New child-sex charges filed against former UP schools employee in another WA county
A former University Place School District employee and local martial arts instructor charged with child-sex crimes in Pierce County faces similar allegations in another part of Washington.
Grays Harbor County prosecutors earlier this month charged Michael Joseph Basse, 59, with three counts of first-degree child rape and one count each of third-degree child rape and first-degree child molestation, court records show.
Basse was booked into the Grays Harbor County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail Thursday, according to the facility’s roster. Jail records show he was released the next day on his own recognizance.
His defense attorney in Pierce County, Michael Stewart, declined to comment on the case.
Charging documents state Basse had sex with three school-age boys at a house near Pacific Beach, Washington, between January 2009 and December 2016. The boys were residents of Pierce County at the time, the records show.
Citing police reports from Pierce County, deputy prosecutor Jennifer Zorn of Grays Harbor County argued for $500,000 bail, according to court records. Zorn wrote in a motion for an arrest warrant that at least one of the alleged victims told a detective that Basse would give him alcohol before some of the encounters.
“The defendant has nine victims in Pierce County so far,” Zorn wrote. “The defendant was found with multiple guns and 100s of pills [when arrested] that back up the story that he was drugging minors.”
Zorn went on to write: “The defendant embedded himself in multiple community organizations to have access to children. He volunteered with two school PTAs; he would substitute in the health room, handled carpools to the local YMCA for swimming lessons and taught jiu-jitsu.”
Basse was arrested and charged last month in Pierce County Superior Court with four counts of first-degree rape of a child, four counts of first-degree child molestation, three counts of third-degree rape of a child, second-degree rape of a child and second-degree child molestation.
Pierce County prosecutors allege he had sexual interactions with at least six children from 2007 to 2016. He worked during that time as a substitute classroom assistant and a health room paraeducator in multiple schools in University Place. He was fired in 2016, school officials previously told The News Tribune. Basse also was an instructor at a jiu-jitsu school in Tacoma, Seibukan Jujutsu of Washington. Sheriff’s deputies also said he coached youth baseball, The News Tribune previously reported.
Pleas of not guilty were entered on his behalf. Pierce County court records show he posted $250,000 bail on April 28 and was released from the Pierce County Jail.
Basse was in Pierce County Superior Court on Thursday for a hearing on his local case when deputies called him outside and arrested him on the Grays Harbor County warrant, witnesses told The News Tribune.
This story was originally published May 28, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
