Warning: This story contains graphic and disturbing information.
SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. – A lawsuit filed by attorneys representing a former Mead High School student and her family accuses the school district of failing to protect the victim from a teacher’s grooming and sexual abuse.
The lawsuit was filed against the Mead School District on Jan. 29, 2020 in Spokane County Superior Court.
Former Mead High School teacher Wesley Perez pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct with a minor in May 2019. School officials told KREM that Perez was no longer employed with the district after he was on paid administrative leave from April 24 to May 13.
The lawsuit mentions the district's decision to employ Perez until he entered a guilty plea.
The lawsuit claims that the district allowed Perez to abuse his position of authority and influence over the student to “systemically groom and sexually prey on her” for 13 months, “despite clear warnings.”
It accuses the district of “negligent and reckless failure to protect a minor student against a predatory teacher.”
Mead School District told KREM it doesn't comment on legal matters.
The victim was invited to attend a leadership camp hosted by Mead High School at nearby Chewelah Park Learning Center in March 2017, court records say.
The lawsuit claims that Perez targeted the victim with an “inordinate amount” of personal and physical attention at the camp, including inappropriately hugging her multiple times. Perez even lifted her off the ground and said, “I don’t want to let go,” according to the lawsuit.
Perez’s inappropriate behavior toward the victim occurred in front of other Mead High School teachers and school personnel chaperoning the camp, the lawsuit says.
After the leadership camp, Perez began inviting the victim to meet in his classroom before, during and after class, along with contacting her through her phone and social media accounts, court records say.
In March 2017, Perez isolated the student in his classroom in between periods and abused her for the first time, the lawsuit says. He continued to meet the victim in his classroom on a regular basis, where he would sexually abuse her.
According to court records, Perez would regularly write notes excusing the victim’s tardiness to other classes while he was sexually abusing her in his classroom.
The lawsuit claims that signs of the “predatory relationship” were apparent, or should have been apparent, to other teachers and staff at Mead High School.
The lawsuit points to a Spanish teacher who observed the victim and Perez “suddenly hanging out” alone in his classroom “almost every day.” The same teacher said that the relationship “didn’t seem like a healthy thing,” according to the lawsuit.
The teacher approached Perez to warn him about meeting the victim alone in his classroom so frequently, the lawsuit says.
The teacher said he conveyed his concerns about the relationship to Mead High School Principal Jeff Naslund several days after his conversation with Perez, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit claims that Nasland “failed to properly respond to the disturbing reports and neglected to report the suspected sexual abuse to the proper authorities to take any action.”
After Perez’s encounter with the teacher, he began to sexually abuse the victim outside of the classroom, according to the lawsuit. He began telling the victim to meet him after school and would drive her to secluded locations nearby where he would abuse her in his parked vehicle.
The lawsuit says this occurred approximately twice a week for the remainder of the 2016-2017 school year.
Perez later told the victim to meet him at his home, where he began to have sex with her, the lawsuit says. This happened multiple times between October 2017 and February 2018.
The lawsuit claims that Principal Naslund received an anonymous letter in April 2018 disclosing that Perez was abusing the victim. This prompted him to finally notify the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, leading to Perez’s arrest in May 2018.
Perez initially pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor and one count of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes.
He was sentenced to 12 months in prison followed by 12 months in community custody in June 2019, court records say.