Former middle-school teacher accused of molesting one-time student

A former middle-school teacher has been charged with child rape, child molestation and sexual misconduct with a minor. Prosecutors alleged he was caught having sex in a Bellevue park with a 16-year-old former student.

Matthew Jones, 31, currently of Longview, resigned as a science teacher at Tillicum Middle School last month.

He was charged Friday in King County Superior Court with third-degree rape of a child, third-degree child molestation and first-degree sexual misconduct.

According to charging documents, Bellevue police began their investigation after two patrol officers came across Jones and the former student naked in the back seat of a Honda Civic at Lattawood Park on March 20.

Court documents say Jones had taught the girl in seventh and eighth grades and that their relationship, which was described by police as consensual, became sexual in July 2010 while the girl was 15.

Police and prosecutors say Jones would meet the girl, who is a sophomore in a Bellevue School District high school, after she sneaked out of her family's house, and the two would go to the park.

Jones, who had maintained a blog called Matt Jones' Random Acts of Verbiage, attended University of Washington, Seattle Pacific University and Regent College in Vancouver, B.C. He was pursuing a master's in Christian Studies with a focus in theology, according to his blog.

Jones is scheduled to be arraigned in the King County Courthouse on April 14.

Prosecutors said in court documents they plan to ask for a $50,000 bail because Jones "abused his position of trust in the community and with this victim."

If convicted as charged, he faces four to five years in prison.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com