‘Delete these messages.’ Trial of ex-Sumner basketball coach accused of sex abuse begins
Attorneys delivered opening statements Thursday morning in the trial of a former Sumner High School boys basketball coach accused of rape, child molestation and other offenses for allegedly abusing eight players.
Jacob “Jake” Jackson, 37, was the head coach of Sumner High School’s varsity basketball team, the Spartans, from 2016 until August 2022. He was placed on administrative leave that month after law enforcement notified the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District of allegations that the coach had been asking players about the size of their genitals and requesting pictures. Jackson later resigned.
As police investigated, eight boys came forward and reported how Jackson had sent them or requested inappropriate or sexually explicit messages and photographs through text, Instagram or Snapchat. According to prosecutors, they were between the ages of 13 and 16 when the messages began.
Judge Philip Sorensen’s courtroom, which was packed with at least 40 people in the gallery, fell quiet shortly after Jackson entered in a black suit and went straight to the defense table. He has been out of custody on $25,000 bail.
Jackson has pleaded not guilty to four counts of third-degree rape of a child, two counts of third-degree child molestation, six counts of communication with a minor for immoral purposes, five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, second-degree kidnapping with sexual motivation, indecent exposure and first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Richard Weyrich delivered openings for the state, telling jurors how four or five of the boys reported sexual interactions at Jackson’s house on Lake Tapps, most describing how the coach went from sending pictures of his abs and requesting the same from players to asking questions about how often the teens masturbated and sending and requesting sexual photos.
When players were at his house to do yard work, use his putting green, ride his jet skis or for other reasons, Jackson allegedly lured them to an upstairs master bedroom to see his basketball shoe collection. There, in a closet, Weyrich said Jackson masturbated in front of them, tried to get them to masturbate with him or orally raped them.
Weyrich described the escalation of Jackson’s behavior as a “playbook” that included the defendant telling players they were “brothers” or that he loved them. He said his communications began innocuously, and as they progressed the inappropriate messages were disguised as attempts to develop relationships with boys whom he wanted to become better players.
“They began to trust him. They began to love him, and they would do anything for him. He was their coach, he was an authority figure,” Weyrich said. “And so when he told them, ‘Don’t tell anyone about this conversation,’ they didn’t tell. When he told them, ‘Delete these messages,’ they deleted the messages.”
Jackson’s attorney, Brett Purtzer, downplayed the allegedly explicit nature of his client’s communications with the boys in his opening statements, referring to some of it as “locker room talk” and telling jurors that the boys’ reports to law enforcement were exaggerated.
Purtzer described Jackson as a very good coach who learned how to motivate kids and keep them engaged when he attended the University of Arizona, where Purtzer said his client learned his philosophy of coaching.
The defense attorney said the boys’ statements couldn’t be backed up with physical evidence, and law enforcement searches of their phones yielded either no evidence, or, in one boys’ case, years of messages that were not inappropriate.
“Not a suggestion, a hint of anything improper between the two of them” Purtzer said.
Purtzer also brought up Jackson’s ex-wife, Stacy, who he said would testify that none of the boys in this case ever came into Jackson’s home. He said DNA evidence taken from Jackson’s bedroom closet only recovered the defendant’s DNA, not anyone else’s.
The defense attorney told jurors that finally they would hear from Jackson himself, who he said would testify about his upbringing, schooling and experience coaching the Sumner basketball team and his involvement in the youth basketball academy.
Purtzer said he didn’t know what some of the boys would say on the witness stand, and he told jurors that one boys’ testimony could be “even more dramatic” than his prior statements to investigators.
“Trust what they say, but you’ve got to verify,” Purtzer said. “Some of the things that [the alleged victim] says are factually impossible, and a lot of what the other boys say just simply didn’t happen. But one part that is universal is that these boys say all this stuff occurred on Snapchat, and nobody else saw it.”
This story was originally published December 12, 2024 at 10:49 AM.
