PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — A former Sumner basketball coach appeared in court Thursday as he faces charges, including rape and molestation.
Jacob Jackson, the former head basketball coach for Sumner High School, is charged with 20 counts of rape, molestation, communication with a minor for immoral purposes, indecent exposure, kidnapping and sexual exploitation, involving eight boys.
According to court documents that KIRO 7 News received, the alleged incidents go as far back as 2018, involving boys as young as 14 years old.
The records accuse Jackson of using his role as a head coach to perform sexual activities with players and lure players into sending him inappropriate photos and messages.
On Thursday, three people took the stand, including the school’s resource officer, an investigator with the prosecutor’s office, and one of the alleged victims.
The student said his conversations with his former coach started off casual, talking about basketball and how he could improve as a player, but that conversation slowly changed.
“They definitely got weird as time went on from text message to Instagram. It definitely threw me off a little bit,” he said. “Eventually, it went to Instagram and then our text finally ended using Snapchat.”
“I would try to keep our conversations vague. I wouldn’t text as much. I felt like the stuff he was saying was weird. I didn’t tell anyone,” he added.
Deputy prosecutor Richard Weyrich with the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, showed conversations between the alleged victim and his former coach on Instagram.
However, the defense attorney, Brett Purtzer, said during the opening statement that there was no evidence of sexual conversations and photos on Snapchat to support the alleged victims’ accusations.
“One part that is universal is that these boys saying all this stuff occurred on Snapchat, but nobody else saw it. Nobody else saw what these boys are talking about,” he said.
Purtzer added that Jackson’s efforts were aimed at building team chemistry with his players while helping them reach the next level of basketball.
“You will see involvement coach Jackson had in them in those levels, helping them be recruited by schools,” he added.
The trial is scheduled to continue Monday morning.
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