Madeline Scoon
Introduction
Madeline Scoon is a former Washington public-school teacher who pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor, a Class C felony, for a months-long sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student at Sprague High School, where she taught math and science. She appears in court records under both names, Madeline Marie Gregory Scoon, and both the Whitman County Gazette and the Cheney Free Press refer to her in their coverage as Gregory. She entered her plea on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, in Lincoln County Superior Court, and was booked into the Lincoln County Jail in Davenport shortly afterward to await sentencing.
Background Information
At the time of her plea, Scoon was 30 years old and lived in Cheney, Washington. She taught math and science at Sprague High School and also served as an assistant tennis coach for the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague program. Court records identified her husband as Caleb Scoon. Her coaching duties placed her around student athletes, and the student at the center of this case was himself a tennis player at the school.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Scoon was arrested without incident at Sprague High School on March 16, 2026, after investigators concluded she had been in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student there between Aug. 20, 2025, and March 16, 2026. That same day, the student’s mother, Ashley Melanson, obtained a protection order against her.
According to court records summarized by both newspapers, the relationship lasted for months and included text messages declaring their love. Scoon’s messages also demanded that the boy not date other girls and that he keep the relationship secret. The sexual contact was not confined to one location: court records show oral and other sexual contact in her classroom, a classroom closet, the school gymnasium closet, and in the bushes adjacent to the school tennis court.
The records also document how far she went to keep the relationship alive. The boy wanted to end it, but Scoon threatened to commit suicide and pressured him into keeping it secret, and court records show that pressure caused the boy “significant” emotional harm. In an effort to keep him interested, she told him she was filing for divorce from her husband, indicating to him that she was in a sexless marriage.
The evidence in the case was extensive. Scoon and the student each admitted the sexual acts and the related text conversations during separate interviews, and security footage and text messages were recovered through searches. Court records also show school officials likely knew about the relationship: the probable cause statement notes that the school district may already have started an internal investigation, because staff and students knew of “rumors” of the relationship.
On Oct. 6, 2026, Scoon pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor, a Class C felony, under an amended agreement with Prosecuting Attorney Ty Albertson, who is recommending six months in jail. The standard sentence for the offense is 6-12 months, and the maximum penalty is five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. During the hearing, she told the court the plea was “free and voluntary,” agreed that the court could rely on police reports and the probable-cause statement filed in the case, and waived speedy sentencing. Lincoln County Superior Court Judge Adam Walser scheduled sentencing for 10 a.m. Nov. 20 at the Lincoln County Courthouse.
Public Reaction and Consequences
Public attention to the case crystallized when both newspapers published their accounts on Oct. 15, 2026. The Gazette framed the plea as part of a broader local pattern, noting that Scoon was the second teacher since July to acknowledge a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy, following Mackenzie Naught, a first-grade teacher who pleaded guilty to the same charge in August. Within the school community, staff and students had already been aware of the relationship as rumors before her arrest, and the probable cause statement indicates the district may have begun an internal investigation of its own. The student’s family, for its part, acted immediately, securing a protection order on the day of her arrest.
The consequences imposed at the plea hearing were substantial. The court entered a post-conviction sexual assault protection order barring Scoon from contacting the boy and ordering her to stay at least 1,000 feet from his home, school and workplace; the order expires Oct. 6, 2031, and replaces earlier no-contact orders in the case. She will also be required to register as a sex offender under the plea. Rather than remaining free pending her sentencing hearing, she was taken into custody and booked into the Lincoln County Jail in Davenport.
Current Status
Scoon is in the Lincoln County Jail in Davenport, where she awaits sentencing, scheduled for 10 a.m. Nov. 20, 2026, before Judge Adam Walser at the Lincoln County Courthouse. Prosecuting Attorney Ty Albertson is recommending a six-month jail term under the amended plea agreement, against a standard range of 6-12 months and a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Because sentencing has not yet occurred, the final terms of her punishment remain to be set. Her obligation to register as a sex offender is already established by the plea, and the protection order shielding the student remains in force until Oct. 6, 2031.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Her career in education is over. Both newspapers now describe her as a former high school math and science teacher, and her role as an assistant tennis coach for Lind-Ritzville/Sprague is likewise referenced in the past tense. A Class C felony conviction, entered by her own plea, is now a permanent part of her record. She faces a jail term to be imposed on Nov. 20, a requirement to register as a sex offender, and a court order keeping her at least 1,000 feet from the victim’s home, school and workplace through 2031. Court records further show she sought to keep the relationship going by telling the student she was filing for divorce from Caleb Scoon; the published accounts do not report on the current state of that marriage.