SPOKANE, Wash. – A Mead High School Spanish teacher is being investigated for sexual misconduct with a minor and communication with a minor for immoral purposes.
Court documents said the Mead High School Principal Jeff Naslund received an anonymous letter on April 18 that contained allegations of an improper sexual relationship between a Spanish teacher and a 17-year-old student. The letter said the two met at camp during the 2016-2017 school year where they exchange phone numbers. According to documents, the letter alleges that the student met with the teacher in his classroom before and after school, even though she never had him as a teacher. It also says the two had been kissing and said, “I am uncomfortable to even mention this, but this is my main reason writing to you…he took her virginity as of this school year.” The anonymous author of the letter said they were in class with the student when she got a text message from the teacher with a heart next to his name.
After receiving the anonymous letter, Naslund contacted the school resource officer, who then wrote a report about the letter and contacted the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office Sexual Assault Unit’s supervisor. Court documents said the resource officer contacted the Mead School District’s IT department and had them preserve the emails for the student and the Spanish teacher. Officials also sent preservation letters to AT&T, Verizon and Facebook for both of their accounts.
According to court documents, the student was interviewed by a detective on April 23. The student said she never had a class with the teacher in question but she did ask for his help with questions about Spanish after a leadership camp she attended. She also said she reached out to the teacher to discuss the death of her grandmother who passed away in February 2017 because the teacher had told her about a similar situation about his grandpa at leadership camp. The student also denied communicating with the teacher outside of school and said she never had a physical relationship with him. The student also told detectives she did not have Facebook, Snapchat or other social media apps.
Court documents said a detective contacted the student’s mother who said her daughter did not have a Facebook account but does have Snapchat on her phone. The detective told the mother he wanted to seize the phone in order to prove or disprove the allegations. The student and her mother agreed to give the detective the phone.
KREM 2 has reached out to the Mead School District about the allegations but as of 3:00 p.m., have not heard back.
CORRECTION: This story previously identified the principal as John. Court documents misidentified him.