Hein Files: So Here's the Weird Thing with That

Per an interview transcript, the teacher under investigation for sexual misconduct repeatedly rubbed the female detective's leg and rambled about "festering" attraction for students

Transcript of Kristin Parnell's Interview with Mark Hein

J425 Special Report: The Criminal Interview of Mark Hein

Editor’s Note: J425 returns to the Mark Hein investigation today. The complete transcript of Detective Kristin Parnell’s criminal interview of Mark Hein is included above.

This is our fourth report on the Lake Stevens High School math teacher/coach arrested January 25 on multiple counts of sexual misconduct involving minor students and booked into Snohomish County Jail. The charges were later dropped, and while law enforcement told J425 they intended to refile, no new charges have been filed.

J425 contacted the school district late last week and confirmed that Hein remains on paid administrative leave pending the completion of administrative investigations.

We heard from Lake Stevens Police as well, who confirmed that a criminal investigation is still ongoing.

Today’s story presentation includes graphic visualizations of statements pulled from Detective Parnell’s criminal interview of Mark Hein. This our attempt to help a fairly difficult bit of reporting become more accessible.

If all you do is scroll down and read the pull quotes, you’ll still get a good idea of the gist of the interview. Before you move on to the interview pull quotes though, consider this statement from a very influential player whom you’ll become more familiar with in following installments of J425’s investigation of educator sexual misconduct involving students.

When I talk with teachers in schools where an abuser has been arrested, I hear admissions that they had suspected something but, because they were not completely sure, did not want to say anything. A common explanation for not reporting questionable behavior is, “If I reported and I was wrong, I would have ruined the life of another teacher.” I have never heard a colleague say, “If I didn’t report and this person had abused, I’d have ruined the life of a student.”  

- Dr. Carol Shakeshaft, author of “Educator Sexual Misconduct, a Synthesis of Existing Literature”

Probable Cause Obtained

We know this much: Detective Parnell wrote at the end of the interview transcript that she’d obtained probable cause as a result of this awkward and difficult exchange, which includes two occasions in which Detective Parnell details Hein rubbing his leg against hers in a manner that made her very uncomfotable.

Why the hell was Hein rubbing his leg against the detective charged with investigating him…during a criminal interview about allegations of sexual misconduct?

Well, he was only recreating the types of contact he’d had with one of the victims, of course.

Makes perfect sense right?

With that said, here’s the J425 reporting on Detective Parnell’s criminal interview of Mark Hein. - KTH

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Today, we publish Detective Kristin Parnell’s one-on-one suspect investigation with Mark Hein conducted on August 15, 2022. We’ll publish the entire transcript at the end. In the meantime, we’ll provide you with selected quotes from the interview while we get you back up to speed on where things stand with an ongoing sexual misconduct investigation that involves at least four victims and has spanned over 14 months. Parnell conducted her interview with Hein at the culmination of a criminal investigation launched June 15. Parnell’s investigation was launched after mandatory third-party reporting triggered law enforcement notification of alleged grooming activities at Lake Stevens High School.

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Specifically, a licensed therapist notified Child Protective Services of a 15-year-old student suffering from serious non-epileptic seizures and severe post-traumatic stress emanating from a Lake Stevens High School teacher’s alleged grooming and misconduct.