Olympia School District Settles with Sexual Abuse Victim for 3.2M
Teacher avoids prison with plea deal for alleged child sex crimes spanning years
Jonathan J. Moore, a teacher in the Olympia School District from 2016-2022, was arrested and charged in February 2023 for three counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the Olympia School District.
Instead of moving forward with a jury trial, in which Moore admitted he most likely would have been found guilty, he entered into a plea deal with the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for a lesser charge of third degree assault. Moore received a first time offender waiver with credit for time served to avoid prison.
Time served amounted to one day.
Moore was ordered to have no contact with the victim for five years, undergo psychosexual evaluation, and receive treatment. In addition, Moore is to have no contact with minors unless approved by a provider and will be under community custody for twelve months.
(In order to protect the victim’s identity I will refer to them as “SV” for student victim)
The Olympia Police Department’s investigation into Jonathan Moore provides a detailed account of sexual grooming and abuse of a student that took place between both Jefferson Middle School and Capital High School, where Mr. Moore taught.
SV describes grades 6-8 at Jefferson as a “grooming phase” in which Mr. Moore assumed a “parental” role, rather than a teacher-student relationship with appropriate boundaries.
By 8th grade, SV recounts becoming sad, distant from friends, and gaining weight while simultaneously becoming more reliant on Mr. Moore. At one point, Mr. Moore was even completing SV’s homework due to failing grades.
By the time SV moved to Capital High School, Mr. Moore was calling SV nightly, as well as extensive communication through Google Chat, email, and Skype which sometimes started with other students before moving to private interactions.
According to SV, Mr. Moore developed an elaborate fantasy life in which he envisioned them having children together via a surrogate, insisting SV call him “boyfriend”, and making plans to live together once SV was an adult. Mr. Moore’s communication was overtly sexual in nature, with the first sexual advancements toward SV taking place at Jefferson Middle School in a classroom.
In 2021 (SV’s Junior year), Mr. Moore transferred to Capital High School as a visual communication/design teacher and debate/honor society advisor. Once Mr. Moore moved to Capital, SV describes him initiating frequent sexual encounters in the interior newsroom where he ran Koug TV (a student-led news medium).
Mr. Moore was known to stay at the school late into the evenings, even recording himself walking through the dark hallways. SV also recalls being “paranoid” that the janitor would find them. According to the police investigation, it was not uncommon for SV to spend anywhere from 10-14 hours at the school with Mr. Moore daily.
SV would periodically try to distance from Mr. Moore, only to have Mr. Moore make threats to harm himself, even slitting his wrists once in a twisted attempt to emotionally manipulate SV.
What did OSD know and when did they know it?
The Olympia School District has settled with the victim for a reported 3.2 million dollars according to Miller and Zois Lawsuit Information Center. The lawsuit alleges that the school district was aware of grooming and sexual abuse and neglected to properly act.
On August 11, 2022, the Olympia Police Department received a call reporting Mr. Moore for sexual misconduct with a Capital student.
OPD immediately informed Capital High School of the allegations against Mr. Moore, only to be informed that the teacher had already been placed on leave for “professional misconduct allegations with students” two months prior in June 2022.
The school district revealed they conducted an “internal” investigation into multiple allegations against Mr. Moore. A subsequent internal report revealed those allegations included: Yelling profanity at students, threatening students, referring to students as “top” and “bottom” in a sexual manner, preferential treatment to certain students, throwing objects, involving himself in student’s personal relationships, meeting students at outside school events, staying late with students at school, and talking to students about being investigated by the district in hopes they had his back.
At one point, Mr. Moore was in fact caught alone with a student in the media room by two Capital administrators conducting a campus walkthrough during a school dance between 10-11 p.m. This incident was reported to the district by one of those administrators and was documented as part of the internal district investigation.
Mr. Moore was found to be in violation of several district policies and was placed on administrative leave in June 2022.
Arrest
By February 2023, there was enough evidence to arrest Mr. Moore for sex crimes against a minor. A day later, the following notification was sent to current Capital High School families only.
Inconsistencies
#1
The district email states “We want to make you aware of information we learned today.” The district may have learned of the actual arrest that day, but they certainly knew it was coming. They were fully aware of the police investigation six months prior and knew an arrest was imminent. Some staff members were told prior to the arrest to be prepared for calls from the public with a narrative ready.
#2
The email states it is believed Moore’s behavior “occurred outside of school”.
Believed by whom? This statement directly contradicts the police investigation outlining years of grooming and sexual abuse occurring on campus between two schools.
#3
The email states the district was “fully cooperating with law enforcement”. In reality, the district refused to turn over documents and recording equipment pertinent to the investigation without search warrants. Separate warrants had to be obtained for Moore’s USB drives, recording equipment from the classroom, personnel records. Even the internal investigation conducted by OSD required a search order to be turned over.
The following is an excerpt from the OPD investigation report:
#4
The district stated they discharged Mr. Moore for “matters separate from the charges attributed to the arrest”. While this may be technically true, it seems to intentionally downplay the serious nature of Mr. Moore’s behavior, for which he was placed on leave.
Reasonable people could surmise that several of the allegations against Mr. Moore, including well-known rumors among students about Mr. Moore being “creepy” for years, should have triggered a report to external agencies and/or law enforcement for review. This would have communicated an abundance of caution for overall student safety.
Finally fired
Mr. Moore was not officially terminated from OSD until September 2022.
The Olympia School District waited until May 2023 to submit the following letter to OSPI. This is almost a full year from the time Mr. Moore was found in violation of the policies listed, and more than two months after his arrest for sexual abuse.
The notification cites Mr. Moore for “unprofessional conduct” but neglects to inform the State of Mr. Moore’s arrest, or of the gravity of charges against him.
Failure to notify
To my knowledge, the Olympia School District has yet to notify parents of previous students at Jefferson or Capital about the arrest of Mr. Moore, nor about the severity of allegations against him while at both schools.
My daughter was both a Jefferson and Capital student during Mr. Moore’s tenure and had a class with Mr. Moore at Jefferson. We’ve yet to receive any notification whatsoever from the district, so it is likely that a large number of parents and students are still unaware of what transpired with this teacher.
The law firm of PFAU Cochran Vertetis Amala is asking for witnesses and/or other victims to come forward.
https://www.pcva.law/contact/
Plea for SROs
The Olympia School Board eliminated School Resource Officers in 2020. It is reasonable to assume that having an officer on campus would have served as a deterrent for at least some of Mr. Moore’s behavior. An officer would have also been conducting campus walkthroughs and monitoring suspicious behavior as part of their duty. In addition, SROs have specialized training on sexual abuse of minors and what to look for.
The likelihood of Mr. Moore risking being caught alone with a student or staying on campus after hours (to the extent that he was) most certainly would have diminished if an officer had been a campus presence.
As of 2025, there is still no plan to reinstate SROs to the Olympia School District.
(Edited 3/18/25 to reflect recent updates)