A former assistant faculty director at a school for troubled and at-risk children was convicted Tuesday of 11 felony counts for initiating a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student.
A jury found 53-year-old Kettrell Berry guilty of 11 counts, including unlawful sexual intercourse and committing a lewd act on a child, and acquitted him of two sex counts.
The defendant, a former national masters sprint champion and longtime coach, faces just under 11 years and four months in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 2, said Deputy District Attorney Renee Palermo.
Berry was taken into custody without bail following the verdict, which took more than a week to render.
“I am happy he’s remanded and no longer a danger to the community,” the prosecutor said.
The victim — who turned 16 during her relationship with Berry — testified that she established a bond with the defendant soon after arriving at the school in December 2011.
She said Berry — an assistant principal — would counsel her, meet her after school and listen to her problems. She said she and Berry began hugging at the end of meetings and the relationship turned sexual.
Berry was fired after working at the school for nine years. He previously was a Marine at Camp Pendleton, working as a military police officer. He also coached track at San Diego Mesa College.
During the investigation of the case, authorities found that back in 2003, a 12-year-old girl had made allegations of sexual misconduct against Berry. Now an adult, she testified at trial about what the defendant did to her, Palermo said.
Another 18-year-old woman testified that she began dating Berry about six months after she left the school. The woman — who was addicted to drugs — said Berry preyed upon her, manipulated her, and within seven months she was pregnant with his child.
Palermo said the woman was 19 by the time she had the baby.
“It wasn’t illegal, but it shows his course of conduct in using the school essentially as a fishing pond for his dating escapades with these children who are at-risk and troubled,” the prosecutor said outside court.
Berry competed at Southern Illinois University, clocking a then school record 48.02 seconds in the 400. In his 30s, he began running adult age-group track and field, and won national titles in the 200 (21.89) and 400 (49.37) in 1996. In 2004, he was part of 4×100 relay team including former NFL star Willie Gault that set a still-standing world record in the 40-44 age group.
He ran as recently as May. He has been nationally ranked for two decades.
— City News Service contributed to this report.
