Renton teacher charged with molesting students

Michael Robert Munro, 27, was charged with two counts of first-degree child molestation and one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes.

Editor’s Note: The Reporter did not list names of the victims nor those who were interviewed by detectives in an attempt to protect the identity of those involved.

Michael Robert Munro, 27, was charged with two counts of first-degree child molestation and one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes.

He was booked into the Regional Justice Center on March 22. He remains in custody.

Munro, a Renton resident, taught math to students in fourth through eighth grade at the Cedar River Montessori, 15828 SE Jones Rd.

According to charging documents, he was hired by the Montessori in 2014. Aside from teaching math, Munro also ran an after school homework program and an after-school robotics program.

According to Munro’s roommate and a teaching assistant at the Montessori, he would also babysit and take students off campus for non-school related events like the Seattle Comic Con and the Renaissance Festival in 2017.

Another teaching assistant was the first to be told by students what Munro had reportedly done, the charging documents stated.

She was approached by a student on March 16 who told her about inappropriate sexual behavior another student had witnessed between a victim — a male student — and Munro while at Munro’s home.

The teaching assistant notified the Montessori’s director and Child Protective Services and the families involved. The Renton Police Department were contacted March 19 by the director.

Munro was then put on paid administrative leave.

The student who reported the incident found the information shocking, according to the charging documents. He asked the victim if the events were true and that student told him they were. The victim also asked for him not to tell anyone else what happened.

The reporting student also stated Munro was very affectionate with boys during math class and study hall “in a way that didn’t seem very OK,” the documents stated.

The incident the reporting student was talking about happened at Munro’s home March 2 following Comic Con.

The victim and the student who witnessed the incident had attended the convention with Munro and went back to his home afterward.

During an interview March 21, the witness told investigators what happened between Munro and the other student.

He described to detectives Munro had performed sexual acts on the other student. He told investigators when he noticed what was happening he froze and was too uncomfortable to say anything.

While this was happening the witness was playing a game on Munro’s laptop. When his turn was up he passed it to the other student.

He told investigators that Munro moved over his direction and began pulling on his pant leg. The documents stated the student thought this meant Munro wanted to do the same thing to him.

Munro reportedly asked, “Can I?” and the student answered, “No.”

Shortly after, one of the boy’s mom’s came to pick them up, the documents stated. During the car ride home, the witness said he was bothered by what he saw. And that he was “trying really hard to get that image out of my head.”

That same day, March 21, the victim was also interviewed. He described the incident to investigators via a handwritten note.

Munro’s roommate was interviewed March 19 and she reported that she heard Munro and the boys come home after attending Comic Con. She added, she wasn’t feeling well that day so she stayed in her room and did not interact with them.

On March 23 another student was interviewed by the same King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Child Interview Specialist as the other students.

He told investigators there was an incident at school where Munro had reached into his pants.

The student said he and Munro were alone in the school kitchen because he needed a band aid on his hand and Munro was helping him get one. That is when Munro reportedly touched the student inappropriately.

He said he told Munro not to do that and he stopped. The two then walked back out onto the playground.

This student also told investigators that Munro would also rub student’s backs and lay on kid’s shoulders while upstairs in his classroom.

At his first court appearance his bail was originally set at $300,000, but when a third victim came to light, the state requested his bail be increased to $500,000. The request was granted.

Munro’s arraignment is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, April 9 at the Regional Justice Center.