UPDATE:
All charges were dropped in January 2017. The State was unable to proceed with their case because of evidentiary considerations.
ORIGINAL STORY:
A teacher and coach at Bellevue Christian School has been charged with child molestation.
Prosecutors said Ed Sloan, 45, molested a 13-year-old student in 2012. Sloan is a science and shop teacher for junior high and high school students. He also coaches track and cross country.
According to court documents, the teen and her parents reported the inappropriate touching to school administrators in 2012.
A relative said administrators did not take action and "swept it under the rug," according to investigation documents.
On Friday an attorney working with the victim's family said they are requesting privacy.
"It's a very emotional time for them, a very tough time," attorney Sim Osborn said. "This school failed these children horribly."
Osborn said that according to charging documents Bellevue Christian School administrators failed to follow the state's mandatory reporting law by not contacting police.
"Mandatory reporters are teachers, health care workers, nurses, doctors, mental health counselors - anyone who is in a position of authority over children has a duty to report suspected physical abuse, sexual abuse or any type of abuse against and child and to not do so is a criminal offense," he said. "It is a gross misdemeanor."
Osborn says current and former staff members who knew about the abuse claims could be charged with failure to report.
Osborn also expects the list of victims to grow as police continue to investigate.
"That school failed to protect not only this child, but other children as well," he said. "It is inexcusable."
In 2012 the girl switched schools and contacted Clyde Hill police in January 2016. Detectives began investigating.
As part of the investigation, detectives found that Sloan's employee file in the superintendent's office contained numerous documents outlining allegations of "improper touching and conduct against students by Ed Sloan dating back to 1999,” according to court documents.
Investigators followed up with victims who complained to administrators in 1999 and 2004. According to the police investigation, Bellevue Christian School did not report the child molestation claims to police, which is mandatory.
Detectives spoke to the former principal of Bellevue Christian Junior High. According to charging documents, she told them she remembered Sloan's reaction to an incident in 2004 saying the girls were "liars, storytellers and fabricators."
The former principal says she told a previous superintendent and told investigators the whole thing was "whitewashed."
Bellevue Christian School sent an email to the parents of current students. Tim Krell, interim superintendent of Bellevue Christian School, released a statement through a public relations company.
"We take this situation very seriously and we are cooperating fully," Krell wrote. “The safety and security of our Bellevue Christian School community is priority number one."
Read his full written statement below.
According to court documents, Sloan hired an attorney when he found out he was under investigation by Clyde Hill Police and has still not spoken to investigators. Sloan is on administrative leave and will not return to the school next year.
KIRO 7 went to his home in South Seattle to see if Sloan had a comment. No one was home.
Sloan is scheduled to be arraigned for second degree child molestation on June 22.