Bellevue Middle School Teacher Accused of Sex with Former Student, 16

A teacher was charged Friday with third-degree rape of a child after prosecutors say that he had sex with a former student who is now in high school.

Matthew James Jones, 31, who prosecutors say lives in Seattle, faces charges of third degree rape of a child and third degree child molestation, both felonies, after officers say that he and his former student were found completely naked in the back seat of a 2009 Honda Civic in the parking lot of Lattawood Park Sunday, March 20, just before 1:45 a.m.

According to Bellevue School District spokeswoman Jacqueline Coe, Jones resigned from his job on Monday, March 21 which was the day after the arrest by the Bellevue Police Department, and parents at Tillicum Middle School were advised that an investigation was under way. Coe said the district could not comment any further.

According to charging papers, the teenage girl, now a high school student, and Jones told police that Jones was her science teacher in seventh and eighth grades and that she and Jones began kissing and fondling in July 2010, a few months before she turned 16. After she turned 16, they starting having sex, she said.

She told police that all their contact was consensual.

According to charging papers, Jones told police that he started meeting her on weekends and at night in Lattawood Park in the summer months of 2010. He told investigators that they would meet in the park or he would pick her up at her home.

According to state law, adults can face felony charges from having sexual contact with teenagers who are 16 or younger and four years younger than the adult, if the two people involved are not married to each other.

A woman who answered Jones' phone said that it would be inappropriate for him to say anything at this time, and hung up.

Tillicum Middle School sent two letters home to parents after Jones' resignation.

"Allegations of inappropriate conduct by any adult are taken very seriously. Parents may understandably be concerned that a teacher, a trusted adult who had regular contact with their child, is being investigated for inappropriate contact with a student," principal Dion Yahoudy said in the first letter sent home.

Jones' next court appearance is scheduled for April 14 at the King County Courthouse. Bail is set at $50,000 and he is scheduled to be booked when he is arraigned, according to the prosecuting attorney's office.