Former Private School Coach Sentenced for Secretly Filming Students Undressing on School Ski Trips

     The former cross country ski coach at a Seattle private school was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to eight years in prison for transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes.  JASON CHRISTOPHER PAUR, 45, of Seattle was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in December 2013 at Silver Star ski area in British Columbia, Canada.  The arrest came after female students on a school sponsored field trip discovered a video camera had been hidden in their bedroom.  The camera had been positioned to video-tape the young students while they got dressed after showering.  PAUR pleaded guilty in November 2015.  At the hearing U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour sentenced PAUR to 15 years of supervised release to follow the eight year prison term.

     “This betrayal of trust is every parent’s nightmare,” said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes.  “I commend the victims, their families and the school who have remained steadfast in the pursuit of justice in this case.”

     According to records in the case, the investigation revealed that PAUR had secretly recorded students while on the annual school ski trip in 2011, 2012, and 2013.  The camera seized in Canada contained images of students between the ages of 14 and 17 being filmed while changing clothes or after exiting the shower.  In addition, PAUR secretly filmed students changing while on a cross country running trip in 2012, and in 2013, and filmed a student changing in a storage room at the private school.  PAUR used the pictures for his own sexual gratification.  PAUR traveled with the students to Canada knowing that he planned to film them for his own sexual gratification.

     PAUR was immediately removed from the field trip by the chaperones who notified police.  PAUR was fired by the school, which has fully cooperated with law enforcement.  Since his arrest in 2013, PAUR has been in custody either in Canada or in the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac.

     The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kate Vaughan.

     Press contact for the U.S. Attorney’s Office on February 2, 2016 is First Assistant United States Attorney Micki Brunner at (206) 553-7970.