Arlington, WASHINGTON

It's not the first time he has been accused.

July 24, 2008 - Mark Brown, 37, principal at Highland Christian School, was arrested charged with third-degree child rape. He is accused of encouraging a 14-year-old girl to run away from home and providing a room for her at the school.

The girl told detectives Brown had sexual contact with her at the school in a room he set up with a hide-a-bed and a television, according to court documents.

Over the past three months, "the two have exchanged hundreds of text messages and phone calls. Some of these encouraged (the girl) to run away from home, and promised that the defendant would provide her a place to stay if she did," Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Mark Roe wrote in court papers.

Detectives tracked down the girl by tracing her cell phone. She initially denied sexual contact, but later allegedly told her mother that Brown had touched her sexually while she was hiding out at the high school, according to court papers. Brown was arrested July 9 for investigation of harboring a runaway.

Detectives said they found no text messages indicating the girl was suicidal or that Brown was trying to talk her out of running away or hurting herself, according to the search warrant.Since his arrest earlier this month, Brown allegedly has called the girl, despite the no-contact order, and told her not to talk about the alleged sexual contact between them, Roe wrote.
Full Name: Mark Evan Brown

PREVIOUS INVESTIGATION (July 25) Herald.net on a previous investigation:

Before Mark Evan Brown, 37, was hired to lead Highland Christian School three years ago, he was a wrestling coach at Concrete High School in Skagit County. School officials there called Child Protective Services in March 2004 after allegations surfaced that Brown "had sexual contact with several female students," said Steve Williams, a spokesman for the state Department of Social and Health Services.

His contract was not renewed. Police are opening that investigation again.

His first wife began dating him when she was 14 and he was 26. They divorced after she after she discovered numerous text messages between him and a cheerleader at Concrete High School.

KING5: (July 25) Other women have come forward, claiming Brown also had sex with them when they were teenagers.