Teen Charged For Raping Special Ed Student At Roosevelt High School

Two weeks after KIRO News aired a story on registered sex offenders enrolled in schools around Washington State, King County prosecutors have charged an 18-year-old Roosevelt High School junior—who, court records say, is a registered sex offender—for allegedly raping a special education student in a school bathroom.
Prosecutors allege that "in recent weeks," Jose Rafael Reyes—was court records say was previously convicted of "indecent liberties with force" in 2008, when he was just 15, and is a level 2 registered sex offender—began a "dating relationship" a 14-year-old special education student at Roosevelt.
Court documents say on May 18th, Reyes and the girl skipped class and met outside the school, "where they kissed." Reyes "kept asking [the girl] to go in one of the school bathrooms so they could do more touching and finally she consented," records say.
Reyes then allegedly accompanied the girl into a stall in a women's bathroom inside the school and digitally penetrated her.
Court documents say the girl asked Reyes to stop when he began hurting her, but he ignored her pleas and "kept penetrating her against her wishes" for about five minutes.
"He only stopped when someone entered the bathroom," court records say. "Once the bathroom was clear they both left and went back to class."
The girl told a school counselor about the incident two days later, and police arrested Reyes.
Reyes later admitted to police the girl had told him to stop, but claimed she "simply wanted him to stop because she was concerned about getting caught."
Last month, Seattle public schools spokeswoman Patti Spencer told KIRO the district creates a "safety plan" for sex offenders enrolled in the district and provides extra monitoring.
“We do have a very strong process, procedure, plan, and monitoring in place," Spencer told KIRO. "There are a very small number of these students in the district and we absolutely stay on top of monitoring to provide a safe and secure environment for every student.”
According to KIRO's story, Seattle school district officials say there are only nine sex offenders in the district. However, the district's list does not appear to include Reyes.
Although the enrolled sex offender list provided to KIRO references offenders at Cleveland, Rainier Beach, Ingraham, and West Seattle high schools, Reyes' school, Roosevelt, is not included in the list.
The school district has not yet responded to a request for comment to explain the possible discrepancy. Additionally, Reyes' information in King County Sheriff's office sex offender registry indicates he resides in Kent, potentially making him ineligible to attend a Seattle school.
According to the King County Sheriff's office, level 2 sex offenders have a "moderate risk of re-offending."
They generally have more than one victim and the abuse may be long term. These offenders usually groom their victims and may use threats to commit their crimes. These crimes may be predatory with the offender using a position of trust to commit their crimes. Typically these individuals do not appreciate the damage they have done to their victims.
Reyes is currently being held in the King County Jail on $100,000 bail. Court documents also say Reyes is "likely facing revocation of his 65-week suspended sentence" for his previous conviction.