Coach Pleads Not Guilty to Molestations

An acclaimed high school track coach pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he annoyed or molested two young students, and prosecutors said there is a good chance that additional sex-related charges will soon be filed against him.

The arraignment of Clyde Ezra Turner, 43, was held in Pasadena Superior Court as parents called the school district to express concerns about the safety of their children.

Turner’s attorney, Anthony Willoughby of Beverly Hills, downplayed police reports that detectives are checking out at least a dozen additional allegations of child molestations by the defendant.

“When you have a feeding frenzy, all the quacks come out,” Willoughby told reporters outside the courtroom.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Amy Seuhiro said the allegations must be taken seriously.

“The defendant is a danger to the community,” she said, adding that she will argue at a hearing next week that Turner’s bail should remain at $1 million.

Turner, who has won national recognition for his achievements as a track coach at Pasadena’s John Muir High School, was first arrested Monday. The arrest was made after the parents of a 15-year-old boy complained to school officials that the coach had molested their son at Turner’s home last week while the two were watching a pornographic videotape.

Turner was released on $100,000 bond, only to be re-arrested Wednesday night after police investigated a case they said was remarkably similar to the first. Bail was immediately raised to $1 million.

Police say the charges in the second case stem from another incident at Turner’s home, during which he allegedly engaged in improper conduct with a 16-year-old athlete at Muir while the two of them were watching a pornographic program on cable television in January.

According to the police report filed in the first case, Turner acknowledged that he “rubbed up against” the 15-year-old while the two of them were watching the video, and said his actions may have been misunderstood by the youth.

Turner entered not guilty pleas to the charges in both cases Thursday.

In the first case, the charges are lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor and exhibiting harmful material (the video) with intent to seduce a minor.

In the second case, he is charged with annoying or molesting a child under 18 and with using “harmful matter sent [via cable] with the intent of seduction of a minor.”

Pasadena police said they are checking out additional molestation allegations against the onetime national track coach of the year.

The Pasadena Unified School District says it is conducting an internal investigation, looking into new reports of “inappropriate behavior” by Turner dating back to the early 1980s, when he was an assistant coach for the football and track teams at Muir.

Vera Vignes, superintendent of the Pasadena Unified School District, said one of the new allegations involves Turner and a student at Charles W. Eliot Middle School in Altadena, where Turner has been working as a part-time truant officer.

“Parents are calling in and asking how things are going,” Vignes said. “They are concerned for their children.”

A parent long active in the John Muir PTA said she welcomed the public concern about the allegations against Turner.

“People who initially said ‘no way’ are starting to say ‘maybe,’ ” said the parent, who asked not to be identified. “People are wondering more and more how much the district knew, and when.”

Vignes said that until the parents of the 15-year-old came forward Monday, the district had never heard a formal allegation or even a rumor about inappropriate conduct by Turner during his 19 years as a district employee.

“We are vigilant to a fault on any issues involving children,” she said.

The furor over Turner and the minors is not the first involving a staffer and his relationship with young male students at John Muir.

In December 1985, the bodies of Robert E. Jones, a social sciences teacher, and Ronald McClendon, a basketball player at the school, were found in Jones’ home in the Hasting Ranch area of Pasadena.

Six months later, Robert Gregg Butler, a nationally ranked track star at Azusa Pacific University who previously had attended Muir, admitted he had shot Jones and McClendon to death, saying he did it because Jones had “stopped communicating” with him.

Members of Butler’s and McClendon’s families said Jones had attempted to buy the affections of the young men by giving them cars, money and credit cards.