KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA | Auburn teacher charged with sex with student

Auburn teacher charged with sex with student

SEATTLE, Wash. - A teacher at a church school in Auburn has been charged with raping a student in a relationship that began in August of last year when she was 15.
      
King County prosecutors said 49-year-old Scott Allen Spies of Auburn was charged Thursday with child rape and sexual misconduct with a minor.
      
The police report filed with charging papers says the consensual sex usually took place at Spies' home but also at least twice in his office at the Auburn Adventist Academy. The relationship continued until this month when the school learned about it and called police.

Auburn Adventist Academy Principal Marvin Mitchell calls it a tragedy.

"We do not want male teachers taking female students off campus, we try to be very careful about that," said Mitchell. "The situation escalated into something that was unacceptable."  

Mitchell said the now 16-year-old student, who is part of the boarding program at the private Christian academy, looked to Spies as a mentor.

"She found a person who she felt like she could share with and that was the beginning of it," he said.

Detectives call what happened rape.

"The student described them as starting to get close in about February of 09," says Sgt. Dave Colglazier with the Auburn Police Department.

On Tuesday, the student told police that she and Spies began having sex at the beginning of the school year at his apartment just a few miles away from the school. Apparently, Spies and the student slipped past three people in charge of watching over the boarding students.

The school first starting hearing rumors about the relationship late last week and brought both the student and Spies in the office for questioning. They both denied it until Monday. The school immediately notified police and fired Spies.

"Because of this we are re-examining all of our policies and teacher student relationships, we are dedicated to the safety of our students," said Mitchell.

Mitchell said the main focus now for the 300-plus student body is moving on and helping the victim.

The school says it's now reviewing its policies, but administrators believe this is an isolated incident.

"I've seen this happen very rarely in my years of working with the church," says Doug Bing, Vice President of the Washington Conference of Seventh Day Adventist Schools.

Because it is a private school, the Academy is not subject to state supervision of the boarding program. The school is solely responsible for the welfare of its students.

"The girls are well taken care of," said Mitchell. "But of course even the best policies need to be reexamined."
      
Spies bailed out of jail Saturday and is scheduled to be arraigned March 3 in King County Superior Court in Kent.