The trial for a Bainbridge teacher accused of having sex with one of her teenage students has been postponed until late October.
Jessica M. Fuchs was arrested at her island home in early May and charged in Kitsap County Superior Court with two felonies — first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor, and tampering with a witness — and the gross misdemeanor of communication with a minor for immoral purposes after police learned of an ongoing sexual relationship between Fuchs and a 16-year-old student at Bainbridge High.
The alleged relationship between Fuchs, a 26-year-old in her first year of teaching science at BHS, and a student in her 10th-grade biology class was discovered after the boy’s mother looked at the teenager’s phone and saw Snapchat conversations with a person named “Jess.” The boy later admitted to having a sexual relationship with his teacher.
Fuchs entered a “not guilty” plea to the charges at her arraignment on May 11.
Fuchs’ trial had earlier been set for Sept. 14. But, at a court appearance earlier this month, attorneys on both sides agreed to push the trial back to Oct. 19 “to permit continued negotiation for a resolution of the matter,” according to court documents.
“Essentially, the case is proceeding as normal,” said Kitsap County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Purves.
Fuchs was immediately suspended by the Bainbridge Island School District after school and district officials became aware of inappropriate contact between Fuchs and the student in late February. The district told Fuchs in a May 11 letter that her employment contract with the district would not be renewed next year.
Police arrested Fuchs after an initial investigation that stretched for more than two months.
Authorities said results from the Washington State Patrol crime lab found “a large amount of evidence” on Fuchs’ computer that would support the charges of first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor, including text messages of a sexual nature and a sexually explicit video of Fuchs that she made for the student.
Police also found that Fuchs had used her school laptop to search the Internet on Feb. 24 — the day the allegations of inappropriate contact between Fuchs and the student were shared with an associate principal at BHS — on “how to permanently delete cell phone records,” according to court documents.
Fuch’s messages to the student talked about deleting records so they would not be caught, and Fuchs told the student she had deleted all of her messages and asked the student to do the same.
The State Patrol examination of Fuchs’ computer found that much of the communication between the teacher and the student between Jan. 15 and Feb. 25 had been deleted, but investigators were able to forensically retrieve the texts, emails and other messages.
One message, from Feb. 25, sent by Fuchs to the student said: “Well, protect me as best you can. Remember NOTHING COMES OUT EVER! About anything you have been to my house only once. Lie like you have NEVER lied before. And try to get your mom to side with you completely and say this was all a misunderstanding! And tell the investigator that!”
Fuchs declined to talk to investigators after her arrest.
