On May 18, Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested a 19-year-old Klahowya Secondary student at his residence for alleged child molestation in the third degree.

On April 28, a KCSO deputy spoke with a female student and her mother about an “inappropriate relationship” between her daughter and another student who attends the school, according to  charging documents. The documents indicate the girl met the 19-year-old through a female friend, who had also allegedly had inappropriate contact with the male.

The student told her mother that the male allegedly hugged and kissed her a few times last spring. She also noted that on “one occasion he had placed his hand on the outside of her pants, groping her crotch and making her very uncomfortable,” according to a KCSO probable cause statement. Once school started in the fall, the inappropriate communication continued with sexually explicit messages.

Photos and messages were found on both the 19-year-old’s phone and email account. The student had sent the female photos of his genitalia and persuaded the girl to send nude photos as well. The male student was questioned on April 29 and admitted that his communication method had been through his smart phone and email account. However, he first “denied sharing any explicit photos or messages of a sexual nature” with either the girl or her friend. He noted that he believed both girls to be 15 years old. Once told the girls could possibly provide messages and emails he exchanged with them, including ones of genitalia, he “invoked his right to have an attorney present during questioning,” states the probable cause report.

Questioning continued on April 30 with deputies and the girl’s friend’s mother who advised that her daughter had told her that the male allegedly had “touched her under her clothes and manually penetrated her.”

On May 2, a forensic child interview was conducted with both girls. One girl admitted that the male allegedly penetrated her with his fingers on three separate occasions. During a subsequent forensic interview her friend noted that he also had allegedly “manually penetrated” both girls at the same time despite knowing the ages of the girls.

The 14-year-old girl’s mother has filed a temporary protection order and asked for the courts to issue a permanent No Contact Order to prohibit the older student from having contact with her daughter. The student was arrested and booked into Kitsap County jail with a bail set at $25,000.