North Sound News

Second former student accuses Everett teacher of molesting her

EVERETT, Wash — Court documents allege Craig Verver has been grooming and having sex with his female students for nearly the entire 20 years he has taught at Cascade High School.

"And this is the second case that you have filed against Mr. Verver?" Tacoma lawyer Darrell Cochran was asked.

"It is," he said.  "It looks to be a pattern of sexual grooming and abuse by Mr. Verver over a period of a number of years," Cochran said.

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"What's been shocking during the course of our investigation is to find out that you have two separate principals at Cascade High School who were alerted by a faculty member within the school about predatory behavior the faculty member saw," said Cochran.

That faculty member said she told the principal she spotted Verver "caressing" the students face, that "it looked oddly intimate."

Indeed, in a deposition in the first student's lawsuit, Verver admitted "to having sexual intercourse in my classroom after she was 18, graduated from high school, and was no longer a student in the Everett School District."

"It thunderstruck her," says Cochran of his most recent client.  He says she came forward when she realized she was not alone.

"At some level she believed Verver loved her and that she was special and singled out for treatment," said Cochran. "But what you find out when you realize there are other victims that you were just another body being exploited by a person in a position of power."

Craig Verver has been on paid administrative leave since October of last year. When asked why he is still on the payroll, the Everett School District said that is one of his employee rights until the case is resolved.

So far, the District has paid him nearly $90,000 while he was doing no work at Cascade High.