‘Weirded out.’ Teen testifies about texting with ex-Sumner coach on trial for sex abuse
One of the first witnesses called in the sex-abuse trial of a former Sumner High School boys basketball coach, an 18-year-old boy, went over months of conversations Thursday that showed how the defendant groomed his alleged victims to see his advances as normal.
After jurors heard opening statements Thursday morning in the trial of Jacob “Jake” Jackson, two law enforcement officials were called to the witness stand for brief questioning. Then a teenager in a brown zip-up hoodie was called, one of eight boys Jackson is accused of communicating with for immoral purposes, raping, molesting or sexually exploiting. Jackson has pleaded not guilty to 20 crimes.
The News Tribune generally does not name victims of sex crimes.
The teen’s testimony was that he never exchanged sexual photos with Jackson, nor was he touched by him inappropriately, but he described constant communications with the defendant between his freshman and sophomore year when he was 15 and 16 years old that he said became “weird” as their conversations moved from text messages to Instagram to Snapchat.
Texts and Instagram messages displayed in a Pierce County Superior Court room showed how in the summer of 2022 Jackson went from telling the teenager he saw potential in him as a basketball player to giving him workout regimens and telling him he needed to work on his muscle mass.
Later, Jackson asked for pictures of the teen’s abs and sent photos of his own, ostensibly to see how his physique was progressing. Eventually, on Instagram, Jackson asked him the length of his genitals and shared his own size.
On Snapchat, Jackson’s requests allegedly became more explicit. Unlike on Instagram, Snapchat automatically deletes messages, and the teen didn’t document their conversations in screenshots. He testified that once or twice Jackson asked for videos of him masturbating.
In late August 2022, the teen talked with two other basketball players about his conversations with Jackson, and one encouraged him to say something, according to his testimony. The teen didn’t follow through at first, but one of the others talked to his own parents, who then contacted other players’ parents. The teen’s father sat him down in late August 2022 to talk about what other parents had told him, and the two later went to a Sumner Police Department station to give their statements.
In court, deputy prosecuting attorney Richard Weyrich asked the teen why he didn’t tell anyone before that. The teen said he was embarrassed and felt that this was just something a coach did.
“This was my first high school coach,” the teen said. “I felt like this was right, there was nothing wrong with saying any of this stuff towards your players, so at the time I thought everything was completely normal.”
Prosecutors never used the word “grooming” in court Thursday, but Weyrich in opening statements described Jackson’s actions with the eight alleged victims as part of a common scheme with similar progressions as the account given by the teenage witness Thursday. In pre-trial motions, Superior Court Judge Edmund Murphy denied an attempt by the defense to sever Jackson’s criminal charges into separate trials for each victim, stating in a court order that prosecutors’ evidence demonstrated that the defendant used a similar plan for each victim with the same goal.
Murphy, who isn’t presiding over the trial, outlined the steps of that plan in the court order, when Jackson began to send and request photos of the boys’ abdomens.
“The first type of photo sent was usually a photo or request for the victim’s abdominals for ‘conditioning,’” Murphy wrote. “This was done to show progress and to groom the victim — getting them comfortable with sending photos or videos of their body.”
According to the nonprofit Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, grooming is a tool used by people who sexually abuse kids that involves manipulative behaviors to access a victim, coerce them into agreeing to the abuse and reduce their risk of being caught.
Weyrich said for some victims, the abuse stopped at Jackson asking for photos of their genitals or videos of them masturbating, but others between the ages of 14 and 16 reported sexual interactions at Jackson’s house on Lake Tapps. They were often there to do yard work, Weyrich said, use his putting green, ride his jet skis or for other reasons. Jackson allegedly lured them to an upstairs bedroom where Jackson masturbated in front of them, tried to get them to masturbate with him or orally raped them.
Jackson was placed on administrative leave at Sumner High School and later resigned in August 2022 after the school district was notified of the allegations. He has been charged with 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.
‘Don’t tell them I sent abs though’
The teen described how he first met Jackson during freshman-year basketball tryouts. He made the team, but he didn’t get as much playing time as he would have liked. By the end of the school year, he had gotten Jackson’s phone number from another player. Jackson was the varsity coach, and the teen was advised to save his number so Jackson could reach out.
In May 2022, Jackson began texting with him. In court, prosecutors displayed a spreadsheet of communications from the teen’s cell phone on a projector, and he and Weyrich read the texts aloud.
Jackson’s first message asked if the teen was coming to an open gym the next night, a preseason event for students interested in playing basketball the next school year. The teen said he was going. Jackson was pleased, telling him he wanted to “over-communicate” with him so he had a clear path to reach his full potential. Jackson said he supported the teen’s current coach, but he wanted him to have more playing time.
The two said they would keep in touch, and in the following days Jackson began to tell the teen he was proud of him and promised him he would one day play for Jackson on varsity, calling him an “all star” on his current team. Jackson told him he needed to work on his muscle mass and described a weightlifting regimen.
Jackson said the teen was one of his favorite players. Close to 11 p.m., Jackson texted, “I hope you feel the love.” The teen reacted to the message with a heart.
“At that time, was it strange to you that the varsity coach was texting you, ‘I hope you feel the love?’” Weyrich asked the teen in court.
“I thought it was weird that, um, that he would say that he like, loved me,” the teen said. “I thought that was just something you kind of said with your family members.”
Jackson and the teen’s text conversations mostly stopped after that, but they picked up again in Instagram direct messages in late June. Their conversations became more personal. While Jackson was on a trip to Arizona to see his mother, he opened up about his parents’ divorce when he was a child and asked about the teens’ parents.
Jackson was checking in daily at this point. He asked for photos from the teen’s basketball practice and sent a photo from Arizona. Another night, the coach sent the teen photos that didn’t appear in prosecutors’ presentation in court.
“Lol did you get my photos?” Jackson wrote. “Not bad for 35 bro bro.”
Weyrich asked the teen if he remembered the pictures. The teen said he believed they showed Jackson flexing.
The two continued to chat about the teen buying basketball shoes and what they had been up to lately.
“We just won our game,” Jackson wrote. “I told the guys to get sleep tonight and don’t stay up until 3 a.m. like [the teen]. Don’t tell them I sent abs though.”
The teen told Jackson, “I got you,” and that he wouldn’t say anything. Days later, in July, Jackson told the teen he owed him ab pictures.
Around this time, the teen told Weyrich he began to be “weirded out” by Jackson and tried to distance himself. Jackson asked for photos at least two more times in early July before the teen sent him a shirtless picture of himself. Jackson told the teen he wanted to hold him accountable for the progression of his core strength.
On July 9, the teen was golfing with friends when Jackson asked how he was doing. The teen sent a photo of him on the course. Jackson told him he wanted to see his face and sent a photo himself. The teen sent another picture.
“Mullet season, baby,” the teen messaged.
“Sexy, love it,” Jackson replied.
The teen later estimated in court that Jackson sent him 10-15 photos of his abdomen throughout their conversations. In mid-July 2022, the two started discussing the size of each other’s and other players’ genitals.
In court, the teen testified that he didn’t know what Jackson was talking about when those conversations began. The coach sent him photos of the view from his deck with numbers written on the photo. The teen said he thought Jackson meant how tall he was, but he soon understood the coach was referring to his genitalia.
“Stays between us,” Jackson wrote. “Fun to know though.”
Later, Jackson asked the teen how long it had been since he measured his genitals and told him to redo it soon. The defendant said he wanted to see proof, too. At this point, the teen began to take screenshots of the conversations that were later shown in the courtroom. Weyrich asked him why he captured the images.
“Some of the stuff he was sending me, it just felt like it was not right,” the teen said in court.
From there, Jackson and the teen’s conversations shifted to Snapchat. They communicated daily for a time. The teen said Jackson began to ask for more pictures of his abs, told him to re-measure his genitals and a couple of times asked for a video of him masturbating. The teen said he never did.
There weren’t any screenshots of the Snapchat messages. The teen explained that the application would have notified Jackson that a screenshot was taken, and he didn’t want the coach to know he was feeling weird.
‘You’re laughing and he’s laughing’
After a few more questions from prosecutors, Jackson’s defense attorney, Brett Purtzer, began his cross examination. He went through the time frame that the teen met Jackson and began communicating with him electronically.
The teen agreed that in initial conversations over text, Jackson was telling him what he needed to do to get better as a basketball player and eventually make the varsity team.
Purtzer asked if that was also the context of his conversations with Jackson on Instagram. The teen agreed that the conversations were comparable.
The defense attorney said there was a period of time when they discussed genital size, but the attorney asked if Jackson was joking with emojis sent to him and vice versa.
“Sure,” the teen replied.
Purtzer said they were talking about another teammate who they were basically making fun of.
“You’re laughing and he’s laughing,” Purtzer said.
“Yeah.”
A short time later, Purtzer said that was a good place to stop his questions for the day. Court was adjourned, and the judge told jurors he would see them next week.
