Evergreen Middle School teacher charged with rape

Published 11:24 am Monday, May 11, 2026

An Evergreen Middle School teacher was put on administrative leave after he was arrested for rape of a child and immoral communication for events that allegedly began in 2009 with a student at a Yakima middle school while he taught there.

According to charging documents filed in the Superior Court of Yakima County, on April 30, the Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Tyrone Sissom, 49, of Kent, with third-degree rape of a child and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. Documents and the school’s directory state that Sissom is a math teacher at Evergreen Middle School, which is in the city of Kent but part of Federal Way Public Schools.

When asked about the arrest, school district spokesperson Jessica Morgan said that on May 5, the district was informed that an Evergreen Middle School staff member was arrested as a result of an investigation in Yakima County. The King County jail lookup portal states that at 6:44 a.m. May 4, Sissom was arrested and booked into the King County Correctional Facility for Yakima County Superior Court charges of third-degree rape of a child and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. His bail is set at $75,000.

According to Morgan, upon learning of the arrest, the staff member was immediately placed on administrative leave. She said that despite the investigation/allegation being in Yakima County, the district will work with law enforcement and fully cooperate as the investigation proceeds.

“While we have been provided limited information, what we can share is that we hold all our staff to high standards and the highest expectations,” Morgan said. “We take allegations like these very seriously, and we take immediate and appropriate steps to address any situation that is brought to our attention.”

Details of the case

Documents state that in early March, the alleged victim, now 32, reported that when she was 15 years old, she was in a sexual relationship with Sissom, who was 32 when the alleged abuse occurred. She said that Sissom was one of her middle school teachers, and she recently confronted him about the impact that the abuse had on her life.

As part of that confrontation, the alleged victim sent Sissom a questionnaire asking him various questions about his state of mind when he was sexually abusing her when she was 15. Documents state that in Sissom’s responses, he acknowledges that sexual contact did occur with the alleged victim when she was 15.

The alleged victim said that she first met Sissom when he was her Pacific Northwest history teacher. She said that Sissom’s classroom became a popular place for her and her friends to spend time during their lunch breaks.

The alleged victim said that as the school year progressed, the environment during lunch in Sissom’s classroom became highly sexualized and flirtatious. She said that she would sit on Sissom’s lap, hug and flirt with him, and he would flirt back.

The alleged victim said that she thought Sissom was the “cool teacher,” citing a time she showed him a video of her drinking alcohol, and he was okay with it. She said Sissom created an environment where talking about sex, drugs and alcohol was okay, and she said Sissom made her feel “cool” and “popular.”

The alleged victim said that at the end of the school year, she and her friends had a party where they used substances, and Sissom was there, at one point making a sexual joke, according to documents. She said that was also when she began texting Sissom; the texts quickly became explicit, and eventually, that summer, when she was 15, Sissom sexually abused her for the first time.

Sissom and her would continue to engage in sexual activity, and she began to live with him from when she was 17 until she was about 21, according to court documents. The alleged victim said that she has struggled with anorexia, depression, alcoholism and a fear of going out in public, which she believes stems from the relationship she had with Sissom.

Documents state that officers spoke with other witnesses and people who were around Sissom and the alleged victim when the abuse occurred, and their statements corroborated the alleged victim’s statements.

“This crime involved the grooming of an underage girl by a teacher who operated from a position of trust. Tyrone Sissom was responsible for (the alleged victim’s) welfare when she was his 15-years-old student, and abused the trust given to him,” documents state. “As of the writing of this request, Tyrone Sissom is listed as a Math Teacher in the Evergreen Middle School directory in Kent, Washington. Tyrone Sissom currently has access to girls the same age as (the alleged victim) when their relationship began.”