Garfield High School Scandal Revealed By Girl Assaulted by Two Different Coaches

 From KUOW, a sorry story:

Two former coaches from Garfield High School in Seattle have been accused of sexually assaulting a girl who played on the school’s basketball team.

One assaulted the girl when she was 13 in 2013, the other coach in 2017 when she was 17.  The first coach is Walter Junior Jones and the other is Marvin Wayne Hall.

A Seattle Public Schools investigation found Hall committed sexual misconduct and boundary violations with students, including telling another girl he had a “crush” on her. That girl reportedly told her father, an assistant coach on the team. Hall has not been charged with a crime.

Tomás Gahan, the personal attorney for the now 24-year-old woman, called the school’s athletic department a “predatory environment,” and said that the woman is only now grappling with the toll it took on her childhood.

“Her middle school and high school experience was defined by serial molestation, or serial rape, by people in authority at her school,” Gahan said.

“It happened when the team would travel and in hotel rooms. It happened in the coach's offices at the school,” Gahan said.

If true, it's disgusting.

According to a police report, Walter Jones was allowed to volunteer as a weight training coach at Garfield in 2013 even though the district had banned him from employment or volunteering in schools after he was forced to resign from Ballard High School.

Gee, I wonder what principal was at Garfield when all this happened. 

Jones’ court records include restraining orders filed by four different women, including three for domestic violence, between 2004 and 2018.

Jones is on electronic home monitoring on a $50,000 bond awaiting trial for one charge of second-degree child rape, for allegedly raping the girl when she was 13, and one charge of third-degree child rape, for allegedly raping her when she was 14 and 15.

The evidence submitted by prosecutors reportedly includes “voluminous” phone records between Hall and the accuser, including texts that refer to her experiences with Jones.

Jones’ trial is scheduled to begin May 8.

No statement from SPS; I'd bet they were hoping to keep this on the downlow.

Comments

Anonymous said…
SPS has a valuable goal to help boys live up to their full potential. Unfortunately they are unable to provide anti sexist lessons and equity of girls in fair balance. How many lawsuits have to occur before course correction happens? When will basic safeguards matter?
3/15/24, 7:51 PM
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