Coach Accused of Sex With Student

A Carlsbad High School basketball coach was charged Thursday by the San Diego County district attorney’s office with two felonies for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old female student.

John Nelson, 46, will turn himself in for booking and arraignment Thursday, said his defense attorney, Richard Muir. Nelson has been on paid administrative leave since early January.

Nelson is the second North County educator to be charged with sex offenses in recent weeks. Fallbrook High School music teacher Kevin McLean is awaiting a Feb. 24 preliminary hearing on charges he had sex with two teen-age girls.

The investigation into Nelson was sparked by the father of the alleged victim, said Carlsbad Police Lt. Michael Shipley. “It was a long, complicated series of events that got to her father, and the father came to us,” he said.

The 16-year-old Carlsbad High School student was subsequently interviewed by police, and the district attorney’s office decided there was enough evidence to bring formal charges, authorities said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles Bell said Nelson was charged with two felony counts--oral copulation of a girl under 18 and rape by a foreign object--and a misdemeanor count of child molestation. The alleged incidents occurred off-campus Oct. 15 and 17, Bell said.

Muir said his client will enter a plea of not guilty, but declined to comment further, saying he hadn’t yet fully investigated the charges.

Attorneys on both sides said it is likely that Nelson will be allowed to remain free until the trial, given his position in the community. Nelson, who is married and the father of a grade-school daughter, has taught for 19 years in junior high, high school and college, usually in health and physical education.

Before the public announcement by the school district that he had been placed on leave, Nelson’s absence on the basketball court was explained as a bout with the flu.

While the team is 13-6 overall, it leads the Avocado League with a 7-0 record. League competition began after Nelson was placed on leave.