An East Valley School District employee and assistant athletic coach has been charged with raping a 12-year-old girl he knew.
Yakima County prosecutors charged Teddy Lee Craven, 44, with two counts of second-degree child rape and a single count of second-degree child molestation.
Craven was released from the Yakima County jail after posting $50,000 bail but is required to regularly report in with court staff as a condition of his release.
Records from the East Valley School District show that Craven was a behavior interventionist specialist at East Valley Central Middle School, as well as an assistant football coach at East Valley High School and an assistant basketball coach in 2022. He was contracted to serve as an assistant softball coach for the current school year, according to school board records.
Craven is currently on paid administrative leave from the district, according to district spokesperson Mikal Heintz.
A message sent out by the school district after Craven's Nov. 29 arrest said district officials "have taken the steps necessary to ensure the safety of our students, while also ensuring the due process rights of the employee consistent with our Collective Bargaining Agreement."
The message and court records show the charges are not related to Craven's employment with the school district.
The girl gave a school resource officer at East Valley Central Middle School a note describing what the suspect was doing to her, according to a probable cause affidavit.
During an interview with staff at the county's Child Advocacy Center, she said Craven had raped her almost daily since September. She said the man also groped her on several occasions, the affidavit said.
