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<< Previous   of   Next >> Mark Mulligan/ The Herald  (click to enlarge) Highland Christian School principal Mark Evan Brown sits in the Snohomish County Superior Courthouse Wednesday. Photo taken 072308   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 Arlington private school principal charged with child rape Herald Staff The principal at a private Christian school in Arlington was ordered jailed on $100,000 bail today after being charged with third-degree child rape. Mark Evan Brown, 37, has been engaging in a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl who attends Brown's school, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Mark Roe said in Snohomish County Superior Court papers. Brown has been principal at Highland Christian School in Arlington for three years. Over the past three months, "the two have exchanged hundreds of text messages and phone calls. Some of these encouraged (the girl) to run away from home, and promised that the defendant would provide her a place to stay if she did," Roe wrote. In June, Brown allegedly encouraged the girl to run away from home and gave her a room inside the high school, complete with a bed and television, Roe said. Detectives tracked down the girl by tracing her cell phone. She initially denied sexual contact, but later allegedly told her mother that Brown had touched her sexually while she was hiding out at the high school, according to court papers. Brown was arrested July 9 for investigation of harboring a runaway. He was released on bail, and subject to a no-contact order with the girl. The man allegedly has called the girl anyway and told her not to talk about the alleged sexual contact between them. That's why prosecutors sought Brown's immediate arraignment on today's charge. Brown's family was in the courtroom for this afternoon's hearing. Kristin Sande, a mother of three students at Highland Christian and a secretary of the school's board, read a brief statement: "The board and staff of Highland Christian School stand behind our principal Mark Brown. Mr. Brown is now on administrative leave while this investigation continues. We will continue to support him and his wife and his son through this ordeal he is going through. We continue to plan for the upcoming school year." The school has 238 students, kindergarten through grade 12.

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