A former Federal Way High School student has filed a civil suit against San Diego State University standout Jalen McDaniels, accusing him of recording and distributing a sex video in 2016 without her consent.

The King County Prosecutor’s Office declined to file criminal charges against the athlete this week, according to plaintiff Gwen Gabert’s attorney Joan Mell, who filed the civil suit against the former FWHS basketball player and NBA prospect on Wednesday.

Gabert told media representatives during a press conference at Mell’s Fircrest office on Wednesday that she found out that McDaniels would not be criminally prosecuted on Tuesday. She said while she feels “frustrated and hurt” that prosecutors have dropped the criminal case, she is moving forward with a civil suit to ensure McDaniels is held accountable and “to get his name out there.”

Former FWHS student Tally Thomas, who came forward when she filed a tort claim against Federal Way Public Schools in October for $3.5 million, agreed with Gabert.

“I just want some sort of repercussion so [McDaniels] doesn’t do this to another woman,” Thomas said during the press conference. Thomas claimed McDaniels also videotaped her against her will with another student while McDaniels hid in a closet in 2016, and also claims that the school’s head basketball coach, Jerome Collins, was aware of this incident, had watched the video in question and failed to report the situation to authorities. The school district subsequently placed Collins on paid administrative leave.

According to Gabert’s civil suit, McDaniels got to know Gabert while they were seniors and were in the same history class. On Gabert’s 18th birthday, she agreed to meet McDaniels after school at her car. He asked her for a ride home, and they stopped in an apartment complex parking lot.

“With the expectation that she and McDaniels were engaging in a private exchange, Gabert and McDaniels became intimate — fondling, kissing, and engaging in oral sexual intercourse,” according to the civil suit documents.

The suit claims that Gabert did not know that McDaniels was “violating her privacy by recording and then disseminating without her consent or knowledge video he recorded of their intimate acts” to his basketball teammates and others.

In the weeks that followed, McDaniels allegedly disclosed that he had recorded their intimate act and had sent the video to his friends by uploading it to a group chat, according to the documents. Gabert learned from other students that McDaniels had allegedly widely circulated the video.

In April 2016, Gabert reported McDaniels to Federal Way police, who then contacted the San Diego State University Police Department to secure McDaniels’s phone. According to the suit, the San Diego State University Police chief ordered his detective to inform the university’s coach to control any meeting with McDaniels through the athletic department.

“They felt this would be the ‘best route to take due to the nature/politics involved,’” the documents continue.

The San Diego detective failed to secure the phone, and instead alerted the university coach. The coach found a lawyer for McDaniels, who allegedly refused to cooperate.

“The fact that McDaniels refused to cooperate and that others concealed his wrongdoing prevented prompt criminal investigation and referral to the prosecutors office for timely filing of criminal charges,” the suit continues.

Mell said had the San Diego State police and university officials treated the case as a criminal investigation and “if there was some accountability back then, [Gabert and Thomas’s] self esteem wouldn’t have been so shattered.”

San Diego State University officials did not respond to the Mirror’s request for comment.

“This is something that’s been under investigation for a few years,” Jalen McDaniel’s attorney, Jeremy Warren, told the Mirror. “The district attorney declined to file charges. We’re aware of the civil case and … we’ll respond to it in court.”

Gabert suffered severe physical injuries and emotional distress, and continues to suffer from McDaniels’s alleged exploitation. She cut herself, developed an eating disorder and overdosed on pills. She ultimately tried to end her life with a box cutter and had to have plastic surgery to reduce the scarring, but she still wears long sleeves to hide the permanent wounds, according to the documents.

“I feel like my life has been nothing close to normal,” Gabert said, noting this week is finals week at Western Washington University where she is a sophomore, and she’s navigating this legal matter and the impact it’s had on her life on top of everything.

Thomas, who is taking a year off from her studies at Stanford University, is struggling with bi-polar and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder over the alleged voyeurism incident. She is also undergoing electroconvulsive therapy to help manage her mental symptoms.

“This has been the hardest thing I’ve ever been through in my whole life,” Thomas said, adding she “wants people to know you can’t degrade someone like that” and videotape someone without their permission.

Mell said she plans to file a civil suit on Thomas’s behalf against McDaniels, FWHS coach Collins and Federal Way Public Schools on Monday.

Federal Way detectives, who filed the case with the prosecutor’s office on Nov. 9, recommended that prosecutors charge McDaniels with two counts of voyeurism. However, Mell said the two-year statute of limitations had run out for a criminal charge of disclosing intimate images — a gross misdemeanor. She added that while the statute of limitations for voyeurism is three years, prosecutors said it would be too difficult to prove that McDaniels distributed the videos for his own sexual gratification.

Jalen McDaniels, No. 5, pictured at the 2016 WIAA State Championship basketball tournament. File photo

Tally Thomas, left, and Gwen Gabert speak to the media during a press conference at Joan Mell’s office in Fircrest on Wednesday afternoon. Olivia Sullivan/staff photo