Gregory Seth, 65, a 25-year Seattle Police Department veteran who spent the last 15 years working as a security guard was given a suspended sentence of 364 days in King County Jail for fourth degree assault on Oct. 14 in Kent.
The suspended sentence, handed down by King County Judge Regina Cahan, gives Seth a chance to avoid serving jail time as long as he fulfills the other requirements set out by the court. Those requirements include 160 hours of community service within a year, a mandatory Victim Penalty Assessment (restitution yet to be determined), successful completion of anger management treatment and no further contact with the victim or a school administrator who alleged Seth coached her to cover up the incident and threatened he would “get her” if she lied. He was not charged with witness tampering.
The assault charge stemmed from a Feb. 1, 2011 incident at Chinook Junior High in SeaTac. Charging documents state Seth put a 14-year-old male student into a headlock and choked him until the victim’s face turned blue and he started drooling uncontrollably, at which time Seth let go.
Seth entered a guilty plea on Sept. 23, although he partially disputed the claims of investigators (you can read about the investigator’s probable cause for charging Seth here).
“I initially grabbed (the victim) in a manner he reasonably found to be unjustified …,” Seth wrote the court. “I do not agree with the all the information contained in the certification (of probable cause), but as part of this plea agreement I understand the court must consider those materials as true facts for the purpose of this plea and for sentencing.”
Seth was fired by the Highline School District in April.