Monroe prison guard, ex-scouts volunteer accused of child rape

SULTAN — A Sultan man who has served as a state prison corrections officer and a parent-teacher organization president was arrested Tuesday for investigation of sexually abusing a girl he met as a Girl Scout volunteer.

In August, the child’s mother found messages on Facebook where Jason Dominguez, 34, was asking her daughter what she was wearing and telling her he wanted to kiss and hold her, according to a police report filed in court Wednesday.

An investigation by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office revealed he’d been sexually abusing the teen for more than two years.

“Detectives are concerned that there may be additional victims and they are currently investigating various tips,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Courtney O’Keefe said in an email Wednesday.

According to the arrest report, Dominguez sent a pornographic photo to the girl, and asked if she would do that to him. She told him it was gross.

“It is not,” he replied, according to a probable cause statement.

“Yea it is dude I’m only 13,” the girl wrote.

Court papers don’t say how long ago those messages were sent.

This month the girl explained to a Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy that she’d met Dominguez through the Girl Scouts about four years ago. The first sexual incident was in 2017, according to the report. One morning while they were both sleeping in the same house, he woke her up, took her to an isolated place and sexually abused her, the girl reported.

The most recent incident was this summer, the court papers say.

Dominguez was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on Tuesday for investigation of two counts of second-degree child rape and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. Everett District Court Judge Anthony Howard found probable cause to hold him in jail on those allegations Wednesday.

In court, deputy prosecutor Martina Wong said she’d just been notified by a detective that there may be other victims who played on a volleyball team. Girls had come forward to report Dominguez played with their hair, groped or kissed them, Wong said. Their ages ranged from 13 to 15.

“It is apparent that the defendant has intentionally placed himself in positions of trust,” Wong said. ” …(He) had several positions that inherently involved direct contact with youth, in this tight-knit community.”

She added that Dominguez tried to contact the girl over Facebook, on the day of his arrest.

The judge set bail at $250,000.

On his LinkedIn profile, Dominguez states he served four years as an Aviation Operations Specialist with the U.S. Marine Corps, as well as a security officer in San Diego and New York. He was hired as a corrections officer in 2012, and worked at the Monroe prison, according to a state Department of Corrections spokeswoman.

“He currently works as a correctional officer for the Washington State Department of Corrections, was previously a Girl Scout volunteer/leader, previous Gold Bar Elementary [parent-teacher organization] president and currently a volunteer for the Gold Bar Elementary school,” says the arrest report dated Tuesday.

He’s now on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation.

“The Department of Corrections fully supports the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office and will completely cooperate with its investigation,” the department said in a statement Wednesday.

A Girl Scouts of Western Washington spokeswoman, Stefanie Ellis, said Dominguez had been registered as a troop helper, providing occasional support to the two adult troop leaders required for every troop. He’d passed a criminal background check as recently as February 2019, according to the scout organization.

“The safety of the girls we serve is our paramount concern,” Ellis said in a statement. “Girl Scouts of Western Washington is a volunteer-based organization and has procedures and policies in place to do everything we can to safeguard the well-being of our girls.”

Earlier this year, Dominguez was listed as president of the Gold Bar Elementary School parent-teacher organization, in the Sultan School District. He has been involved in the parent-teacher organization at Sultan Middle School, too, as well as an on-campus program known as Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students), District Superintendent Dan Chaplik said.

In the program, fathers volunteer to monitor classes and halls with the aim of bringing positive male role models into schools, as well as providing a deterrent to bullying, enhancing security and giving the dads a glimpse into the “increasingly complex challenges and decisions today’s youth are facing.”

Parent-teacher organization members like Dominguez often run concessions for fundraisers at sporting events. Chaplik noted that Dominguez had never been employed by the district, and the school did a background check on him for his volunteer work. The arrest report says Dominguez chaperoned overnight school events, and that other parents put their trust in him.

“Kids are the most important thing to all of us,” the superintendent said. “When trust is breached by a community member, who’s an adult, it doesn’t sit well with anybody. We want to make sure we’re taking care of our students.”

Anyone with information that could help in an investigation can contact the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office tip line at 425-388-3845. Or call 911.

Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.

Correction: An earlier version misidentified the type of parent-teacher group. Jason Dominguez was involved in the school’s parent-teacher organization.