Mercer Island kept quiet teacher’s alleged sexual misconduct

In March 2016, administrators at Mercer Island High School received a phone call from an anonymous Microsoft employee who reported that a teacher at the school appeared to be in an inappropriate relationship with a sophomore student.

Gary “Chris” Twombley, a longtime English and journalism teacher at the school, had sent the girl texts that said “I like the way you look today” and “There are things I can’t tell you and have to wait till you turn eighteen,” according to the caller, a mentor to the student who said she had personally seen the texts. The anonymous caller told the school leaders that she wanted to give the student the chance to come forward on her own before giving up her name.

Yet another eight years would pass before Twombley’s alleged predatory behavior was fully investigated. In 2023, a victim came forward and said she had been in an emotional and physical relationship with Twombley in 2015, when she was 17 and a senior at Mercer Island High. King County prosecutors, following a thorough police investigation, said in a memo that they could “establish the suspect engaged in sexual intercourse with the victim beyond a reasonable doubt.” But by then, in 2023, it was beyond a three-year statute of limitations. No charges could be filed.

Twombley, accused of sexually abusing or inappropriately pursuing at least two teenage students, was quietly put on paid administrative leave in 2023 for over a year before his formal resignation in February 2025, according to a settlement agreement obtained by the Mercer Island Reporter and InvestigateWest. Twombley did not respond to messages seeking comment for this article. He voluntarily revoked his Washington teaching license and agreed not to seek reinstatement. But the terms of his resignation — arranged by Superintendent Fred Rundle — leave the potential for him to teach in other states or work with youths in other capacities.

The outcome could have been different had the district taken that first warning more seriously. In a statement on Aug. 8, the district said it made “multiple efforts” in 2016 to follow up with the anonymous tipster but did not hear back. But police reports and public records show how administrators dismissed the tip and discouraged any further inquiry.

“They should have done the right thing, which is let the community know, tried to find other victims and provide support for those that needed it,” said Brian Gaspar, a Mercer Island parent who has been collecting documents related to Twombley’s case through public records requests since May. “Instead, they gave him a 14-month leave.”

Back in 2016, a school resource officer who listened in on the original tip was repeatedly told not to follow up, according to documents obtained by InvestigateWest and the Mercer Island Reporter. A week after the call, he followed up with then-Principal Vicki Puckett. She told him neither the mentor nor student had contacted the school.

The officer, who was also a member of the Mercer Island Police Department, followed up again, saying he needed to continue his investigation and wanted to contact Twombley directly. Puckett told him to hold off until she talked to the superintendent at the time, Gary Plano, according to his police report. Plano requested a meeting with the police chief.

A week later, the officer followed up again and asked the principal if she planned to confront the teacher about the allegation. She told him they didn’t plan to because they had no evidence of a crime and since no one had come forward, they didn’t have enough to continue the investigation.

Puckett stressed that she acted right away by calling Plano first and then contacting the police per their standard protocol.

“Our standard protocol is it’s the police’s job to investigate when it’s an illegal action that is being perceived to have happened, and that was the standard protocol how we operated with Mercer Island police. And so Munoz did investigate it, he did talk to Twombley,” she said.

She suggested that the call had been a “prank” and didn’t want to “unjustly rile up the teacher,” according to the police report. Puckett, reached for comment for this article, said she did not recall saying those things but said Plano was “very, very concerned about us moving too fast without our facts.”

The officer was called away to a family emergency and didn’t speak to the teacher until two months later. At the police station, Twombley told the officer that he did not know who could have sent those texts to the high school sophomore, adding that he “would not have sent anything inappropriate” and that he had “always been very careful” when communicating with students, according to the police report.

The police report does not show that the officer made any other attempt to verify Twombley’s statement. With no further leads, he closed the case.

“They could have ended it then and there, and they didn’t,” said Gaspar, who was running for a seat on the school board until Aug. 11. “Instead, they let it perpetuate for another seven years.”

The Mercer Island School District superintendent and school board president declined to speak to InvestigateWest and the Mercer Island Reporter for this story, or to answer questions provided in writing. The school district notified the community about Twombley’s separation from the district in an email released on Aug. 8, only after learning that this story was being written.

2023 police report

The victim who came forward in 2023 told police investigators that Twombley had started contacting her soon after the school year started in fall 2015, according to the police report. She was a senior and had enrolled in one of his “highly coveted” classes.

The messages began on the school’s chat system and ranged from music to current affairs, according to the interview she gave to police in 2023. They soon moved off of the school’s system and began exchanging text messages and photographs, some explicit in nature. The relationship soon turned sexual, according to her statement to police.

At the time, she thought it was cool that the teacher with a “cult following” at the high school was interested in her. But years later, she told the detective that she realized how inappropriate the relationship was and decided to come forward in hopes that he wouldn’t be allowed to work with kids or abuse other women.

Twombley began teaching at Mercer Island High School in 2004, according to his LinkedIn profile, which was deleted the same day a reporter for this story reached out to him. For over a decade, he served as the adviser to the award-winning student newspaper, The Islander, and helped coach track and field. In 2019, he was recognized by the Washington Journalism Education Association as the Advisor of the Year and recipient of the Fern Valentine Freedom of Expression Award. His popularity was on full display during the Class of 2021’s commencement ceremony at Islander Stadium, during which he donned a blonde wig and sunglasses before delivering a speech. He was recognized by Superintendent Fred Rundle in 2023 for his many years of service during a ceremony at the school library. Court records show Twombley and his former wife divorced in 2021.

Twombley and the teenage girl continued texting and hanging out throughout the fall semester, eating at a diner before school to avoid being seen. When a fellow student was performing at a music venue in Seattle, she went with a group of friends. Twombley had also gone, along with another teacher, Dino Annest, according to the police report. That night, according to the account she made to police, Twombley sexually assaulted her.

After that, she distanced herself from him, she told the police. But she remained in his class the rest of the school year and described their interactions as “tense.” Right before graduation, Twombley threatened to fail her if she didn’t come to his office alone to recite a poem as part of an assignment. She told him no, and that if he failed her, she’d go to the principal, according to the police report.

She hadn’t heard from Twombley until December 2023, when he emailed her at work. The day before, she had told a co-worker about the inappropriate relationship between her and Twombley when she was a teenager. The co-worker at the time was dating Twombley, and the victim had wanted to warn her since the co-worker had a teenage daughter, according to the police report. The next morning, she woke up to an email from him.

“I believe I have done you great harm, and it would mean a lot to say that in person,” he wrote in the email.

She forwarded the email to her supervisors, fearing that he would come to her workplace, according to the police report. A report was then made to the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families, and she later gave a statement to police.

Twombley was then quietly put on paid administrative leave and did not return for the spring semester. When Twombley was informed he was being investigated over a sexual misconduct allegation, he asked Erin Battersby, who was the district’s director of human resources and legal compliance at the time, whether the allegation was from one student or multiple students, according to third-party investigation initiated by the school district.

After a criminal investigation was conducted by the Mercer Island Police Department, the case was referred to the King County Prosecutor’s office. But charges weren’t filed.

“This decline is not intended to condone the behavior of the suspect as that behavior was criminal at the time it was committed,” the lead prosecutor wrote in a memo.

“Nor is it offered as any negative comment on the thorough law enforcement response, as it was appropriate for Mercer Island Police Department to fully investigate these charges and refer them to our office,” he continued. “Rather, this decline is required due to the statute of limitations for the crime of Sexual Misconduct with a minor.”

The statute of limitations at the time of the alleged abuse was three years from the time of the incident. State law changed in 2019 so alleged sexual misconduct can be reported anytime after the incident. But the law wasn’t retroactive.

As is common with cases that have the potential for more victims to come forward, the prosecutor’s office convened what’s called a multi-victim staffing meeting with the Mercer Island School District and other community organizations to discuss “options for community notification in the hope of identifying additional victims,” according to the police report. Neither the school district nor the police department made a community notification. The only member of the school district to attend the meeting in April 2024 was a lawyer hired by the district.

Patrick Lavin, the chair of the special assault unit of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, says it’s a “delicate balancing act” trying not to retraumatize a victim who’s come forward and wishes to remain anonymous, and notifying the public if the person could still pose a public safety risk. But it’s possible to do both, he added.

While the prosecutor’s office initiates multi-victim staffing meetings, it doesn’t determine the outcome. Each case is unique, he said. “We can’t necessarily force these people to do things the way that we want, right? They have attorneys, too,” he said, speaking generally about these kind of meetings.

Lack of transparency

When school board member Dan Glowitz started asking questions about Twombley’s case, he said he started getting pushback from other school board members. The more he pressed for answers, the more he felt like he was being silenced.

The school board, including Glowitz, was notified that Twombley had been put on administrative leave in December 2023. At the time, Glowitz recalls asking follow-up questions about what the investigation would look like, if there had been a failure to report, and if the board should make a public announcement. He was told to “wait and see,” he told InvestigateWest.

After the board learned that there could be “litigation risk” from Twombley and that no charges would be filed due to the statute of limitations, the district decided not to make a public announcement about his resignation or the allegations. They did not want to reveal the identity of the victim who had come forward and feared the renewed attention to the case could be retraumatizing.

Glowitz said it felt like the school board and district administrators were more worried about getting sued than “doing the right thing” and trying to identify potential additional victims in order to seek justice and connect the students with appropriate services.

“The school district acts as if they are the law of the land,” he said. “It’s a toxic environment.”

In September 2024, Glowitz emailed Superintendent Rundle expressing concerns about a new proposal to loosen the reporting requirements for teachers who hear about sexual misconduct, which he feared would lead to fewer reports being made, according to emails obtained through public records requests and reviewed by InvestigateWest.

He then asked if the new policy would relate to “past conduct” and asked if there was an update on the allegations made against Twombley. He was shocked to learn that the board had received an update while he was on a planned vacation in California. The superintendent told him that a report completed by outside legal counsel had been presented to the other four board members and that the report was available as a public record. But the two later discussed its findings in person.

He continued to seek information about Twombley’s case, feeling more and more like a “cover-up” was taking place.

In June of this year, Glowitz emailed Rundle and school board President Maggie Tai Tucker, requesting information about when Twombley’s separation agreement was determined.

“I’m not replying to this via e-mail,” Tucker wrote. “Please do not e-mail items that are covered by executive session privilege, as they then become discoverable by public information request, as is no doubt your intent.”

In response, Glowitz wrote: “You seem to think that holding an executive session somehow ‘disappears information.’”

“That also sounds like a cover-up,” he added.

The next day, Rundle emailed the board stating that the settlement with Twombley was $65,000 in salary plus an estimated $6,500 in benefits.

During the school board’s meeting a few days later, while discussing the extension of Rundle’s contract as superintendent, Glowitz again tried to bring up Twombley and his settlement agreement.

“I do not believe that it is appropriate to pay a 14-month severance agreement to anyone who abuses their power in that profound way,” he said during the meeting, before the room erupted, with board members yelling that the information shared during the executive session is confidential before abruptly taking a recess.

Push for transparency by parents

When Gaspar was considering running for the school board in early 2025, he started meeting with community members to hear their ideas and their concerns related to the school district. The first six people he met all mentioned the same thing: that a teacher had been romantically pursuing teenage girls, he said. Gaspar had moved to the island in 2022 with his wife and now 10-year-old daughter, who would one day go to the same high school.

“People kept bringing it up, and I was like, ‘OK, what’s been done about this?’” he recalled asking. “And no one really had an answer, which led me on this three-month journey.”

He started watching school board meetings more closely and reached out to Glowitz to see if he had any advice about running for school board. Gaspar said he had noticed that the other board members didn’t seem fond of Glowitz, who was often outspoken and sometimes seen as a polarizing figure.

When they met for coffee, Gaspar asked him what was going on with the board. Glowitz said he’d been trying to get more information about Twombley. That’s when Gaspar started submitting public records requests to try to fill in the gaps.

When he got the 2023 police report back, including the victim’s statement to the police, he said it was painful to read.

“They let this person do this,” he said, choking back tears. “They covered for him. They let him off. There’s no justice behind it.

“They should have done the right thing, which is let the community know, tried to find other victims and provide support for those that needed it,” he added. “Instead, they gave him a 14-month leave.”

Puckett, the principal who took the anonymous call in 2016, said it’s scary to hear of something that horrific allegedly happening under her watch as principal.

“Because you’re like, ‘OK, if this really happened, you know this guy needs to be gone.’ And you know as it is, (Twombley) is no longer working with the district. He gave up his teaching certificate and so he no longer has any access to any Mercer Island High School students, and for that matter in the state of Washington, in public schools,” she said.

Gaspar started sharing the documents with other parents, trying to spread awareness. That’s how Meghan Hamill learned about Twombley. She had heard rumblings in the community the year before that a teacher was pursuing relationships with teenage girls. But she never heard a name and believed it was a rumor. But when she learned that the school had gotten a tip about Twombley in 2016, she was disturbed.

“Why wouldn’t they disclose this right away?” she recalled thinking. “They had so many opportunities at so many different levels to come forward and protect these girls.”

On Aug. 8, Superintendent Rundle emailed parents and students detailing Twombley’s separation from the district, after Rundle declined an interview request or to answer questions over email. It had been nearly 20 months since the victim had reported Twombley to police in December 2023, and over eight years since school administrators received the anonymous tip from a different student in 2016.

Less than an hour after the email was sent out, Tucker, the school board president, accidentally called an InvestigateWest reporter on her cellphone and told her “not to speak to the InvestigateWest reporter.”

After being informed that she was, in fact, speaking with the InvestigateWest reporter, she paused before calmly apologizing for calling the wrong person and abruptly hanging up the call.

Given the turmoil at the district and within the school board, Hamill has decided to pull her kids from the school system and send them to private school. Given the district’s decreasing enrollment numbers, she doesn’t think she’s alone.

“I never would have moved here if I had known that this culture is centered around this code of allegiance,” she added. “And I don’t think I’m unique in that.”

Gaspar and his wife have decided to do the same.

He hopes speaking out helps make sure something like this doesn’t happen again on Mercer Island.

“What’s keeping me up at night is that nothing’s going to change,” Gaspar said. “I’m gonna make an A+ effort, but I don’t know how much it’s gonna change.”

“This is a systemic breakdown that needs outside attention, like King County coming in,” he added.

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Moe K. Clark is a collaborative investigative reporter at InvestigateWest, covering Washington’s criminal justice system and other topics. Her work is supported by the Murrow News Fellowship, a state-funded journalism initiative managed by Washington State University.

Andy Nystrom has covered news for the Mercer Island Reporter for the last five years. Previously, the award-winning journalist worked as sports editor for seven Eastside weekly papers and served as editor of the Redmond Reporter and Bothell-Kenmore Reporter.