Former Mountlake Terrace High School student Cole Krause was convicted in Snohomish County Superior Court Tuesday on four counts of felony rape.

The jury convicted Krause, now 23, on three counts of third-degree rape and one count of second-degree rape. Third-degree rape means the victim clearly expressed a lack of consent, and second-degree rape means the victim was incapacitated and incapable of giving consent.

Krause, who also played on the MTHS football team, was found guilty of raping three teen girls in four incidents that occurred between January and October 2016. In the first incident — in January 2016 — the then-17-year-old Krause was accused of raping a 15-year-old girl after school in a Mountlake Terrace High School hallway alcove. After the incident was reported, Krause was expelled from the MTHS campus, and then-principal Greg Schwab posted a letter on the school’s website calling the incident “a very serious matter.”

In the second incident, which occurred in September 2016, Krause was accused of raping a 16-year-old girl at his home.

Prosecutors charged Krause with two counts of third-degree rape in April 2017 after completing their investigations of those incidents.

Additional charges of third-degree rape and second-degree rape were also filed against Krause in November 2018 following statements given to the Mountlake Terrace Police Department, in December 2017, from a third young woman, who told them she came forward after learning that others had pressed charges.

The third victim stated that while her sexual contact at age 16 with the then-18-year-old Krause was initially consensual, over a period of several months in 2016 it had become increasingly violent and unwanted. She described one incident in which Krause continued to have sex with her despite her protests and then proceeded to rape her. She also reported an October 2016 incident that occurred when she was intoxicated and she woke up, after passing out, to Krause raping her at his house.

Krause’s trial started Feb. 28 and the jury began deliberating late Monday afternoon, March 14. The jury came back with a verdict shortly before 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 15.

Sentencing is set for May 4, 2022.

— By Nathan Blackwell