Prosecutors decline to charge Pierce County students suspected of sexual assault
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Prosecutors declined charges against four Bellarmine students citing evidence issues.
- Investigators reported witnesses refused statements and evidence remained third‑hand.
- Officials said the State will reconsider charges if new evidence emerges.
Thurston County prosecutors said Friday that they would not file criminal charges against four Bellarmine Preparatory School students police investigated for allegedly sexually assaulting another student during a sleepover in Tumwater.
“Due to evidentiary issues with the case, we will not be pursuing charges at this time,” Tara Tsehlana, a spokesperson for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said in an email to The News Tribune. “However, should further evidence become available, the State will re-review this case for charging at that time.”
The Tumwater Police Department referred the case to prosecutors in November but noted in a report that an investigator had a difficult time obtaining evidence. The victim and potential witnesses did not want to provide statements or evidence, and what authorities did have was “third hand” information from the school and friends of the suspects.
Tumwater and Tacoma police investigated the claims, which surfaced in October after staff at the school became aware of rumors that a 16-year-old student who lost a bet during a sleepover in September was forced to perform oral sex and was held down and molested with an object.
Bellarmine Preparatory School is a private Catholic, Jesuit college prep school located in Central Tacoma.
The school interviewed the students involved, and staff contacted the victim’s parents, who on Oct. 4 brought their son to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. Tacoma police spoke with the parents and the victim. Police reports indicate the victim stated he didn’t want his friends to get in trouble and that he willingly took part in what happened.
In interviews with the school, the victim reported that he was held down and didn’t want to participate, according to interview summaries included in a redacted Tumwater police report released to The News Tribune through a records request.
“[The victim] reported that he feels like he has to go along with peer pressure because they are his friend group and he doesn’t want to disappoint them,” the police report stated.
The interview summaries say one suspect admitted to the sex acts and said the victim said “no” at one point. Reports differed on whether the victim was clothed.
Students who were interviewed by the school about the incident and a student who approached police with an attorney to provide a statement gave different accounts of what led to the alleged sexual assault.
One described committing sex acts on the boy “because it was funny,” according to the Tumwater police report. Another reportedly said the victim lost a game of Cards Against Humanity and because of that they were given the option to perform oral sex for a few seconds or experience “typewriter,” which was described in reports as being hit in the chest on the ground. According to the police report, the victim told the school the group of boys were wrestling when someone underwent “typewriter,” and that he was then given the option to go through the same or perform the sex act.
The Tumwater police investigator reviewed Bellarmine’s investigatory documents and then followed up with the victim’s mother, who said her son was still reluctant to provide a statement, according to the investigator’s report. The investigator set up a time for the mother to come in and provide a cellphone and iPad to be searched for evidence Oct. 16, but the mother canceled.
The investigator then contacted Bellarmine to ask for contact information for all parents of the involved children. Police wrote in the report that on Nov. 10 an attorney for the school said it would not provide any further information without a court order.
The same month, the victim’s mother told police her son didn’t want to provide the cellphone and iPad to be searched, according to the police report. The mother reportedly said her son had questions about what providing a statement would entail. The report shows the investigator offered to discuss the process with him, but there was no response.
