'He told me he knew it was wrong:' Renton teacher admits to sex with 8th grader, police say

RENTON, Wash. – A Renton teacher who was fired this fall has been charged with having sex with a 15-year-old student at least five times over a period of several months in 2006.

Police said Jeffrey Willis, who was a teacher at Dimmitt Middle School at the time, began a romantic relationship with the girl when she was 14 and a student in his language arts class.

Willis, who was 34 at the time, was charged with one count of third-degree child rape. He had since moved on to Renton’s Hazen High, where he was fired in September.

Charging documents from the King County Prosecutor’s office said Willis admitted the relationship to detectives last month with his attorney in the room.

“Willis told me that he knew it was wrong, and felt guilty about it, but he couldn’t stop,” a Renton police detective said in the charging documents.

The documents don’t make it clear how police found out about the relationship nine years after the fact.