Washington chemistry teacher facing charges over grooming and coercing 15-year-old student

Jesse Webb, a 44-year-old chemistry teacher at Kentlake High School located in Kent, Washington, has been arrested and indicted with communication with a minor for immoral purposes.

Reports suggest that Webb initiated conversations with the 15-year-old student he was teaching, eventually grooming and pressuring her to the point of causing suicidal thoughts.

According to the court documents, Webb first communicated with the student over Instagram in October 2022, telling her that she looked ‘hot’ while wearing certain garments and expressing him missing her. The communication gradually escalated to him calling her ‘babe’ and ‘cupcake’ and bluntly expressing his wish to have sexual relations with her.

To the victim’s horror, Webb allegedly spread out his malicious tactics even further by giving her gifts and ordering her to deny any knowledge of the relationship if confronted. Unable to cope with this prolonged abuse the victim contacted the county police in November 2022 and reported the grooming while mentioning her encountered suicidal thoughts.

The alleged criminal has resigned from the school effectively but shall still keep receiving pay until August 18, 2023. Despite Webb’s plea of innocence in court on May 18 and the courts issuing order of no contact with the supposed victim and all minors, cases like this one prove how prolific child sex crimes are in the United States.

In the year of 2022, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children accounts nearly 350 K-12 educators being apprehended for child sex offenses. There is an urgent necessity to act and protect our young generations from such hazardous predators.