Member of LDS Port Angeles Stake Pled Guilty to Child Rape

About five years ago, the details of a crime sent a shockwave through the West End community of Clallam County: a trusted school employee, utilizing her access to students, admitted to the severe and ongoing sexual abuse of a middle schooler.

Tammy Ann Leask, a former para-educator for the Quillayute Valley School District with deep, multi-generational ties to the Port Angeles Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ultimately pled guilty to the rape of a 13-year-old child.

A deep dive into the massive court docket reveals the chilling timeline of the abuse, the disturbing nature of her confession, and lingering questions.

A Predatory Timeline and a Chilling Confession

The criminal investigation that brought down Leask began just before the start of the 2020 school year.

Administrators at the Quillayute Valley School District contacted law enforcement after receiving information that a para-educator was suspected of having an inappropriate relationship with a student at Forks Middle School.

The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office immediately launched an investigation into the allegations against the 39-year-old Forks resident. Detectives quickly developed probable cause, and on the morning of August 27, 2020, law enforcement descended on Forks High School and arrested Leask without incident.

During subsequent interviews with detectives, the facade crumbled. Leask confessed to the abuse, stating that she had engaged in a sexual relationship with the 13-year-old child spanning a concentrated period from November 2019 to January 2020.

Probable cause documents detail the stark reality of that confession. Leask admitted to detectives that the relationship started at the school itself, with their first act of sexual intercourse occurring directly inside a classroom.

From there, the abuse escalated rapidly and moved off-campus. The abuse took place roughly ten to eleven times over a six-week period in her car, inside the child’s home, and in the school.

“I’m sorry. I was just trying to help him,” Leask told detectives during her confession. “It just got out of control. I couldn’t stop it.”

The investigation also revealed a calculated effort to groom the child. Detectives established that Leask actively furnished the 13-year-old with a steady supply of illicit items.

According to the probable cause statement, Leask admitted to buying the middle schooler beer “once or twice, because he said it helped him calm down.” She also purchased tobacco and pornographic magazines, and supplied him with condoms obtained from the health department.

When asked if she had given the child Xanax from her purse, Leask replied, “I don’t think so. Maybe.”

The Legal Hammer and Procedural Delays

Following her confession, Leask was booked into the Clallam County Corrections facility. The Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office moved swiftly.

On August 28, 2020, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matthew D. Roberson filed a formal Criminal Information, initially charging Leask with five distinct counts of Rape of a Child in the Second Degree and one count of Distribution of a Controlled Substance to a Minor.

That same day, the court set her bail at $150,000 and established strict conditions of release, explicitly banning Leask from stepping foot on any Quillayute Valley School District properties and prohibiting her from having contact with any minor under the age of 16.

Despite her detailed confession to detectives, when Leask stood before Judge Simon Barnhart for her initial arraignment on September 4, 2020, she officially entered a not guilty plea.

As the defense waded through the sensitive discovery materials—including strictly controlled audio and video recordings of the child’s forensic interviews—the initial rapid momentum of the prosecution slowed.

Through a series of subsequent motion hearings in late 2020 and early 2021, the court continued to push the trial timeline back as both sides prepared their cases.

A Plea Deal and a 102-Month Prison Sentence

The legal posturing came to an abrupt end on March 17, 2021, when Leask formally abandoned her claim of innocence and entered a plea of guilty to an amended charging document.

On April 21, 2021, the court convened for Leask’’s final sentencing hearing. The court handed down a 102-month prison sentence for the child rape charges, to be served concurrently with a 24-month sentence for the drug charge.

What Did the Port Angeles Stake Know?

While the horrific acts of the para-educator and her eventual prison sentence are a matter of public record, background research into the perpetrator reveals deep roots within former Stake President Brent Basden’s LDS Stake.

Extensive documentation confirms that Leask and her family have long-standing, multi-generational ties to the local LDS Church. Records provided to the Olympic Herald indicate that Leask was raised within the Port Angeles Stake of the church, and some of her family remains members of that stake today.

In the LDS faith, members are heavily encouraged to confess severe moral transgressions to their ecclesiastical leaders—specifically their Bishop or Stake President.

Given Leask’s admission to detectives that her actions “got out of control” and that she “should have gotten out,” critics and community members are left to wonder: Did Leask seek counsel from her ward leadership during or after the abuse?

Was the Port Angeles Stake aware of the para-educator’s actions before law enforcement intervened in August 2020?

And most critically, when Judge Brent Basden—the former Port Angeles Stake President—presided over a hearing in Leask’s felony case, what exactly did he know?

A Conflicted Judge Steps In

Notably, Judge Basden did not fully distance himself from the admitted child rapist’s legal proceedings. On February 17, 2021, the Peninsula Daily News reported that Basden presided over a hearing in Leask’s criminal case.

The bedrock of the justice system requires judges to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

While the primary focus remains on the catastrophic betrayal by a school employee and the justice served for the 13-year-old victim, the judicial handling of the case continues to resonate.

As Judge Basden currently faces an investigation by the Washington State Commission on Judicial Conduct regarding alleged bias in family court matters, his involvement in the felony proceedings of a defendant from his LDS Stake serves as a stark reminder of the ethical tightropes and potential blindspots within the Clallam County justice system.