West Seattle High School basketball coach charged with sexting student-athlete

SEATTLE — A 28-year-old Renton man and basketball coach at West Seattle High School was charged in King County Superior Court with communicating with a minor for immoral purposes.

In investigation documents, police said Michael D. Gutierrez sent inappropriate messages to two student-athletes on the app Snapchat.

He is charged for messages sent to one of them.

According to police, Gutierrez added several high school students he coached on Snapchat in March 2017.

Around June 2017, police said, Gutierrez began sending messages to one of the student-athletes.“(The victim) continuously received inappropriate message(s) from Gutierrez saying things like, your butt grew, I want to kiss you, I just want to date you, and will you come stay in a hotel with me,” a Seattle Police Department officer wrote in a probable cause document.

Police said that, in the summer of 2018, Gutierrez invited the victim to come to the school gym to work out and said other students would be there.

Other students were not present at the workouts and police said Gutierrez slapped the victim on the buttocks, which made her feel uncomfortable.

Scroll down to continue reading

More news from KIRO 7

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE NEWS APP 

According to a probable cause document, the victim then began inviting another student to the workouts to prevent Gutierrez from inappropriately touching her.

Around January 2019, Gutierrez called the victim into his office for a grade review.

Police said Gutierrez grabbed the victim, gave her a hug and said, “Just kiss me” before grabbing her buttocks over her clothing.

The victim told officers she had to move her head around to avoid being kissed by Gutierrez and said she did not have any of the inappropriate Snapchat messages he sent because they disappear after they are viewed.

On Feb. 22, the girl who joined the first victim during the workouts told police she had been communicating with Gutierrez on Snapchat since summer 2018.

The second girl said that, on two separate occasions, Gutierrez had sent her messages saying he wanted to kiss her and she had responded by saying she was too young, police documents show.

In court documents, police said the second victim told them, “Gutierrez did not send her many inappropriate messages because she tends to be very direct and standoffish.”

The school’s athletic director, Corey Sorenson, confirmed that on March 30, 2018, he learned that Gutierrez was communicating with students through social media in violation of school policy stating that staff members are not to use social media to contact students.

Cox Media Group