OSD Teacher Charged with Child Molestation
Grooming began in 6th Grade and continued into high school
Jonathan Joseph Moore, a teacher at Capital High School in Olympia, WA, was arrested on February 23, 2023 for alleged Child Molestation in the Third Degree, Communications with A Minor for Immoral Purposes and Sexual Misconduct with a Minor in the Second Degree. OPD was contacted after the victim shared details with a 20-year-old co-worker, who then contacted a friend of her parent, who then made the report.
According to a statement made by the victim to OPD, grooming began as early as the 6th grade but nonconsensual sexual contact did not happen until the victim was a junior in high school. Moore was also emotionally abusive to the victim, threatening suicide to manipulate the victim into sex.
Witness statements indicate Moore targeted other male students once the victim ceased contact. At the time of his arrest Moore had already been fired by the district after an investigation due to multiple complaints, alleging unprofessional conduct toward students including emotional outbursts, threats and favoritism.
Moore, already on administrative leave, was terminated by the district on September 15, 2022, approximately one month after OPD informed them of their investigation. The district did not notify parents or students about the reasons of Moore’s termination, which can be argued is a failure as it may have caused victims to come forward sooner. That the abuse was not discovered, despite it spanning several years, is also a problem that the district should take seriously.
OSD only notified parents about Moore once the arrest had been made public, despite knowing of the police investigation for months. It is not clear whether they knew of the abuse previous to OPD contact. It does not appear to have been uncovered during the district internal investigation of Moore, despite the victim being interviewed by private investigators and witnesses stating Moore and the victim had “more than a teacher/student relationship.”
The district initially cooperated with OPD but then, based on advice of legal counsel, refused to turn over evidence, requiring search warrants to access recording equipment, thumb drives, memory cards etc. potentially related to the crime. They also would not turn over personnel records or the results of their internal investigation of Moore without a search warrant.
EFFECTS OF ABUSE
What stands out in the case is how Moore appeared to rely on the student for his own emotional and sexual needs without regard to the negative effects this had on the victim. It was highly inappropriate for any adult/minor relationship and thoroughly unprofessional for a teacher.
The victim was a self described “loner” and “wreck” who appeared to have low self esteem and “did not shower or care for himself,” per his account to OPD. Those are traits abusers look for in victims.
The victim disclosed he hid the abuse from his parents and feared them finding out. This created distance between parents and child, another requisite for an abuser to be successful.
Moore also attempted to isolate the victim from his friends and make the victim dependent on him. Moore took actions to conceal the relationship electronically and took control of the victim’s Google account.
Moore called the victim his “boyfriend” and told him he loved him. He had a plan for the victim to move in with him post-graduation, complete with cover story until they could go public. He made plans for them to adopt two children and had a Google Doc list of potential names.
Sexual abuse is hard for anyone, but especially males, as there are far rewer resources designed with their specific needs in mind. Childhood sexual abuse is linked to substance abuse, mental and physical health issues in adulthood and often, tragically, suicide, especially in male victims. Moore stole the victim’s organic sexual development, something that can never be replaced.
Abuse also ripples into the community. In this case, a valuable program, KOUG-TV was disrupted, and student’s first experiences in the field, corrupted. Students had accused the school of censorship when they were not allowed access to the studio or equipment during the internal investigation.
Students connected this to their reporting of a racial incident and confronting district administration about lack of soap in bathrooms. A student was quoted, “We need students to find their passion, and this is really preventing students from doing that, so that’s a huge problem."
Moore attempted to pit students against each other and tried to control their associations. When students he was interested in began romantic relationships, he reportedly tried to sabotage them. Some of the complaints against Moore involve preferential treatment for male students over female.
Trust in the district’s ability to safeguard students will be impacted. There is already distrust on the part of parent’s due to the insertion of gender and sex into the classroom, incidents like this are a prime example why students should not be comfortable talking about sex or gender with teachers outside of specific lesson plans.
In an attempt at “equity” Olympia School District asked intrusive and private questions about student’s sexuality and mental health in a recent survey ending March 31. Students are asked how “comfortable” they are talking about “gender and sexuality with Teachers/Staff.”
It raises concerns about how this information will be used and puts pressure on students to feel OK discussing highly personal parts of their lives in school environments.
There is no right way for a student to answer this question. If students answer no, for privacy, or any other reason, administration will see that as a failure on their part and attempt to make it “easier” for kids to talk about their sexuality.
To answer yes, we are going into troubling territory. Teachers should not be student’s confidantes on matters of sexuality.
DETAILS OF ABUSE
The victim consented to be interviewed by OPD on August 17, 2022 for over three hours. I will be summarizing the interview based on the OPD report which states the events are as the victim “could recall.” All quotes are from the OPD Case Supplemental Report dated February 23, 2023.
Moore began getting close with the victim in 7th grade where opportunity was made for a group of students to stay with Moore after school. Moore and the students produced a sitcom called “The Studio” which “became the drive for people to stay late after school.” As summr approached, students often stayed until as late as 9 or 10 pm.
It was during this time Moore became the victim’s “friend” where they began to spend periods of time, 2-3.5 hours, alone, “talk[ing] about stuff such as philosophy” with Moore ordering food. This would happen 2-3 times a week.
They began to communicate by email but nothing “out of line.” The victim says Moore was almost a “parent” or “like a dad” and he became “distanced from everyone; he stopped playing Xbox and interacting with his friends” and “becoming reliant on Moore.”
Over the summer students, including the victim, would meet at Moore’s classroom at Jefferson, where they developed a plan to return during their freshman year at Jefferson to teach other students how to produce “The Studio.”
The victim was in 9th grade when COVID shut down the schools and “it became clear [Moore and the victim] were not just staying in contact for filming purposes,” primarily using email and Skype to communicate. Moore and the victim also began to meet almost daily at Decatur Woods Park and under the bleachers at Jefferson Middle. They would talk “late into the night” exchanging “hundreds of emails” and migrating conversation to Google Hangouts/Chats. The victim reports Moore would be “very upset” if he did not respond quickly enough.
The calls became nightly, from 10:30 pm until 1:00 am, which the victim concealed from his parents. The victim reports he gained 50-60 pounds because “all he would do is sit on his bed and talk to Moore.” He also reported that he was “sad.”
The victim suffered academically due to Moore being a distraction from schoolwork. Moore reportedly would do the victim’s homework so the victim would have more time available to spend with Moore. The victim claims to not know algebra or geometry because of this.
When the victim was 14 or 15, Moore began calling him “boyfriend” and said they were “going to spend their whole lives together.” Using a surrogate they would have two children named “Maryweather” and “Elliot.” The victim reports being resigned to this fate.
The OPD report states, “Moore formulated a plan for after high school when [the victim] was in college for a year or two. He would have a project and an extra room at his apartment. [The victim} would stay in the room while they worked on the project. Once [the victim] was an adult, it would seem natural that they were in a relationship.
“[The victim} explained there were several documents and notes made about his and Moore’s planned future, ideas on how to raise their kids, or what their life together would look like. Those ideas of their life were captured in Google Docs that Moore has since renamed and/or deleted. I asked [the victim] why Moore would do this. He explained that whenever there was a fight between them, Moore would take these documents from him.”
From a later OPD interview with the victim, “I showed [the victim] a PDF titled ‘Names.’ [The victim] advised that this was a list of names he and Moore thought would be good names for their children. The names ‘Maryweather’ and ‘Elliot’ were present on the list.
“I then shared a thumbnail photo titled "Parenting Guide." [The victim} stated, "Yeah, I made this with him." {The victim] explained his intent in creating the document as if he was going to be stuck with Moore the rest of his life, with his kids in a bad marriage; he would prefer his kids have the best time they could.”
The victim claims that Moore “forced” him to provide login information for his accounts so that he could also access them. In a clumsy attempt at subterfuge, Moore would use the victim’s accounts in a way to make it look as if the correspondence was one-sided, sometimes using the student’s OSD account. The victim said it appeared that Moore had recently deleted the shared communications and documents.
OPD served Google with a compreshensive search warrant to access these documents in October 2022.
MOORE FOLLOWS STUDENT TO CAPITAL HIGH
It was also at this time that the topic of sex came up. Moore began by talking about what turned him on and what type of pornography he enjoyed. The victim claims Moore preferred “‘twinks’ with very little hair and flaccid penises.” Moore would also talk about how he wanted to be submissive and have the victim “control and punch him.”
During this period the victim would go to Jefferson Middle School to visit Moore and the two would nap on the ground next to each other. The victim says Moore would spoon him. The victim says once or twice there was “humping,” described as “Moore would be lying down on his side facing toward him, thrusting his pelvis into his ‘ass’ or ‘thigh'”’ The victim said he could feel Moore’s erection.
Moore said he wanted sex but was willing to wait. Once Moore transferred to Capital High, nonconsensual sexual contact began when the victim was a junior. Their communication about sex took place over Skype or Google Chat but never text or email, indicating Moore had concerns about being caught.
In his junior year the victim would spend 10-14 hours a day with Moore, arriving at school as early as 7:00 am and staying as late as 10:00 pm. This happened “at least two or three times a week, sometimes daily.” The victim said Moore was paranoid about the janitors seeing them. Moore would wear black shoes in order to be harder for janitors to spot when he would “go behind the curtain” with the victim in the television studio.
The next paragraphs may be difficult to read but I think it is important to bear witness, as well as to dispel conjecture in the community.
When they were hidden behind the curtains, out of view of the cameras, the victim was pressured to “fondle” Moore. The victim says this meant “rubbing Moore’s testicles, kissing his neck, touching the back or side of Moore’s body, sometimes his ‘ass,’ and he would ‘masturbate’ Moore over his clothes, sometimes under.
“[The victim] described that he would take his hand over Moore’s penis, which was usually erect or halfway erect. He would stroke Moore’s penis, and Moore would have many pre-ejaculates. He would try to avoid touching the head of Moore’s penis although sometimes Moore would ask him to.
“[The victim] advised that he would try to stick to the shaft or lower shaft of Moore’s penis while masturbating but would stop before Moore ejaculated. [The victim] advised that the ‘thrusting’ also happened with Moore by gettingh into ‘sex positions,’ and they would ‘act’ them out with their clothes on.”
The victim describes an incident when Moore touched his genitals in the back room at school while his pants were down. It only lasted “a minute” after the victim told Moore “no.”
The victim says all sexual contact was “nonconsensual” and that the “only time he would indicate he wanted this with Moore was after he already refused it twenty times and decided this was going to be his life.” He states he verbalized to Moore he did not want to do these things with him.
MOORE USES SUICIDE TO MANIPULATE VICTIM
In December 2021, the victim ended physical contact with Moore and tried to distant emotionally, going weeks without talking to him. During this period of distancing, the victim would “break” and speak to Moore.
It was during a 1:00 am phone call, “Moore threatened him over the phone that he would slit his wrist if he did not leave his friends or if he did not want to have sex with him. Moore showed him a knife he had in the room with him, and [the victim] told Moore he wanted his friends and did not want to be with him.
“Moore slit his wrist, and [the victim] could hear it over the phone, [the victim] explained that he started begging Moore to call back after disconnecting to show him proof.
“Moore called him on Skype and showed [the victim] his wrist, which was actively bleeding, with a towel. Moore went to the hospital and told [the victim] he gave them the excuse that he was opening a box with a box cutter and cut himself. Moore told him he did it for attention so [the victim] would not leave.”
OPD CONDUCTS SECOND INTERVIEW WITH VICTIM
On November 17, 2022, the victim met with OPD for a follow-up interview to review newly discovered evidence from the search warrants served to
OSD and Google. Several items were discovered in Google materials including “a photo of Jonathan Moore, word documents, a PDF, audio files, and video files.”
One video had Moore riding a student’s bike which had been originally posted on Snapchat. Moore had wanted the video removed because another sudent had seen it and thought it was “strange.”
The victim stated, “Moore [realized] a video would be a problem later if he were going to be reported to the police or that people may think he was strange. [The victim] advised that Moore was aware that the things he was doing were questionable and illegal. Still, he tried to be safe with the things he was doing that allowed for ‘plausible deniability.’”
Moore also changed his name on Google Hangouts so it would be less “incriminating” if the victim’s parents happened to see it on the phone.
The victim recognized Moore’s credit card number, saying Moore gave it to him to order food or place orders. The victim did not know why the card would be linked to his Google account, with the billing address as Moore’s Lacey residence. The victim said he no longer had access to this account because Moore changed the password.
The victim revealed that he had contact with two other students whom Moore was using the same tactics on including forcing the students to have their phone on, demanding instant replies, calls and other “grooming” behavior.
TRUST YOUR GUT
When Moore’s arrest broke on social media, former students weighed in on his unprofessional conduct. Students were first to see problems. It was student complaints that ultimately led OSD to investigate Moore.
The OPD report summarizes the allegations that initiated the internal investigation conducted on behalf of OSD by Clear Risk Solutions. In the aggregate, they portray a teacher who was emotionally abusive to students, including telling one student “the world would be a better place without [the student] in it.”
The OPD summary of the investigation states, “Several witnesses were interviewed because of this investigation. In summary, students talked about the inappropriate way Moore intervened in their relationships by telling them who they could and could not be around.
“Moore would make sexually related comments, such as calling [male student] a ‘bottom’ and [male student] a ‘top,’ referring to sexual positions.
“It was disclosed that Moore started to behave differently after [the victim] left his program. It was stated that Moore and [the victim] were close, spending time together outside of school, and that their relationship was more than a teacher/student relationship. Another student spoke of Moore firing [the victim] from Koug TV and spent the next couple of months ranting about [the victim].
“Moore told students they could have no contact with [the victim]; if they did, he (Moore) would fire them from Koug Tv. [The victim’s] girlfriend, [student], disclosed that Moore tried to convince students she was a bad person. This started after she began dating [the victim] in December, [the victim] left Koug TV, and there was a fallout between [the victim] and Moore.
“Moore talked to her and [the victim] separately and tried to convince her she was ruining [the victim’s] life by dating him. This conversation lasted for two hours. Moore told her she and [the victim] needed to break up and had a similar conversation with [the victim] telling him he also needed to end his relationship with [student] and that [the victim] would ruin her.”
This demonstrates Moore’s inappropriate meddling in student’s professional and social lives.
WHAT’S NEXT
The trial is scheduled to begin on July 10, 2023. Court documents have set multiple conditions on Moore, who was released on $25K bail. Moore has pleaded not guilty. Moore is not allowed to go where children congregate or have contact with any minor child. It also stipulates Moore is not to be employed as a teacher.
In April, Moore’s defense filed a motion to loosen restrictions on Moore’s use of the internet so he could look for employment or sell things on eBay. The motion was denied in May.
Court documents can be found here.
The OSD Board should conduct their own investigation into how this situation happened with the goal of preventing similar from happening in the future. They should also reconsider their push to normalize discussion of student’s sexuality with teachers.
Teachers should also feel uncomfortable talking about sex with students except outside of approved lesson plans. They should remain authority figures and not blur lines by crossing into the friendzone, which can be innocent but can also lead to situations like with Jonathan Moore, that, even without the sexual abuse, was completely inappropriate and damaging to the victim.
Candace Mercer is an artist/writer/activist based in Olympia, WA. She has written on homeless response and political violence in the PNW. In 2021, she ran for Olympia City Council. Her art can be found at candio.com.
