Citing the statute of limitations, prosecutors Thursday dropped the sexual misconduct case against a Hudson’s Bay High School English teacher who was accused of having sex with a 16-year-old female student at school in 2013.
Shadbreon Gatson, 43, had appeared Dec. 23 in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor. He was arrested Dec. 20 after the former student, now 27, reported to Hudson’s Bay staff and Vancouver police earlier this month that she was sexually victimized.
But prosecutors were forced to drop the case, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Laurel Smith said, because the statute of limitations in 2013 for the alleged offenses was three years and has since expired. It wasn’t until 2019 that the statute of limitations was extended, she said. It does not apply retroactively.
“The charging date is what matters for calculating the expiration of the statute of limitations,” Smith said, “and in this case, it was already several years expired.”
Vancouver police spokeswoman Acting Cmdr. Kathy McNicholas said the arresting officer didn’t know at the time that the statute of limitations had expired.
Gatson was released from the Clark County Jail on Thursday, Smith said, after she filed the motion for exoneration. A judge also dropped Gatson’s no-contact order with minors.
Previously, the prosecution said the case may be combined with more recent allegations against Gatson involving a student in 2024.
“A number of victims have reached out to our office, and we contacted the Vancouver police,” Smith said. “At this time, I can’t say I’ll file any other charges, but I’ll follow up with law enforcement once they do their investigation.”
The Vancouver Police Department’s major crimes unit is investigating, McNicholas confirmed Friday. She said she didn’t know the number of people who have come forward with allegations. And she said she didn’t expect the investigations to come together until after the New Year.
2013 incident
In June 2013, a Hudson’s Bay custodian told the school’s principal, William Oman, and assistant principal, Valerie Seeley, that he interrupted Gatson and the 16-year-old student engaging in sexual intercourse in a band room after hours, according to court records. Seeley is now the school’s principal.
Court records say the incident spurred an administrative investigation and was documented in a disciplinary letter in Gatson’s personnel file, along with other accusations of misconduct with female students between 2009 and 2017.
It’s unclear from court records whether school administrators contacted state Child Protective Services.
A spokeswoman for CPS did not confirm whether the agency had received a report, citing confidentiality laws, but said CPS refers reports involving teachers to law enforcement and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. A Vancouver police spokeswoman previously said there are no police reports involving Gatson before 2024.
Gatson has been employed with Vancouver Public Schools since August 2008.
In a Friday email to staff, the district said Gatson will remain on administrative leave as it continues to investigate.
“The safety of our students is again paramount, and if necessary and appropriate, we will take action at the end of our investigation,” the email states.
The district put him on administrative leave last month in connection with a law enforcement investigation into claims of inappropriate behavior, according to a Dec. 20 letter sent to parents by Seeley and district Superintendent Jeff Snell. This was the same month the district awarded him an Employee Excellence Award. Evidence of Gatson receiving the award is now scrubbed from the district’s social media and website.
In 2013, Vancouver Public Schools’ superintendent was Steve Webb, who was recently hired as interim superintendent in Oregon’s St. Helens School District to deal with the fallout of a sex abuse scandal.