the judge said, noting that children are among the most vulnerable members of society.

Walsh said Quach exposed her 17- and 10-year-old daughters and their friends to extreme danger.

"She literally taught them to be drug dealers,'' the judge said.

Quach's live-in companion, William Sipperley III, 50, was sentenced to six years and four months in prison. He had pleaded guilty to using a minor to transport or sell marijuana and furnishing marijuana to a minor over 14 years old.

Sipperley's attorney, Domenic Lombardo, told the judge his client moved in with Quach after his wife of 36 years died and he had turned to taking drugs and smoking marijuana.

Lombardo said Sipperley did not condone the drug sales and parties at Quach's Carmel Valley home and "should have been man enough to get out of there.''

Deputy District Attorney Christina Eastman said two minors that Quach gave drugs to ended up in a drug rehabilitation program.

Eastman said Quach was in the process of setting up a marijuana distribution operation in her home and wanted to be the "cool mom.''

The prosecutor said Sipperley taught Quach's then-9-year-old daughter how to plant marijuana.

Quach was arrested last year after police said she sold or offered the controlled substance suboxone, a prescription opiate, and Xanax to minors over a nine-month period beginning Jan. 1, 2017. Quach also gave at least 10 teens marijuana to sell, package or transport, according to police, who said Cathedral Catholic students regularly smoked cannabis that Sipperley grew at the couple's home on Aster Meadows Place in Carmel Valley.

One detective said Quach had as many as 70 teenage clients at Cathedral Catholic and other schools.

During a search of Quach's home, police found large containers of marijuana, plant food, grow lights and drug paraphernalia, according to the criminal complaint.