Tag Archives: edmonds

Former Juanita High School security guard accused of voyeurism in Bonney Lake

[WASHINGTON] – MTN – A woman is accusing former Juanita High School security guard Jeff Lewis, who was at the center of excessive force allegations in 2013, of voyeurism after she caught him following and video recording underaged girls at Target in Bonney Lake.

A video of TikTok of a woman confronting Lewis on TikTok has received over 900K views.

@momoftwowithone

Do you know this guy? Saw this guy blatantly taking pictures and videos of teenage girls in their shorts at my local @target Security and managers couldnt (wouldnt) do anything and he booked it when someone mentioned police. #creep #karen #target #fyp

♬ original sound – JJ

“You have pictures of children on your phone; that’s not OK. That’s disgusting. You can’t take pictures of underage girls in a store. That’s not OK.”

Lewis tries to walk away, pauses, and says, “you’re wrong.”

The woman says, “I’m not wrong, I saw the whole thing.”

In a follow up video, she explains that she witnessed Lewis filming underaged girls who were in the back-to-school section with his cellphone, taking close-ups of their bottoms and following them through the store. When Lewis realized he was being watched, he stopped filming. The woman approached the girls, asking them if they knew the man, and they stated they did not. She told the girls what was happening and that she would take care of it and make sure they were safe. The girls contacted store security.

The woman who recorded the video shared on TikTok claims that store security was waiting for Lewis when he tried to leave the store, questioned him, and asked to see his cell phone, which he refused. Target said they couldn’t legally detain Lewis, who left the store.

TikTok user @thatdaneshguy, with 1.2 million followers, has created a career in identifying people who commit acts of racism, spread malicious disinformation, and commit child abuse. Danesh and his team identified the man in the video as Jeff Lewis, a former Juanita High School security guard terminated in 2013 due to misconduct.

Lewis was suspended from his job in January 2013 after a 16-year-old student at Juanita High School accused him of causing injury when he manhandled her to the office. After a four-month suspension, Lewis was initially quietly released, causing outrage among area parents and students.

Students mounted a protest in the school with the support of parents, and over 500 signed a petition demanding Lewis be hired back.

The Kirkland Reporter wrote on July 1, 2013, that Lewis had been released after the four-month investigation and was involved in another use of force incident in 2007 when he worked for the Edmonds School District. In a negotiated settlement with Lewis’s attorney, he opted to resign from his position versus being fired “with cause.” The district agreed to pay Lewis’s salary through August 2013 and provide medical benefits through September of the same year. Part of the agreement included purging his employee file of the incident.

“In 2007, Lewis was placed on paid administrative leave during an Edmonds School District investigation, documents state. Lewis was involved in an incident that led to an autistic student’s broken wrist. But after three months of investigating, the Edmonds School District assistant superintendent Ken Limon informed Lewis on Oct. 8, 2007 that based on the information gathered, he did not believe Lewis deliberately or willfully sought to cause the student injury during the physical interaction.”

In that incident, an autistic student at Lynnwood High School had become disobedient and was slapping the teacher when Lewis arrived. After being removed from the classroom, the student allegedly grabbed Lewis and hit him several times. Lewis claims he “gently” pushed the student back to create physical space, and the boy fell, breaking his wrist.

The Lynnwood Police investigated and did not press charges. The Edmonds School District paid a $119,000 settlement to the mother but admitted no wrongdoing.

We have reached out to Target, the Bonney Lake Police Department, Danesh, and the woman who made the video to provide an update to this story.

Racist incident at Edmonds Bar spills over into social media storm

[EDMONDS, Wash] – (MTN) A racist incident caught on camera at an Edmonds, Washington bar on Saturday has created a social media firestorm, catching an innocent business owner in its net. Karlos Dillard, is an author, activist, and foster care advocate who moved to Seattle in 2015 according to his online bio. On Saturday he was eating at Engel’s Pub in Edmonds at their outdoor dining area when another customer accosted him asking, “are you going to pay for your drinks because you can’t get them for free,” according to Dillard. Dillard’s husband was inside at the time picking up their food, and a credit card had been left with the bartender.

In a second video, viewed over 1.2 million times, Dillard is apparently talking to an employee of Engels, which is surprised and empathetic over what happened. According to the person who is not in the video, they discuss how leaving a credit card at the bar wasn’t a requirement.

Internet sleuths thought they had identified the man who started the incident as Dean Worthy, of Seattle, Washington. They were wrong, and now Worthy, along with his business Dean’s Home Repair is caught in the crossfire. “I’ve received over 250 phone calls this morning,” Worthy said. “I’ve been getting death threats, and they are leaving terrible reviews about my business that I worked so hard to build.”

Worthy has a passing resemblance to the man in the video, but that’s where the similarities end. Worthy and his girlfriend were nowhere near Edmonds on Saturday, as he spoke from a car show in Everett this morning. “I have over 200 one-star Yelp reviews, and I want everyone to know I’m not the man in the video.”

Dillard reported in a third video along with comments on the Internet that the staff of Engel’s Pub was supportive and not involved in the incident. As for Dillard’s calm demeanor, many commenters stated they would have taken stronger action in the situation. “I have a lot to lose,” said Dillard. “My career is just taking off. I’m young, I’m cute, I’m sexy, and I have a lot to live for. Hit a white man in a predominately white city and see what happens to you. You have to respond like me, or you don’t have a life.”