DES MOINES, Wash. (AP) - A 66-year-old teacher and track coach at a Des Moines high school has been charged with four counts of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes, accused of inappropriately touching and making sexual comments to three members of the school track team, according to King County prosecutors.
Jeffrey Blount, of Des Moines, was arrested Tuesday and remains jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail, The Seattle Times reported. It wasn’t immediately known if Blount has a lawyer to comment for him.
Catherine Carbone Rogers, a spokeswoman for the Highline School District, wrote in an email that Blount was placed on paid administrative leave from Mount Rainier High School in on May 1, as soon as school officials learned of the allegations. The district also filed a report with the Washington State Office of Public Instruction about Blount, who is set to retire at the end of this school year, she wrote.
As a teacher and coach, Blount abused his position of trust and authority over the female student-athletes, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Celia Lee wrote in charging papers. The charges cover from March 2018 through June 2019, when two girls were 17 years old and the third was 14 but turned 15, the charges say.
“He had female athletes change (clothes) in his classroom, he invited students to his house, he delegated his duties to students, he inappropriately touched them, made overtly sexual and inappropriate comments to them, and talked to athletes about their bodies in a sexual and inappropriate way,” Lee wrote.
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