LSSD Facing Two New Sex Predator Lawsuits
Mark Hein's alleged victim and an anonymous victim from the Brian Garvie matter have filed lawsuits against Lake Stevens School District, alleging the district should've done more to remove predators
Editor’s Note: J425 has been aware of the two Snohomish County Superior Court filings for some time, but decided to delay publication until after the November 5 bond vote.
SNOHOMISH COUNTY COURTHOUSE — The Lake Stevens School District is involved in two prominent lawsuits regarding the sex abuse of students and alleged staff misconduct.
One suit involves the Mark Hein matter thoroughly reported here at J425, and reveals for the first time that Hein is finally on his way out of the district – after remaining on paid leave since June 2023.
The other involves one of the darkest chapters in recent Lake Stevens history: the serial sex abuse of area wrestlers by former wrestling official Brian Garvie. That lawsuit provides new evidence that – as in so many other sex predator incidents – Lake Stevens High School administrators missed an opportunity to act long before the ultimate arrest of the serial rapist.
An anonymous Garvie victim has named the district
along with two wrestling associations in a suit seeking damages, claiming that the district should’ve done more to stop Garvie’s predation.
Garvie was arrested in 2006 after police alleged he’d “traded sex and drugs with perhaps dozens of area wrestlers”.
J425 publisher Kevin Thomas Hulten covered the Garvie matter while working as Managing Editor at The Lake Stevens Journal in 2007. Contemporaneous investigations found all abuse occurred outside of LSSD boundaries and without the knowledge of Lake Stevens wrestling coaches.
However, new documents filed with the court show that in the Garvie matter, a victim met with a Lake Stevens High School administrator some five months prior to Garvie’s ultimate arrest and informed the administrator of Garvie’s abusive behavior. The matter wasn’t pursued. Five months later, Garvie was arrested after a Mount Vernon wrestler came forward with reports of abuse.
A massive investigation followed revealing that Garvie had hosted drug fueled parties at his Lake Stevens home, at which multiple area youths were sexually assaulted and filmed. The scope of the abuse was difficult to imagine, with estimated victim counts as high as 50, according to published reports in the Seattle Times.
The true scope of Garvie’s abuse was never determined: he quickly pled guilty to one count of child rape and two counts of sexual exploitation and was sentenced to an 11-year prison bid. Garvie has since picked up additional charges and now appears likely to die in prison.
Hein’s Alleged Victim Files Suit, District Filing Confirms Hein to Resign End 2024
In the other filing, the former student allegedly victimized by Mark Hein is joined by her mother – a former LSSD district office employee – in filing suit against the district. The Hein victim’s suit alleges that the district should’ve known that Hein was “a sexual predator” who posed a significant risk to students.
The suit lays out how Hein targeted, sexually groomed and subsequently harassed the girl after his “predatory conduct” was reported to the district.
The narrative largely aligns with facts laid out by Lake Stevens Police Department Detective Kristen Parnell in the probable cause documents filed when Parnell arrested Hein and booked him on multiple minor-involved sex crimes in January of 2023. J425 has reported extensively on this matter.
Hein has remained on paid leave since June of 2023. The district’s response filed at Superior Court reveals that an agreement was reached with Hein to allow him to resign effective end 2024.
The district has not addressed the community on the Hein matter nor explained why he remained on paid leave after Parnell’s investigation showed, among other things, that Hein had repeatedly touched the girl against her will, changed her grades in violation of state law and school policy.
Parnell’s investigation also laid bare the fact that Hein lied to administration during a district investigation that found Hein had violated district policies on student/teacher boundaries and that Hein continued to contact the girl even after the district had directed him in writing to leave the girl alone, with Hein telling Parnell that he viewed the district’s instruction as unfair to him.
The girl stopped attending Lake Stevens High School after she began suffering non-epileptic seizures, a a phenomena documented by a social worker and Detective Parnell.
The district’s reply rebuts all of the girls’ claims and largely defends Hein’s actions, while also asking the court to issue a judgment requiring the girl to pay the district’s court fees.
Previously:
