KENT, Wash. – The KING 5 Investigators have uncovered the story of a developmentally disabled teenager in the Kent School District who became a target of bullying, extortion and exploitation.

We examined more than 400 pages of school records, e-mails and counseling notes about a girl named Amanda, who was supposed to be protected and watched.

Instead, the documents show a picture of a disabled teenager with many problems and a disturbing secret. They also suggest a counselor knew all about that secret but didn't tell anyone who could have kept Amanda safe.

Amanda is a shy 17-year-old who works hard at school and at making friends.

"I like animals, friends, movies," she said. "I'm happiest when I'm with my friends."

It isn't easy.

She was born developmentally disabled. Evaluations describe her as mildly retarded and a teenager easily taken advantage of in an effort to belong. Middle school was especially hard.

"They'll say, well, you're not so smart or you're not dressed well or you look ugly, or whatever. Those are hurtful things," said her mother, Madhuri. "So that has been with her all along."

Two years ago, things seemed to turn around when Amanda got to high school. She was in the special ed program at Kentridge High and made some friends - even met a boyfriend.

"She thought they were the best friends she ever had," Madhuri said.

But Amanda's mother was suspicious. She cracked into her daughter's computer and found the truth: five months worth of e-mail exchanges showing the price of those friendships.

The boy Amanda called her boyfriend writes:

"I love u...so see if u can get the money."

"If you give me the money I will…take you shopping”

A girl intervenes with threats:

"u guys are no longer together until u bring the money."

"he said steel(sic) your mom's money...search everywhere...be VERY QUIET!"

Amanda responded:

"tell him I love him..and I will have 20 or 40 dollars by tomorrow."

Madhuri said when she discovered the e-mails, she felt outraged and hurt.

"It's something I didn't think would happen in life," she said.

The school expelled the kids for exploitation and extortion and set up a one-on-one monitoring plan for Amanda. Her mother also sent her to counseling at Kent Youth and Family Services.

Amanda was open with the counselor, telling her startling secrets that prompted the counselor to warn school administrators to not leave Amanda unsupervised - especially in the bathroom.

Here's what no one but Amanda and her counselor knew: She was having sex in the boy's bathroom with a special ed classmate, and was before with another boy who took advantage of her.

Over the course of a year, the counselor writes over and over: Amanda is being sexually exploited, yet her supervisor says Child Protective Services and the school cannot be called.

Dr. Kathleen O'Shaunessy is a clinical psychologist who reviewed the case. Because of Amanda's limited comprehension - and the exploitation - she says the counseling center had a legal obligation to report what was happening.

"Cognitively, socially and emotionally this child is about 10," she said. "I was astonished because they can tell the parent and they must report to either Child Protective Services or law enforcement or both."

One of the things the counselor did do in an effort to help Amanda was walk her across the street from the counseling center to the Kent Teen Clinic, where Amanda received a shot of Depo Provera, a hormone injection used as birth control. Her mother had no clue.

FRAME: "Do you think your daughter has the capacity and the ability to make a decision on whether or not to get birth control?"

MADHURI: "Absolutely not. She does not. She does not understand full scope of what birth control is."

KING 5 called, e-mailed and visited the counseling center, asking why they didn’t tell what was happening in the bathrooms. Finally, by telephone, Executive Director Mike Heinisch said: “(At 15) She was at the legal age of consenting (to have sex). It was not a mandatory reporting situation. I know the integrity of my people who understand the responsibility of when they have to report.”

He added, “We did warn the school.”

What about that one-on-one supervision plan?

The special ed bathrooms are just 10 feet away from the class. In addition, there are only seven students in the class with one teacher and two aides. The district says they did all they could, but would have done more if the counselor had told them what was really going on.

"If someone is holding information from us, that's a real problem because we're in this together," said Becky Hanks, a spokesperson for the Kent School District. "If we're prevented from having information that puts our students at risk, that's, I think that's deplorable. I have a real hard time with that."

Former Superintendent of Public Instruction Judith Billings has consulted on similar cases. She looked over dozens of records and concluded the school district missed clues and didn't follow the supervision plan.

"From what I've seen so far, there was a real let down of them taking the steps they should have taken to make sure Amanda was safe," she said.

Madhuri describes the situation as "total neglect on the school part."

"How could they have even allowed this!?" she said.

The truth came out when Amanda finally told her mother. She was 16, and it was a year after the first episodes in the bathroom.

Amanda was immediately taken out of Kentridge, and now attends a private school that's set up for students with disabilities.

Madhuri reported the incidents to the King County Sheriff’s Department, who got a full confession from one of the boys.

Charges were never filed in the case.

Public Records and Resources for Investigation

Many records were obtained for this investigation by utilizing the state's Open Records Act. Medical records and assessments were obtained by family members. The following records and sources were relied upon for this story:

*Revised Codes of Washington

*Health Care Information Act

*Medical records of Seattle & King Co. Public Health

*Kent Youth & Family Services Progress, Contact Notes

*Kent Youth & Family Services Individualized Treatment Plans

*King County Sheriff's Department Incident Reports

*Kent School District Special Education Team Evaluations

*Kent School District Special Education Re-evaluation Summary Analysis

*Kent School District Individualized Education Plans

*UW Autism Center Evaluation Summary

*Minutes from Kentridge High School Special Education Team Meetings

*Information from Advocates for the Rights of Citizens with Developmental Disabilities

*Information from the Washington State Department of Health

*Hundreds of e-mail exchanges between school staff members, family members and between students