Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Law

Former Teaching Aide In Seattle Schools Pleads Not Guilty To Child Rape, Molestation Charges

Ashley Gross
/
KNKX
Albert Virachismith leaving a King County courtrooom after his arraignment

A man who worked as an educational aide in nine Seattle public schools has pleaded not guilty to child rape and molestation charges.

Albert Virachismith was employed at John Muir Elementary School in the Mount Baker neighborhood in the 2016-17 school year. That’s where he’s alleged to have sexually assaulted a student in the bathroom multiple times.

Wearing red jail garb, he appeared on Thursday in a King County courtroom, where he was charged with one count each of child rape in the first degree and child molestation in the first degree. A case setting hearing will take place Feb. 27.

The Seattle school district said Virachismith worked at eight other middle and elementary schools in the district, mostly on the south and west sides of the city.

According to the King County prosecutor’s office, he’s still in custody and bail has been set at $500,000.

In July 2017, Ashley Gross became KNKX's youth and education reporter after years of covering the business and labor beat. She joined the station in May 2012 and previously worked five years at WBEZ in Chicago, where she reported on business and the economy. Her work telling the human side of the mortgage crisis garnered awards from the Illinois Associated Press and the Chicago Headline Club. She's also reported for the Alaska Public Radio Network in Anchorage and for Bloomberg News in San Francisco.