Breaking: On April 6, 2026 Lake Stevens School District agreed to pay Mark Hein’s victim - Kalynn Taber, now…

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LAKE STEVENS — A high-stakes interview between the woman suspected of abusing four toddlers and a dete…

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Amid rapid growth, with grant funding doubling from $922 million in 2019-2020 to over $1.8 billion in 2023-2024, D…

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KING COUNTY — Decades before they were partners in a taxpayer-funded kickback scheme, Willard Jimerson and David Heppard were neighbors in a different sort of institution: the McNeil Island Corrections Center. Both men had entered the prison system as teenagers for violent crimes that shocked the region. By 2020, however, they had reinvented themselves as “credible messengers”—mentors with lived experience hired to steer at-risk youth away from gun violence.

King County embraces redemption stories, of course, so placing Jimerson — convicted of murdering a 14 year old girl — in a role overseeing grants for the Regional Peacekeepers Collective, a high-profile youth violence prevention fund, was an on brand decision for the county in the post-2020 landscape. At the time, voters were shoveling money out of their checking accounts and into public coffers at an unprecedented rate.

In King County, publicly-initiated Youth and Family Support Services levies approved self taxation to the tune of almost two billions dollars over six years, beginning with 2021’s Prop. 1 which launched the county’s Best Start for Kids funding mechanism. At the time of its passage, this measure was estimated to generate $872 million in just six years.1 Elected officials, always eyeing polls and term horizons, did not want that money collecting dust. They wanted it out the door.

And so the rush to distribute the first tranche of what would become almost two billion dollars in public largesse began. The criminality and nihilistic community self-cannibalization that occurred next is hard to fathom.

Hit the jump to learn how a murderer siphoned $4.8 million in county funds meant for kids to a convicted rapist in exchange for kickbacks….and almost got away with it.

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Notes from J425 video slideshow : Investigative reports from J425 (see above) reveal a burgeoning scandal involving Tyran Stokes, the nation’s top-ranked high school basketball recruit, and his controversial transfer to Rainier Beach High School. While Seattle Public Schools officially attributed the move to a family relocation, evidence suggests the athlete was actually pushed out of his previous California school following multiple physical altercations and a football-season suspension.

The district is accused of omitting this violent disciplinary history from mandatory eligibility forms to bypass state regulations that would otherwise sideline the star.

These "lies of omission" are particularly significant because the school district is already on probation for previous recruiting violations and administrative dishonesty. If the state athletic association confirms these findings, both the player and the team face severe penalties, including a one-year ban and the forfeiture of games. Ultimately, the sources describe a systemic failure of institutional integrity and a pattern of deception by local athletic officials.

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Yesterday’s J425 report detailed how Seattle Public Schools secured Tyran Stokes’ athletic eligibility by providing false and/or incomplete information and omitting a history of disciplinary incidents in California that led up to Stokes leaving Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, CA for Rainier Beach, 1100 miles north.

Stokes, a 6’7 235 pound nativ…

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SEATTLE, WA – Tyran Stokes, the consensus No. 1 basketball recruit in the Class of 2026, is currently leading the state’s top-ranked Rainier Beach Vikings (12-1) under a grant of full athletic eligibility that was obtained via a registration process plagued by dishonest or incomplete information and the systematic omission of the recent violent disciplinary history that compelled the move out of California.

A J425 investigation has confirmed that Stokes’ sudden departure from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks was not a routine family move, as reported to state regulators, but a forced exit triggered by multiple physical altercations and an impending removal from campus.

The Sherman Oaks Shutdown

While Seattle Public Schools (SPS) officials presented Stokes’ transfer as a “bona fide change of residence” compelled by his mother’s new job, the reality on the ground in Southern California was far more volatile. Sources with direct knowledge of the incidents confirm that Stokes was facing a “mutual parting of ways” after a series of escalating disciplinary issues.

The breaking point occurred in late October 2025, when the 6’7”, 240-pound forward engaged in two physical altercations within two weeks:

• The Senior Brawl: A serious exchange of blows with a senior student in which “blows were exchanged and landed”.

• The Freshman Scuffle: A physical confrontation with a 14-year-old freshman—the

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“Your dumbass daughter just got me hit again. She gave the plug all my money and two of my watches and only got a f-cking boat (referring to 1,000 fentanyl pills),” Marquis “Bounce” Jackson barked at his father, Mandel Jackson, in a call Feds intercepted after a botched Arizona drug deal.

Mandel relayed the news to his wife Marty Jackson in the background.

“She done gave the plug all the money and two watches and got out with one boat…(pause)…. I know babe.”

“She don’t know what the fuck,” Marty Jackson said of her daughter. “She don’t do that type of shit”.

Background: After Seattle Public Schools kicked police off campus in 2021, they turned to community activists and non-profits to provide campus security. One such contractor was Marty Jackson, the daughter of former board member Betty Patu, brother of former Roosevelt coach Saul Patu. Jackson and her “Be Safe Bros” team provided youth safety services at Rainier Beach and Garfield High Schools — until, that is, Marty was arrested and federally indicted in a multinational drug trafficking prosecution in October, 2024. While collecting public funds to protect kids, she was actually running a guns and drugs cartel out of her home, and Feds say three generations (and all five living at her Kent address) of the Jackson family are responsible for an “immense” fentanyl trafficking org. This is the story of the indictment and of Marty Jackson’s past and current ties inside SPS. Next, we’ll cover the integration of a criminal organization into public non-profit work. - J425

MARICOPA COUNTY, AZ — The Arizona sun was still high over the Phoenix Marriott on August 9, 2024, when Miracle Patu-Jackson, daughter of Seattle non-violence activist Marty Jackson, pulled into the parking lot in a sleek black Porsche.

In the backseat: a small child, an innocent passenger in a luxury vehicle serving as courier for one of the Northwest’s most prolific fentanyl empires: the Jackson Drug Trafficking Organization.

Miracle, then 21, was the same woman who sat in Seattle Public Schools’ boardrooms advising on the $297-million design of a new Rainier Beach High School.

But today she was there to meet the fentanyl “plug”—a supplier with ties to the Mexican market. Miracle wasn’t pleased to be forced into action — her boyfriend had argued with Marquis Jackson, then 30, against using the family’s baby to conduct the major fentanyl deal. But Marquis insisted.

But by the time the Porsche’s engine cooled, Miracle had made a rookie mistake that would ripple through federal wiretaps and ignite a firestorm of familial criticism.

Miracle handed the plug the entire $50,000 buy-money plus two luxury watches upfront.

In exchange, she walked away with just a single “boat”—the street term for 1,000 fentanyl pills.

It was a move that prosecutors say proved she was “new to drug trafficking.” But it left her brother — the organization’s leader — Marquis Jackson, absolutely livid.

“Your dumbass daughter [Miracle] just got me hit again because she gave the plug all my money and two of my watches and only got a fucking boat (referring to 1,000 fentanyl pills),” Marquis barked at their father, Mandel Jackson, in a call intercepted shortly after the botched deal. Mandel is heard relaying the news to his wife Marty Jackson in the background.

“She done gave the plug all the money and two watches and got out with one boat…(pause)…. I know babe.”

In the background, the celebrated anti-violence activist Matelita “Marty” Jackson, could be heard excusing her daughter.

“She don’t know what the fuck,” Marty said of her dsughter. “She don’t do that type of shit”.

Mandel asked, “How much cheese she give him?” Marquis replied, “50.”

Tyrell Lewis, Miracle’s boyfriend, later told Mandel he wasn’t about to let her “handle this situation again”.

He noted that Miracle “doesn’t want to handle this” .

“I don’t know this plug but I know the game, and we usually try to keep family away from the plug,” Lewis said.

On the outside, Miracle was a member of the Rainier Beach High School design team.

Inside the three generation family business, she was a “dumbass” courier making rookie mistakes for an empire charged with interstate fentanyl and weapons trafficking.

But her courier work wasn’t done yet. And the decision to throw the baby in the mix would ultimately lead to the first domino falling in the federal takedown of the Jackson Drug Trafficking Organization

The next day, Marquis set up a deal with the source to bring the remainder of the pills from the prior deal. The source agreed.

Despite his criticism of her the day before, Marquis again wanted to put his little sister in the mix. He called Mandel and told him to tell Miracle to go meet with the plug. Minutes later, agents intercepted Mandel telling Miracle to “take care of business.”

Miracle and Tyrell jumped in the Black Porsche and met the plug. Thirty minutes later, Miracle parked the Porsche and wheeled a black roller suitcase up to their hotel room.

Agents say Miracle and Tyrell then counted the pills in the room because 15 minutes later, Marquis texted the source, claiming to have received just half of what he’d ordered.

Ten minutes later, Tyrell and Miracle left the hotel with the roller suitcase in tow. Shortly after, the cops pulled them over and obtained a warrant to search their vehicle. Inside the vehicle, cops found the roller suitcase stuffed with 100,000 fentanyl pills. An hour later, law enforcement intercepted a call between

Click through for the full, downloadable Third Superseding Indictment plus the details of Jackson influence on Seattle Public Schools and a preview of our next installment.

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A Nike-connected Seattle-area basketball trainer was granted access to the resources and trappings of a Seattle public high school, and next thing you know, parents were being charged $22,000 per year in tuition (to free public school) with the funds never showing up on SPS books, players were recruited from all over the world, McKinney-Vento homeless benefits abuse was used to circumvent state athletic eligiblity rules, the identities of uninvolved employees were hijacked and used to ghost-write emails and forge financial documents…and when a whistleblower brought it to light, she lost her job…the basketball agent walked away scott free…and the principal running the school took a $200K hush money payment from the district and exited stage right. It’s like all the greatest hits of Seattle Public Schools athletics. And this story broke this year — in 2025 — and we bet this is the first you’re hearing of it. This is part three in our ongoing look at the corruption inside Seattle Public Schools. Please check out the full story here and consider subscribing.

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Previously:

Forgery, impersonation, fraud. Abuse of homeless student programs. Six figure hush-money payouts. Local fraudsters feasting on schools and walking away scot-free. The Alan Sugiyama High School/Great Futures Prep scandal is the prototypical Seattle Public Schools scandal, complete with the unsatisfying conclusion.

SEATTLE, 2024 — …

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J425 exclusive, Part 2 in our series on the Crisis in Accountability in Seattle Public Schools. Read the Jackson Crime Family story here.

Marty Jackson and Saul Patu are the children of a respected Seattle Public Schools board member. Until 2024, the siblings held places of esteem in the community and places of trust inside Seattle Public Schools.

A year ago, things quickly unraveled as Jackson was arrested and charged for running an international drug and weapons ring out of her Renton residence, using her non-violence non-profit as a front for laundering criminal profits. The drugs pedaled by her org had recently left four dead in the Lummi Nation, and a 17-year-old Garfield student was shot to death on campus while Jackson’s org was entrusted with the safety of students instead of police.

Meanwhile, Saul Patu was running an illicit recruiting ring with former Seahawk Sam Adams at SPS’ Roosevelt High School. At least 18 players were plucked from area schools with promises of scholarships and other enticements.

One such benefit was “the kennel”, a classroom repurposed as a football-only social club where athletes could while away the day. Patu received $160,000 in payments from a sole-source contract awarded for running the Kennel.

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Previously:

RAINIER VALLEY - In Seattle, few families were as deeply embedded in the mission to protect and mentor the city’s youth as the Jackson/Patu family. Led by a brother-sister duo, they were celebrated figures in public schools and community services, seen as guardians against the very dangers that plague urban communities.

Matelita “Marty” Jackson was the beloved anti-violence activist, the “Auntie of South Seattle,” contracted by the city to create safe spaces for children. Her brother, Saul Patu, was the respected high school football coach, molding young athletes into men.

Listen to the J425 Podcast on the Jackson Crime Family

But a darker, shocking reality has violently torn through that public facade. In a stunning turn of events, federal investigators indicted Marty Jackson for her alleged role in a multi-state fentanyl trafficking ring linked to fatal overdoses.

At the same time, a massive scandal exposed her brother, Saul, as a central figure in an illegal recruiting scheme that taught student-athletes how to cheat the system by fraudulently claiming to be homeless.

This is the story of a devastating betrayal. It unravels the disturbing duality of a family that built a legacy on public service while allegedly operating a criminal enterprise in the shadows.

It is a case study in how systems designed to protect the most vulnerable youth—those at risk of violence and those experiencing homelessness—were allegedly exploited for personal and criminal gain, shaking the foundations of trust in Seattle Public Schools and the communities they swore to protect.

“Auntie of South Seattle” or International Drug Kingpin?

Matelita “Marty” Jackson cultivated an esteemed public persona as a pillar of her community. A feature in the South Seattle Emerald portrayed her as a lifelong servant of South Seattle, the executive director of the SE Network SafetyNet, and a figure so trusted by the youth she worked with that they called her “Auntie Marty.”

She was, in her own words, “motivated by love.” Her signature initiative, the city- and county-funded “Safe Passage Program,” established “Community Healing Spaces” in areas notorious for gun violence, aiming to bring a positive presence to police-designated “hot spots.” (All too often her own healing spaces became bullet-ridden crime scenes. Why a supposed non-violence organization was constantly getting shot up is a question that probably should’ve been asked.)

The criminal allegations against her

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RAINIER VALLEY - The world’s best high school basketball player shows up at Seattle’s Rainier Beach on the eve of the 2025-26 hoops season. Two weeks earlier, he’d withdrawn from a California prep school after a series of suspensions and fights. Seeking somewhere to play, an agent steered him towards the Rainier Valley public school...and a district already on the edge of collapse from a series of ongoing athletic corruption crises.

The world’s best high school basketball player shows up at Seattle’s Rainier Beach on the eve of the 2025-26 hoops season. Two weeks earlier, he’d withdrawn from a California prep school after a series of suspensions and fights. Seeking somewhere to play, an agent steered him towards the Rainier Valley public school...and a district already on the edge of collapse from a series of ongoing athletic corruption crises.

And yet seemingly, special benefits were provided to Stokes, who began playing immediately, even as local students who transferred using the WIAA’s proscribed system, sat on the bench watching, paying a price of 40% of the season’s games. With the WIAA and the world watching and a high-profile, likely ineligible player suiting up, what’s next? Part 1 in a J425 series on the crisis of accountability in Seattle Public Schools athletics looks at the transfer of Tyran Stokes.

And yet seemingly, special benefits were provided to Stokes, who began playing immediately, even as local students who transferred using the WIAA’s proscribed system, sat on the bench watching, paying a price of 40% of the season’s games. With the WIAA and the world watching and a high-profile, likely ineligible player suiting up, what’s next? Part 1 in a J425 series on the crisis of accountability in Seattle Public Schools athletics looks at the transfer of Tyran Stokes.

https://www.thejournal425.com/p/likely-ineligible-five-star-hooper

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UPDATED Jan 14, 2026 — J425 has published stories on 1/13 and 1/14 reporting on the emerging problems with the Stokes transfer. At the same time, we’ve since answered some of the questions in this initial story. Updates in italics, original report will remain unchanged. - Kev 1/14/26 11:01 pm.

RAINIER VALLEY, WA - Last month, the nation’s most highly-r…

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SEATTLE, WA — “A dangerous precedent” that suggests major rules infractions can be mitigated through the threat of legal action.” That’s what the state’s leading high school football coaches are calling a state board’s recent decision to rescind penalties handed out to the coaches and administrators responsible for the Roosevelt recruiting scandal.

The Washington State Football Coaches Association (WSFCA) published a Formal Letter of Concern yesterday, critiquing the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) board’s decision to reduce penalties against coaches and administrators involved in illegal recruiting at Roosevelt High School.

The decision is, the WSFCA argues, a retreat from accountability so profound that it risks damaging the integrity of high school football in Washington State.

The penalties in question were handed down in June, after a widespread recruiting scandal at former head coach Sam Adams’ Roosevelt’s football program, where a WIAA fact-finder determined there were multiple “willful and blatant violations” involving the illegal recruitment of at least 18 prominent football players ahead of the 2024 season.

The fact-finding report found that coaches Sam Adams and Saul Patu convinced players to transfer to Roosevelt by offering improper inducements - including the promise of college scholarships and access to a football players-only on-campus facility — as well as by disparaging their existing coaches and programs.

The incoming players used false addresses and employed “coached” language to fraudulently claim homeless status under the federal McKinney-Vento Act to gain immediate eligibility.

Obtaining fraudulent homeless status for the transfers was a strategy deployed by Adams and Patu in order to leverage the act’s federal regulations that, among other things, remove barriers of access between homeless students and extracurricular activities.

This circumvented rules like the WIAA’s one-year waiting period for elective athletic transfer students, which would’ve otherwise applied1.

Original sanctions included $2,500 fines and one-year suspensions for Adams and Patu, along with Assistant Coach Dom Skene, Roosevelt Athletic Director Danny Thompson, and others.

These penalties, the WSFCA stated, were “critical in sending a clear message” that illegal recruiting is “non-negotiable”.

Yet, after appeals in September 2025, the WIAA Board voted to rescind the personal fines and suspensions for the implicated coaches and the athletic director.

This reduction in these penalties, the letter claims,

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“Roosevelt’s missteps are significant. The violations impacted a substantial number of football players and the following factors must be considered when determining a penalty: The lack of cooperation of Roosevelt staff, the violation of WIAA rules, the issues of fraud in the McKinney Vento federal homeless student program, the violation of the district’s own policies and procedures, disregard for the Seattle Student’s Athletic Handbook and for the lack of acknowledgement of the violations.” - WIAA Fact Finder Report

RENTON — The fines and penalties levied against former Roosevelt football coaches Sam Adams, Saul Patu and Dom Skene for recruiting violations were rescinded by vote of the WIAA Board late last month after the coaches and school athletic director at the center of the investigation appealed at a September 29 meeting.

The three coaches faced $2,500 fines and one year suspensions tied to multiple serious recruiting violations and WIAA/Seattle Public Schools policy violations documented in a 2025 report investigating the recruitment of at least 18 football players prior to the 2024 season.

While choosing not to contest the report’s findings or the penalties assessed against students and the school, the coaches all wanted their personal sanctions dropped: Adams said he’d been slandered and that he’d not done anything wrong. Patu said he’d never been given evidence that recruiting occurred; and that he’d referred any recruiting decisions to Adams.

The board also voted to drop the fines and penalties against Roosevelt Athletic Director Danny Thompson, who retained legal counsel and appealed his $2,500 fine and suspension on the grounds that he’d just been hired and the school district failed to properly train him.

Given the credibility of the report compiled by a respected Vancouver area attorney, the mountains of direct evidence culled from investigations with witnesses, students and parents and the multi-month duration of the recruiting violations – the excuses given beggar belief.

The WIAA board has not detailed their reasoning in letting off the adults responsible for the scandal without either overturning the findings or prompting those responsible into accepting responsibility, much less fully complying with the probe itself.

How We Got Here: Fact Finder Report Reveals Complete Systemic Failure (June 2025)

An independent fact finder recommended the exceptional fines and suspensions for the aforementioned coaches and AD after an independent report found that “the Roosevelt coaches made offers and inducements to football players and their families to attend Roosevelt in violation of WIAA rules and the policies of Seattle Public Schools.”

According to the 47-page report published after five-plus months of investigation: “multiple individuals interviewed for the fact-finding named Saul Patu and Sam Adams as the coaches offering the transfer inducements.”

Further, the report concludes that the transfer athletes used false addresses to establish residency and fraudulently completed federal homeless program documents in a manner suggesting that students were “coached” on how to register as McKinney Vento students.

From the investigatory report:

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“Roosevelt’s missteps are significant. The violations impacted a substantial number of football players and the following factors must be considered when determining a penalty: The lack of cooperation of Roosevelt staff, the violation of WIAA rules, the issues of fraud in the McKinney Vento federal homeless student program, the violation of the district’s own policies and procedures, disregard for the Seattle Student’s Athletic Handbook and for the lack of acknowledgement of the violations.” - WIAA Fact Finder Report

RENTON — The fines and penalties levied against former Roosevelt football coaches Sam Adams, Saul Patu and Dom Skene for recruiting violations were rescinded by vote of the WIAA Board late last month after the coaches and school athletic director at the center of the investigation appealed at a September 29 meeting.

The three coaches faced $2,500 fines and one year suspensions tied to multiple serious recruiting violations and WIAA/Seattle Public Schools policy violations documented in a 2025 report investigating the recruitment of at least 18 football players prior to the 2024 season.

While choosing not to contest the report’s findings or the penalties assessed against students and the school, the coaches all wanted their personal sanctions dropped: Adams said he’d been slandered and that he’d not done anything wrong. Patu said he’d never been given evidence that recruiting occurred; and that he’d referred any recruiting decisions to Adams.

The board also voted to drop the fines and penalties against Roosevelt Athletic Director Danny Thompson, who retained legal counsel and appealed his $2,500 fine and suspension on the grounds that he’d just been hired and the school district failed to properly train him.

Given the credibility of the report compiled by a respected Vancouver area attorney, the mountains of direct evidence culled from investigations with witnesses, students and parents and the multi-month duration of the recruiting violations – the excuses given beggar belief.

The WIAA board has not detailed their reasoning in letting off the adults responsible for the scandal without either overturning the findings or prompting those responsible into accepting responsibility, much less fully complying with the probe itself.

How We Got Here: Fact Finder Report Reveals Complete Systemic Failure (June 2025)

An independent fact finder recommended the exceptional fines and suspensions for the aforementioned coaches and AD after an independent report found that “the Roosevelt coaches made offers and inducements to football players and their families to attend Roosevelt in violation of WIAA rules and the policies of Seattle Public Schools.”

According to the 47-page report published after five-plus months of investigation: “multiple individuals interviewed for the fact-finding named Saul Patu and Sam Adams as the coaches offering the transfer inducements.”

Further, the report concludes that the transfer athletes used false addresses to establish residency and fraudulently completed federal homeless program documents in a manner suggesting that students were “coached” on how to register as McKinney Vento students.

From the investigatory report:

“Roosevelt’s safeguards failed at every level.

Rule violations occurred at the point of student registration, when students used invalid addresses and misused the McKinney Vento program.

Rules used for athletic directors to verify the legitimacy of transfers failed when Roosevelt accepted incomplete registration packets.

Roosevelt coaches failed by complicit behavior regarding recruitment of football players.

Further, once students enrolled, coaches and the athletic director failed to hold athletes accountable by checking grades and attendance to ensure athletes remained eligible to compete.”

The fact-finder provides one example of a transfer student compiling over 40 absences and 60-plus tardies in just a portion of the initial semester.

“Finally, Roosevelt administrators failed to manage, supervise and respond effectively to inquiries from staff, students and other coaches concerned with violations of federal law, district policy and school procedures.”

These findings resulted in the recommendation of the most serious “Level 3” penalties against the involved coaches and administrators, resulting in $2,500 fines against the coaches and administrators paired with one-year suspensions for the coaches and three year probation periods for the administrators.1

The findings and recommended penalties were approved by the WIAA board last June, after a five month investigation that concluded Adams and his staff willfully and repeatedly breached WIAA recruiting regulations and failed to self-report or correct the violations when presented with the opportunity.

Deflect, Deny, Make Counter-accusations: Coaches and Administrators Reject Personal Responsibility

At the September WIAA board meeting, appellants in the Roosevelt matter divided into two camps: the Seattle School District and district athletic director Pat McCarthy; and Roosevelt coaches and athletic director Danny Thompson.

A lawyer for the Seattle School District opened by informing the board that the district accepted the fact-finder’s report and the responsibility for the violations. The district would not contest the institutional penalties, forfeitures, probations or the suspension from postseason2.

Further, the district argued that its administrator, Athletic Director Pat McCarthy should have his violations rescinded as he was only “mentioned briefly in the fact-finding report.”

District Appoints New Figure to Oversee Athletics

In a related matter, the district told the board that McCarthy no longer directly oversaw athletics: effective immediately, Assistant Superintendent for Accountability Ted Howard told the board that he’d been tasked with overseeing athletics, reporting directly to the superintendent. Howard added that this was a major change in the overall athletic culture of the district.

In contrast, the coaches and building AD Danny Thompson rejected responsibility and pointed fingers at the district. And despite choosing not to challenge the findings of the report, the coaches maintained they’d done nothing wrong and instead had suffered slurs, false accusations and/or defamatory attacks as a result of the investigation.

J425 has published eight stories detailing the recruiting activities of the aforementioned coaches, including specific accusations against Adams levied by former players and parents. J425 approached Adams for comment and response to our stories. Adams did not respond, nor did he contest our published accounts, nor did he ever request a correction to the record – all of which are the necessary steps one must take before bringing forth a reputational lawsuit.

Despite pledging cooperation and agreeing to the scope and procedure of the investigation in January, the investigation was hampered by delays and an ongoing refusal to provide key documents. At last month’s meeting, investigator Marilee Schofield told the board that Roosevelt was yet to provide any of the requested registration documents or email communication between the involved individuals.

Systemic Failure on Display

Thompson asked the WIAA board to rescind his fines in part because he wasn’t athletic director until two days before the football season, and because he wasn’t properly trained on SPS and WIAA regulations and procedures.

An attorney representing Thompson asked that the fee assessed to him be waived and other sanctions be reduced due to “lines of authority within SPS” and an overall lack of training provided to him on SPS and WIAA rules, regulations and procedures, particularly since he was hired for the position only two days prior to the opening of the football season.

Adams denied all allegations of “illegal recruiting” and asked the board to drop his fines due to “inaccuracies in the fact finding report, false accusations and slanderous comments”. Directing fire back at the district, Adams said that “any student that called or showed up at Roosevelt High School was sent to the district for clearance”.

Adams told the board that he has hired a lawyer to defend his character, particularly by allegations from anonymous sources. Adams represented himself at the appeal.

Assistant Coach Saul Patu, in turn placed blame on Adams, claiming that he “directed all WIAA eligibility questions to the head coach, collaborated with the head coach to confirm academic standing each grading period and referred all transfer inquiries to the head football coach – but provided no advice or inducements.

Attorney Vicki Curry addressed the board for Patu who was cited for improper recruiting and for running a private club for football players (known as “the Kennel”) out of a Roosevelt classroom – a service for which Patu’s non-profit received two $80,000 cash disbursements from a sole-source contract approved by former Roosevelt principal Tami Brewer.

Through Curry, Patu “requested reconsideration for allegedly violating four WIAA handbook rules, claiming that he was never provided with evidence to validate that any recruiting took place.”

Patu did not directly address the two $80,000 payments his non-profit was issued for operating “the Kennel” inside Roosevelt High School. The board minutes note that they obtained documentation substantiating that The Kennel was in fact created as a benefit specifically for football players.

Next up was Dom Skene, whose recruiting activity was documented in J425 reports, after area players submitted screen caps of direct messages sent by the former Roosevelt assistant. Skene did not appear in person, providing a letter to support his request for reconsideration of fines and suspensions assessed.

Before moving on to the board’s decision, it’s helpful to review the context in which the penalties against the coaches and AD were handed out.

The Origins of the Investigation

The investigation into alleged improper recruiting at Roosevelt was officially launched in late September of last year, after a WIAA member lodged an official complaint.

Documents show that Wesco’s Kamiak High School lodged a formal complaint with the WIAA, stating that a Kamiak football player had been approached by Roosevelt staff and enticed to transfer with offers of benefits and college scholarships.

Specifically, Kamiak asked the WIAA to look into Roosevelt connections with Ford Sports Performance and an on campus benefit known as “The Kennel”, which the complaint described as a private club for athletes. The WIAA and Roosevelt later agreed to a scoping of the inquiry that included probing FSP connections and looking into “The Kennel”.

The report found that FSP CEO Tracy Ford was aware of Adams’ recruiting violations and allowed his former employee Sam Adams access to athletes training at FSP. This was substantiated by interviews with parents and athletes who provided phone and social media records.

In October of 2024, J425 reported that a former Metro Offensive Player of the Year provided evidence that he was recruited to Roosevelt.

The player provided direct messages from former Coach Dom Skene and recalled phone calls from Sam Adams with the player and his mother. The player said Adams offered “an address, money and offers” in return for the player’s transfer. Also included: a prominent role on the FSP Blue Chip 7v7 team. The contact reported by J425 is just one of numerous instances recounted to the media by area players.

The WIAA report highlights multiple direct instances reported by parents, coaches and athletes. You can download your own copy of the 47-page investigatory report at the end of this article.

Bethel AD Presented Roosevelt with Plea to Stop Calling Students During School Day, List of Complaints from Area Coaches in Spring of 2024. This Information Wasn’t Welcomed or Acted Upon.

And then there’s the letter from Bethel Athletic Director Tyson Lowry, a damning compilation of evidence that was indisputably provided to Roosevelt Athletic Director Danny Thompson some six months before the football season in question, well before any hints of the scandal had gone public.

In the spring of 2024, Tyson Lowry, the athletic director at Bethel School District, sent Thompson, Roosevelt’s athletic director, a list of reports from coaches in his district citing evidence of recruiting.

Roosevelt football staff, Lowry wrote, were luring Bethel players and parents with the promise of college athletic scholarships, “telling players and parents they should have multiple offers right now and if they come to Roosevelt they will get those offers,” Lowry said.

Roosevelt football staff reportedly called students during school hours to entice them to transfer to the school, Lowry told Thompson, “telling kids to claim homeless and they will be fine.”

Thompson denied the accusations in his email response.

“It is very disappointing to be accused of illegal recruiting when Roosevelt can only service students who are placed through the enrollment process of Seattle Public Schools,” Thompson wrote.

“I would like this email to serve as Roosevelt High School’s first attempt to ask you to politely stop spreading false rumors about Roosevelt High School and our Sports Programs.”

The WIAA investigation substantiated Lowry’s complaint, finding that at least four Bethel players were recruited to Roosevelt ahead of the 2024 season.

And in each case, the players were instructed to represent themselves as homeless during registration, just as Lowry said in the email from the spring of 2024.

Obviously, this was the moment at which action could’ve and even should’ve rectified the situation before the worst of it occurred.

Instead of acting in response to a colleague’s private, good faith effort…Thompson rejected the right answer. One does not require any specialized training to know how to respond to a colleague approaching you not only with his own first-hand instances of Roosevelt recruiting his students, but also with an itemized list of complaints from numerous area coaches.

Ed. Note: So who is the benevolent actor here? Is it Bethel AD Lowry and the list of area coaches, whose names we do not know because even in the midst of having their own players stripped from their team by unscrupulous actors, they still chose to keep the matter out of public view, and in doing so, provide Roosevelt with an opportunity to right the ship?

Or do you believe the AD found culpable for level 3 recruiting violations, for manufacturing an end-to-end registration system that coached the students on applying for homeless status, for pushing back against well-meaning employee inquiries, for running implausibly thin internal investigations into the unprecedented levels of homeless football players arriving en masse, probes som obviously designed to justify their actions that its almost laughable.

In order to believe Adams’ protestations, one would have to believe all of the players are lying, and that Bethel AD fabricated a letter containing complaints and evidence from a list of area coaches, and that Lowry compiled the subterfuge in the Spring of 2024, months before the matter publicly surfaced.

Obviously, there is no reason to believe that a fellow athletic director and numerous area coaches decided to manufacture a detailed conspiracy against a fellow coach months before any violations had occurred. -KTH

WIAA Board Deliberates on Appeals

Before the board retired to consider the matter, their independent fact finder Marilee Scarborough added that the public records request she filed with SPS has yet to be received. Further, the board was provided documents indicating that The Kennel was initially developed for football players only.

After considering the matter, the board returned for a public vote. One member with Seattle School District ties recused themselves.

Initially, motions to drop the penalties against the Roosevelt leaders failed.

A blanket motion to rescind the fines assessed to Seattle Public Schools by board members Blakney and Kredit was voted down.

Next, Blakney and Kredit moved to change the violation from Level 3 to Level 2 and reduce the fine assessed to Seattle Schools AD Pat McCarthy to $1500.

The motion failed.

Board members Waterman and Blakney then tried a different tact, moving a proposal that rescinded fines levied against Roosevelt AD Danny Thompson, but also required him to undergo WIAA-proctored training regarding the handbook rules in question, and that he serve on two eligibility committee meetings. Upon fulfilling these requirements, Thompson’s three year probation could be waived upon completion.

The motion passed, after which the board moved through three identical motions for Adams, Patu and Skene.

WIAA Sept 29 Board Meeting Minutes

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Unanswered Questions Remain

Why the board was in such a rush to reduce the penalties of coaches who failed to take any personal responsibility for the violations they’d committed, and who – by rejecting the findings of the investigation – in effect were branding all of the students, parents, coaches and media who’d substantiated complaints against them liars.

At the end of the day, high school football isn’t that important. But honesty is important. Leadership is important. Modeling correct behavior is important.

By allowing the coaches and athletic director at the center of this scandal to both accept the core findings of the report while maintaining lack of guilt and dodging any personal financial responsibility, the board is simply underlining the theme present throughout the entire matter: the kids are products to be manipulated at the pleasure of the adults in leadership positions. Should any problems occur, the adults will of course avoid consequences, and the price will be paid by those they claim to serve.

The Roosevelt Scandal Reviewed in the Context of the Patu Family’s Parallel Issues at Garfield High School

Viewed against a backdrop of incessant scandal and an ongoing lack of responsibility at Seattle Schools, including the October 2024 arrest on Federal drug charges of the woman whose non-profit was hired at nearly $200k per year to replace the Seattle Police school resource officers pulled from Garfield high school after 2020.

Over at Garfield, Assistant Coach Saul Patu’s sister was arrested by Federal agentsjust one day after The Stranger reported that Seattle Schools was paying her almost $200K per year as a substitute for the duly sworn Seattle Police officers they’d removed from campus as part of the defund the police movement following 2020. The job Seattle Schools tasked her with: promoting non-violence and protecting students.

The charges federal agents arrested her and five other family members she lived with on: running a multistate fentanyl ring recently responsible for the death of four Lummi nation members. Patu’s sister was charged with laundering drug money through her non-violence charity and Patu’s nephew was charged with running the multi-state ring. From the KUOW report:

Saul Patu, the defensive coordinator for the Roughriders and a onetime candidate for Seattle City Council, is the son of longtime former Seattle School Board Member Betty Patu. The (Roosevelt recruiting scandal) was the second recent school district scandal for their family; the school district cut ties last year with the violence prevention program his sister Marty Jackson ran in several Seattle schools after she and several family members were indicted on federal drug trafficking charges.

So in summary, everything is upside down in Seattle. Adults lie to students and promise impermissible benefits that they don’t actually deliver on (none of the 18 received college scholarships), the students absorb the losses and the penalties after being tricked into non-sensical mid-year moves to a program controlled by their 7v7 coaches.

The adults reap the benefits: $80,000 annual cash disbursals for the wonderful service of taking a public resource and turning it into a Kennel for housing athletes while other kids go to school. And in case you think this corruption is a one off, the sister of the guy running the Kennel scam is getting $200k per year as a sick substitute for police – tasked with protecting Garfield students – all the while she uses this same non profit to launder the drug proceeds of the multistate lethal fentanyl ring she’s currently awaiting trial for.3

When the results of the investigation were made public last June, Seattle Schools quickly placed Roosevelt principal Tami Brewer on leave. Adams, Patu and company completely avoided any public explanation of their actions, they just disappeared. Athletic directors Thompson and McCarthy deflected, denied and made counter accusations.

In fact, the first time any of these adult leaders surfaced at all was in an attempt to make sure they wouldn’t have to pay the paltry $3500 fines levied against them for their Level 3 WIAA violations.

Those involved had been completely absent during the investigation. Despite agreeing to the scope and powers of the investigator prior to the fact-finding mission, those responsible for the rule breaking made themselves scarce when explanations and responsibility came due. In fact, McCarthy and Thompson stonewalled the investigation for months on end, refusing to turn over the key required documents and allowing personnel to delay or avoid interviews for almost five months.

Ultimately, the investigator was forced to complete her report without the requested materials and without the assistance promised by Seattle. Still, she found more than enough evidence to justify the Level 3 penalties against the major players involved, writing

“Roosevelt administrators and coaches are responsible for preventing violations, adhering to processes, and intervening to ensure compliance with WAA rules. If violations occur, their roles require action to stop violations from continuing. Roosevelt did not acknowledge violation of rules in response to multiple allegations of inappropriate recruiting of football players that occurred prior to initiation of this fact-finding. At no point in the fact-finding did anyone from Roosevelt or Seattle acknowledge a violation of WAA rules or Seattle’s policies and procedure.”

J425 has reached out directly to Assistant Superintendent Ted Howard, requesting an interview.

We’ll let you know what he says. See below to download a copy of the WIAA Fact Finder report.

WIAA Roosevelt Fact Finder Report

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Closing Paragraphs in WIAA Fact-Finder Investigation into Roosevelt Recruiting

The safeguards in Seattle’s policies and procedures, and WIAA rules are designed to prevent recruitment violations at every level. Roosevelt’s safeguards failed at every level.

Rules violations occurred at the point of student registration when students used invalid addresses, and misused McKinney Vento. Rules established for athletic directors to verify the legitimacy of transfer students failed by Roosevelt’s acceptance of incomplete New Student Packets. Roosevelt coaches failed by complicit behavior regarding recruitment of football players. Further, once students enrolled coaches and the athletic director failed to hold athletes accountable by checking grades and attendance to ensure athletes remain eligible to compete. Roosevelt administrators failed to manage, supervise, and respond effectively to inquiries from staff, students, and other coaches concerned with violations of federal law, district policies, and school procedures.

Student football players are not to blame. Students were pawns and victims, not co-conspirators. Every parent I spoke with wanted the best for their child. Parents received promises of better academic and athletic opportunities. Parents believed they were acting in their child’s best interest. Recruiting of football players to Roosevelt is evidence of a broken “selt-reporting” athletic honor system at multiple levels.

Roosevelt’s system failures allowed manipulation of the WIAA eligibility process in an attempt to achieve a superior football team.

A preponderance of the evidence indicates recruiting of football players to Roosevelt High School occurred in violation of WAA eligibility rules contained in WIAA 27.0.

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“Seattle individuals treated the fact-finding as an adversarial process, rather than one in which they had an obligation to provide documentation and to respond truthfully to questions.” - WIAA Fact-Finder Marilee Scarborough

SEATTLE — A state-appointed fact-finder issued a report substantiating allegations of improper recruiting and fraudulent registration practices tied to the Roosevelt High School football program last June, recommending a slate of serious financial and administrative penalties to district and building administrators as well as former Roosevelt head football coach Sam Adams and his staff.

The investigation found that Adams and his staff engaged in the improper recruiting of as many as 18 area football players, players the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) says were enticed to transfer to Roosevelt via a mix of impermissible campus benefits, promises of increased exposure and future college scholarships that largely failed to materialize.

The report painted a picture of a program and building lacking institutional control: impermissible benefits used to lure area players to Roosevelt, false residential info and fraudulent homeless benefit applications used to get around eligibility rules, booster clubs issuing sole-source payments to football coaches, who in turn oversaw players-only “Kennel” clubs where athletes watched wall-mounted big screen tvs, avoiding grade and attendance checks until the bell rang and practice began.

Administrators who assisted the malfeasance –or at least provided the necessary cover and on-the-record denials for the football program to proceed to the State Quarterfinals… as external allegations piled up.

As a result, an unprecedented slate of penalties and fines were recommended by the investigator and ultimately approved by the WIAA last June.

The sanctions include the following:

1. $2,500 fines issued to Roosevelt coaches, principal, athletic director, district director and to Seattle Public Schools Athletic Department

2. Roosevelt football program forfeiture of games for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons and returning any awards or trophies earned during those seasons.

3. One year suspension of football coaches

4. One year ban for Roosevelt post season play (2025-26 season) & three-year probation for the Roosevelt athletic programs, The Metro League and SPS athletics

5. All Roosevelt High School transfers must submit paperwork to the WIAA for review

6. Any past transfer who submitted false information must sit out one calendar year

On August 17, Seattle Public Schools appealed the sanctions and asked for reconsideration, per the WIAA appeals process. The most noteworthy request came from Seattle Schools Athletic Director Pat McCarthy, who, according to WIAA board meeting transcripts – did not contest the the fact-finder’s report, accepted responsibility for the violations and did not contest the institutional penalties, forfeitures, probations or the suspension from postseason – choosing instead to contest the individual fine levied against him in his role as AD.

A lawyer representing McCarthy questioned the authority of the WIAA Executive Board to assess fines to individuals and requested the removal of monetary penalties to individuals. Seattle Schools forwarded their belief that level three violations to administrators should not have been assessed at all, especially given their contention that Seattle Schools Athletic Director Pat McCarthy was mentioned only briefly in the fact-finding report.

Greg Narver, lead attorney for Seattle Public Schools (SPS) requested reconsideration of the WIAA Executive Board assessed fines to the Seattle Metro League and Pat McCarthy and stated that Seattle Schools hoped to return at a future time in order to potentially reduce penalties and suspensions based upon work done.

A lawyer for the district said Roosevelt coaches and administrators would appear separately, and that a decision on this appeal will be made by the WIAA at a later date. As of press time, no information regarding a WIAA conclusion has been made public.

“Seattle was uncooperative, non-responsive and defensive.”

Fact-finder report description of Seattle Schools disposition towards fact-finding effort

Despite McCarthy’s contention that he was barely mentioned, the fact-finder report issued by the WIAA last June outlined serious programmatic failures that fall under the purview of the district athletic director, first of which is the duty of WIAA member organizations to both self-report violations and comply with the requests of WIAA fact-finding initiatives. As the administrator responsible for overseeing athletics for Seattle Schools, McCarthy bears responsibility, and at the most basic level, that responsibility requires Seattle Schools and Roosevelt to cooperate with the inquiry.

And yet despite WIAA member schools’ duty to participate in mandated investigations, the fact-finder’s final report described institutional non-compliance at both the school and district level. Not surprising considering the attitude displayed by school leaders since the scandal’s inception. Consider Principal Tami Brewer’s response to the J425 story substantiated the improper recruiting last October.

In fact, the report stated Roosevelt and the Seattle School District ultimately completely failed to provide requested documents regarding transfer student enrollment, Kennel Club funding and policy documentation, and records relating to Tracy Ford and Ford Sports Performance.1

Further, the fact-finder revealed that Seattle did not provide any of the requested email correspondence for Roosevelt coaches or administrators (including the athletic director).

The lack of compliance with record requests combined with a series of deliberate delays in scheduling mandatory interviews resulted in an extraordinary on-the-record admonishment.

On March 24, almost four months after a fact-finding initiative was announced, and over six months after serious allegations of improper recruiting at Roosevelt arose, WIAA Executive Director Mick Hoffman wrote Seattle Schools Superintendent Brent Jones an extraordinary letter that both admonished the district for non-compliance with the investigation, and reminded Seattle Schools of the contractual duty of WIAA members to cooperate with such matters.

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