A 65-year-old man who used to volunteer at the Oak Harbor School District was recently sent to prison after being caught in a Skagit County Sheriff’s Office sting operation in which he thought he was meeting an underaged girl for sex.

Court documents from the criminal case indicate that Jonathon Kruse admitted that he had sexually abused nine children, 18 adult women, one man and even a few dogs during his lifetime.

He was arrested and charged in Island County with sexually abusing a 6- or 7-year-old girl in 1981.

There are no allegations that Kruse ever sexually assaulted or acted  inappropriately with children at Oak Harbor schools. He volunteered at Hillcrest Elementary, where his former wife was employed. He also told detectives that he volunteered doing construction at the schools and was in contact with young children.

Kruse pleaded guilty in Skagit County Superior Court to attempted rape of a child in the second degree.

On Feb. 16, a judge handed him an indeterminate sentence with a minimum of four years and ten months in prison, plus a year-long enhancement for paying a child for sex.

Last spring, detectives with the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office arrested Kruse and a Sedro-Woolley man during sting operations stemming from an investigation into the website Backpage.com. Detectives posed as underaged girls and corresponded with the men. Kruse was arrested at a gas station in Mount Vernon where he thought he was meeting a 13-year-old prostitute for sex.

Although the investigation continued, detectives released information about the arrests almost immediately because both men were associated with schools.

Rick Schulte, superintendent of Oak Harbor schools, said the district performs criminal background checks on all volunteers, including Kruse. But the 30-year-old, sex-abuse-related charge against Kruse didn’t appear on the background check.

Prosecutors in both Skagit and Island counties said that details of the 1981 case are difficult to track down. Kruse was arrested for lewd behavior and charged with communicating with a minor for immoral purposes in 1981 after he made a young girl perform a sex act on him, according to court documents. He claimed the charge was vacated after he completed sexually deviancy treatment through the VA hospital.

Skagit County Deputy Prosecutor Erin Dyer, however, said it’s unclear whether the charge was vacated, especially since the case shows up on some databases.

Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks looked at the electronic records his office has on the case and found that the paper file of the 1981 case had been destroyed. His office created an administrative file in 2003 when Kruse tried to get an order sealing the court file and law enforcement files in the case. Banks successfully opposed the sealing of law enforcement files, but by that time, the sealing of the  court file was a given.

As a result, the charge wouldn’t have appeared on the State Patrol criminal database, although it’s possible the police still have the investigative files.

Another issue may be that his first name is spelled two different ways — Jonathon and Jonathen — in court files.

Kruse was also charged with forgery in 2007 and violation of a domestic-violence protection order in 2008.

Kruse is a Vietnam veteran and a retired financial consultant who had his own business in Oak Harbor, according to the recent pre-sentence investigation report. The report, written by a Department of Corrections supervisor, states that Kruse cooperated with a treatment provider in discussing his history.

“The evaluation, however, paints a disturbing picture of an individual with an extensive history of sexual deviance in his background,” the report states.

Kruse admitted to abusing nine children, including children as young as three or four years old. His professed crimes include raping and molesting children, the report states. Kruse committed “fairly extensive sexual acts with a 12 and 14-year-old brother and sister” almost immediately after completing sexual deviancy treatment in the 1980s. He then voluntarily went into treatment again apparently and did not reoffend for more than 25 years.

In addition, Kruse admitted to sexually abusing 19 adults. The offenses included groping, voyeurism and indecent exposure, the report indicates. He also admitted to performing sex acts with dogs in recent years.

Kruse told the Department of Corrections officer that he was taking full responsibility for his actions and was very ashamed and deeply regretful. He explained that he has a sexual addiction and that accessing internet pornography aggravated the condition, according to the report.