Kirkland teens charged with attempted rape of special needs student

Five Kirkland teens were charged with attempted rape of a special needs student Friday for an assault in a Juanita High School locker room last fall.

The Juanita High School students aged 14 and 15, were charged for attempted rape in the second degree by the King County Prosecutor’s Office.

The King County Prosecutor said that while the attack didn’t appear to be sexually motivated, the charges reflect that it involved an attempted or threatened penetration with a broom handle.

According to witnesses, the teens lured the 17-year-old special needs student into the locker room and held him down in the shower room of the boys’ locker room on Oct. 22. While being held down, the students’ pants were pulled down and one of the teens was seen jabbing at his buttock with a broom handle “several times,” according to the charging document.

“One witness stated that ‘there was no doubt that [one of the teens] was trying to stick the broom [in the student’s] rectum and there was no way that this was an accident and no way this wasn’t planned,'” the detective investigating the assault said in the court document.

Several witnesses saw one of the teens recording the incident on a cell phone, according to the document. Witnesses told law enforcement the teens fled the locker room after.

The assault was said to be part of a hazing act known to football players as a “jubie,” according to the document. The four students who were charged were on the freshman football team.

“Based upon the independent witness accounts, suspect accounts, text message, suspect and witness written statements and [the students’] account of what occurred, it is clear that [the student] was lured into the shower area of the Juanita boy’s locker room to be assaulted,” the investigating detective said in the charging document.

According to a letter from the school, the incident was stopped by other students.

The students were emergency expelled from Juanita High school after the incident. They also face possible penalties ranging from commitment to the Department of Juvenile Rehabilitation to a sentence in a local detention facility.

The boys are scheduled to appear in Juvenile Court on February 20.

The Lake Washington School District issued the following statement late Friday:

Five students were charged with attempted rape in the second degree of another student. The possibility that an incident of this nature could occur at Juanita High School has been devastating to this school and our community.

Juanita High School and Lake Washington School District have cooperated fully with police and prosecutors regarding the incident. As it is an ongoing legal situation involving students, we are restricted on the information we can provide. The five students no longer attend Juanita High School.

Juanita High School and the Lake Washington School District are committed to the safety and security of every student. Existing district policies require that students are supervised at all times while at school. We have reviewed our procedures to ensure that locker rooms remain locked if no adult is present to supervise. Signs have been posted informing students they are not to be in the locker room without adult supervision. The school security officer is also checking locker rooms frequently.

Districtwide, the coach training program is being revised to ensure that locker room supervision expectations are very clear.