Student sentenced for sexually assaulting another more than once at a Bellingham high school

The male student who sexually assaulted another student while at a Bellingham high school has been sentenced.

The case ignited a separate case involving three school administrators who were accused of failing to report the female student’s sexual assaults when she brought the crimes to their attention.

The 16-year-old male student was sentenced Wednesday, July 19, in Whatcom County Juvenile Court to 18-20 weeks in the custody of the Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration. The county’s juvenile court is a division of Whatcom County Superior Court.

The male student will receive credit for the 17 weeks and five days he has already served while awaiting a resolution in his case. The state juvenile rehabilitation administration will determine how much of the remaining time of his sentence he will serve. It’s possible the boy will serve the remainder of his sentence in the Whatcom County Juvenile Detention Center or be sent to a separate DCYF juvenile detention institution.

He will not be on probation once released.

Because it’s unclear whether changes in recent case law allow a judge or court commissioner to issue a post-sentence no-contact order for juveniles, a hearing on the matter is scheduled for Friday afternoon.

The boy previously pleaded guilty May 17 to two counts of fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation. He had initially been charged with one count of indecent liberties by forcible compulsion, which is a felony, for assaulting a then 15-year-old female student in November and December 2021 while they both attended Squalicum High School, The Bellingham Herald previously reported.

His charges were amended down as part of an agreed plea deal that resolved the assault case and two other unrelated criminal court cases he was facing.

Whatcom County Senior Deputy Public Defender Shoshana Paige previously said she believed the boy was treated unfairly in the case by a system “that has treated him unfairly for almost the entirety of his young life.”

The boy had been grossly overcharged “based on a flawed investigation” and the charges he pleaded guilty to should have been the ones filed from the beginning, Paige previously said.

Paige reiterated her sentiments at the boy’s sentencing hearing Wednesday, thanking the prosecutor who had taken over the case, to reach what she called an appropriate resolution.

“The court knows this has been a very long road and an up and down road for (the boy)“ who has “had a very difficult and challenging life. In a lot of ways, the adults that did owe him certain duties and responsibilities and the system that has had certain duties and responsibilities have often failed in (the boy’s) case, but he’s quite resilient,” Paige said Wednesday.

The boy was expected to undergo an evaluation for a special sex offender disposition alternative, which would have allowed him to participate in treatment. The prosecution and defense attorneys were expected to present an agreed resolution at the boy’s Wednesday disposition hearing recommending the sentencing alternative, which would have included two years of community supervision, an anti-harassment no-contact order with the female student and restitution to be determined.

Because a warrant for the boy’s arrest was issued nine days after he pleaded guilty, he was not evaluated for the sentencing alternative.

Instead, the agreed-upon manifest injustice sentence above the standard range was presented at his disposition hearing Wednesday, court records show.

“I am grateful for my client that this matter has concluded and he can move forward with his life. I am privileged to have worked with him, and proud of the hard work that his entire team at the Public Defender’s office put into this case to bring it to this resolution,” Paige said in a statement sent Thursday to The Herald.

“This case has, however, taken an immeasurable toll on him, and I believe a cloud continues to hang over this investigation. The manner in which it was conducted and the choices that were made by the investigator, who is now under investigation for reasons that have not been shared with me, continue to leave me troubled.”

A restitution hearing in the case has been set for Oct. 11.

The Herald has reached out to the prosecuting attorney and the female student’s attorney for comment.

Background

Three Bellingham Public Schools administrators were charged in early December for failing to report the female student’s sexual assaults, which were brought to their attention nearly a year prior, The Herald previously reported.

All three of the administrators — Jeremy Gilbert Louzao, Meghan V. Dunham and Maude Chimere Hackney — have pleaded not guilty to one count each of failure to report, a gross misdemeanor, in Whatcom County District Court.

All three administrators are mandatory reporters and are required by state law to report any suspected abuse or neglect of a child to law enforcement or DCYF.

None of the three reported the female student’s sexual assaults, according to prior reporting in The Herald.

The former Squalicum High School student who has accused the district of mishandling her sexual assault reports filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Dec. 7 against Bellingham Public Schools.

The district denied it mishandled the student’s reports in its January response to the lawsuit.

The jury trial for the three administrators is set to begin on Aug. 28. The date was rescheduled at a hearing this week due to one of the prosecuting attorney’s medical issues and because the lead Bellingham Police Department detective in the case — Adam (Bo) S. McGinty — is now himself the subject of an internal administrative investigation and a criminal investigation.

The school district is providing legal defense for the three administrators, which state law mandates for public employers required to report abuse.