BREAKING: Disgraced Teacher & Coach Julian Willis GUILTY of Felony Sex Crime Involving Minor Girl
Former Kamiak substitute can't escape DNA-link forged when victim led police to stain on classroom floor under the desk where Willis committed the sex crime...in the middle of a school day.
SNOHOMISH COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT — Julian Willis had already fled rape cases in three states and faced credible allegations of raping a patient in a convalescent home by the time he was brought on as an assistant football coach at Kamiak High School prior to the 2022 season.
But up until Tuesday, March 11, 2025, Willis had managed to avoid any criminal responsibility for a trail of sexual violence that scarred victims, families and communities across four western states and at least two decades.
In front of Judge George Appel, the disgraced football coach and substitute teacher pled guilty to one count of First Degree Sexual Misconduct involving a Minor, a charge that carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and a ten thousand dollar fine.
As a result of the conviction, Willis is also subject to mandatory lifetime sex offender registry.
Sentencing is set for April 15.
Willis entered his plea around 3:00 pm Tuesday, and by 4:10 pm Tuesday, Willis checked into Snohomish County Jail, where he remains Wednesday night, awaiting processing for the mandatory pre-sentencing investigatory report required for all felony sex crime convictions.
A corrections officer will interview Willis, conduct independent research and reach out to family, victims and experts before submitting the report prior to Willis’ April 10 sentencing.
A report compiled by the Mukilteo Police Department revealed that Willis previously fled rape charges in at least three states and stood credibly accused of raping a bed-ridden woman at an inpatient rehab facility.
At least two other area women have brought forward rape allegations.
A Path of Destruction
The 33-year-old Willis is a father with two children and remains married to a local realtor.
Keep reading through the jump to watch the TikToks Willis filmed inside Kamiak classrooms and to learn the details of his trail sex crimes across the Kamiak campus in 2022-23.
Willis used his real estate connection to commit his first alleged sex crime with the girl, picking her up off Casino Road and taking her to a condominium listing. Accessing the property via realtor credentials, Willis took the girl to the master bedroom and put her on the floor of the closet before launching into several painful attempts to have sex with the girl.
The harrowing, painful and disturbing circumstances of each of Willis’ sex crimes involving the minor student are detailed in previous reporting.
The crimes range from off site meet ups off Casino Road, to multiple brazen on campus instances in which Willis pulled his victim from class and attempted sex in classrooms, minutes before the next period was due to start. Around Kamiak, students came to know Willis as the substitute who’d film sexually suggestive TikTok dances from his assigned classroom, early on the days when he was set to substitute, in effect announcing his presence on campus.
Willis ultimately faced with a charge he couldn't escape when the 17-year-old victim led investigators to a stain on a classroom carpet where she said Willis had slopped his genetic material following his fourth attempt at sex with the girl. Police obtained a warrant, took the carpet to the state crime lab, and established a near-certain DNA link tying Willis to the crime.
The count tied to this date was ultimately the charge that Willis pled guilty to.
The fact that Willis escaped legal responsibility for the sexual crimes alleged across his past made it all but impossible for would-be employers to understand the type of man they were hiring.
The available information wasn’t great either. A spokesperson for the Mukilteo School District confirmed to J425 that they were aware that Willis had prior convictions for theft and domestic violence.
A series of protection orders were also readily apparent to anyone who conducted a cursory search. Regardless, the type of predator that was let loose on a student population of thousands didn’t become apparent until six plus months later, when Willis was placed on leave after Mukilteo Police Department opened an investigation into Willis’ alleged sex crimes against a minor student.
The investigation that followed revealed football coaches and players were aware Willis was involved with a minor student but failed to act for over four months. Even worse, Mukilteo police stated that the Kamiak Dean of Students and head football coach misled investigators about Willis’ sex crimes, covering up when and how staff first learned of Willis activity and lying about the source of the tip. The football coach was allowed to quietly resign without investigation, and Willis was placed on leave in early April 2023, where he remained until The Journal 425 broke the story that criminal investigators suspected the Kamiak coach and teacher of multiple felony sex crimes involving a student. Willis was fired hours after J425 went to press, and he was ultimately arrested in Lake Stevens in late June of 202, after preying on a Lake Stevens girl at an area grocery store.
Willis was released without charges three days later, and prosecutors took another couple months to get their case together, but in October of 2023, Willis was charged with three first degree counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. The charges sat in stasis, with Willis free awaiting a trial that was repeatedly delayed at the request of lawyers on both sides. Ultimately, Willis and prosecutors negotiated an agreed resolution, with Willis agreeing to a guilty plea on one felony count of first degree sexual misconduct involving a minor.
The fact that Willis escaped legal responsibility for the sexual crimes alleged across his past made it all but impossible for would-be employers to understand the type of man they were hiring.
The available information wasn’t great either. A spokesperson for the Mukilteo School District confirmed to J425 that they were aware that Willis had prior convictions for theft and domestic violence. A series of protection orders were also readily apparent to anyone who conducted a cursory search. Regardless, the type of predator that was let loose on a student population of thousands didn’t become apparent until six plus months later, when Willis was placed on leave after Mukilteo Police Department opened an investigation into Willis’ alleged sex crimes against a minor student.
![[UNLOCKED] JULIAN WILLIS ARRESTED IN LAKE STEVENS, CHARGED WITH SIX SEX CRIMES AGAINST A MINOR](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1300,h_650,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5796bef0-5b4b-4ee1-84b4-b25864a24a24_1280x720.png)
The investigation that followed revealed football coaches and players were aware Willis was involved with a minor student but failed to act for over four months. Even worse, Mukilteo police stated that the Kamiak Dean of Students and head football coach misled investigators about Willis’ sex crimes, covering up when and how staff first learned of Willis activity and lying about the source of the tip. The football coach was allowed to quietly resign without investigation, and Willis was placed on leave in early April 2023, where he remained until The Journal 425 broke the story that criminal investigators suspected the Kamiak coach and teacher of multiple felony sex crimes involving a student. Willis was fired hours after J425 went to press, and he was ultimately arrested in Lake Stevens in late June of 202, after preying on a Lake Stevens girl at an area grocery store.
Willis was released without charges three days later, and prosecutors took another couple months to get their case together, but in October of 2023, Willis was charged with three first degree counts of sexual misconduct with a minor.
The charges sat in stasis, with Willis free awaiting a trial that was repeatedly delayed at the request of lawyers on both sides. Ultimately, Willis and prosecutors negotiated an agreed resolution, with Willis agreeing to a guilty plea on one felony count of first degree sexual misconduct involving a minor.
Willis was released from Snohomish County Jail the day after his July 2023 arrest on five felony counts of minor-involved sex crimes. The charges came from Willis’ sexual predation of a minor student, whom Willis preyed on while working as an assistant football coach and substitute teacher at Mukilteo School District’s Kamiak High School in 2022.
The Journal 425 broke the story of Willis’ alleged sex crimes at Kamiak in May of 2023. Mukilteo School District fired Willis, who’d been on leave since the end of March, mere hours after the J425 story went live.
In Superior Court 1A, attorneys for Willis entered a negotiated guilty plea to one of the three felony counts of First Degree Sexual Misconduct with a Minor with which Willis was charged.
The guilty plea was tied to a charge that Willis was linked to via DNA, a match achieved by detectives after Willis’ victim drew a map for cops showing exactly where Willis attempted sex with her on top of a student desk, and precisely where Willis slopped his genetic material onto the classroom carpet, a mess he’d neglected to clean as he rushed the victim out the door minutes before students appeared for the next period’s class.
This disgusting anecdote — and the accurate map provided by the victim — led detectives directly to a splotch of carpet stains — the type of stains that become quite apparent under black light.
As students and teachers watched in shock, detectives yellow-taped off the portable classroom and left in search of a warrant. They returned hours later withg carpet knives and transportation. The stained carpet was rolled up, sent to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab, and when a near-certain match was achieved months later, Willis was effectively hemmed in on at least one count of felony sex crimes involving the minor girl.
But the wheels of justice turn slow, and sometimes not at all, so despite the fact that players and coaches within the Kamiak football program were aware of Willis alleged misconduct as early as November 2022, the predator was allowed to operate on campus until March 29, 2023 — during which Willis attempted sex with the minor girl at least three more times, while also dragging the student into a bizarre triangle involving a Kamiak staff member who admitted sexual relations with Willis. When Willis brought his minor victim around the adult staff member, the student told investigators that the staff member treated the girl with jealousy and spite. The girl told investigators that Willis was likely sleeping with the woman, a fact detectives later confirmed.
The lapse of leadership demonstrated by the female staffer who treated a child victim of a sex crime like competition was just one of several shocking lapses in responsibility at Kamiak High School while Willis was helping himself to students.
Following wide coverage of his sex crimes involving minors, Willis was caught preying on a 17-year-old Lake Stevens girl on Fathers Day in a Lake Stevens grocery store. Willis approached the girl numerous times in the store, telling the girl he “used to be a father” (he still is) and that he was divorced (he wasn’t, and still isn’t). The girl, who recognized Willis from J425 reporting, attempted to leave — but Willis followed her to her car…and then followed her in his car to a separate location. Eventually the girl got away.
The Lake Stevens Police Department led a multi-department raid the following day, arresting Willis in his Lake Stevens home. Mukilteo PD booked Willis into Snohomish County Jail on charges relating to the Kamiak sex crimes, and prosecutors asked the court to hold Willis over, reading into record a lengthy rap sheet that claimed Willis previously fled rape charges in three other states and was credibly accused of raping a bed-ridden convalescent in an inpatient rehab center. Ultimately, Willis was released without conditions after prosecutors failed to file charges within 72 hours.
“What I Want to Do…Will Get Us Both in Trouble” - Read J425’s Initial Reporting
Willis initially contacted and groomed his Kamiak victim — a volunteer trainer for the football team — via his role as an assistant football coach, approaching the girl at practices and games.
The girl initially assumed Willis mistook her for an adult or an outside athletic trainer.
But as he became more direct and flirtatious in his approaches, she told Willis that she was a 17-year-old senior at Kamiak.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Willis allegedly responded, before adding that she looked younger than a senior, as if that was a compliment.
The victim told detectives that he began to give her "looks" and size her up during football games, as if he was "curious" and wanted to get to know her "sexually."
Eventually the looks and flirting became less subtle: “What I want to do would get us both in a lot of trouble,” Willis reportedly told the girl, adding that he didn’t care and wanted to risk it, suggesting that they find a place outside of school to meet up.