Sex Charges Filed Against Brea Teacher

Orange County prosecutors filed charges Thursday against a popular basketball coach at Brea Junior High School, alleging he sexually assaulted four young boys at the school.

Craig Lee Coleman, 34, “performed lewd acts” on three 13-year-olds and a 14-year-old on school grounds in 1997 and 1998, according to charges by the district attorney’s office. Prosecutors accuse Coleman of touching the boys, who were fully clothed, on their buttocks and genitals.

Coleman, through his attorney, Stephen Klarich of Santa Ana, adamantly denied the allegations Thursday. Klarich said his client is mystified about why his students would make the accusations against him.

Coleman faces as many as 27 years in prison if convicted. He has been on a paid leave of absence from school since the allegations surfaced in October.

The Brea-Olinda Unified School District is still trying to determine what happened and how to respond to the incidents, said Pete Boothroyd, assistant superintendent. He said parents were not officially alerted about the allegations.

Boothroyd refused to comment about the charges against Coleman, calling them a “personnel matter.”

Coleman has taught physical education at the junior high since 1994 and worked as an assistant basketball coach at Brea-Olinda High School from 1992 to 1996. During that time, he also coached at local summer basketball camps.

According to Orange County prosecutors, the case unfolded on Oct. 30 when Coleman allegedly touched a 14-year-old boy. The student immediately told the principal, Mike Condiff, who notified Brea police.

Detectives interviewed students at the school and found three other boys who accused Coleman of touching them “in a sexually provocative manner,” said Tori Richards, spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

The prosecutor’s office declined to provide any more details about the alleged incidents. One of the students has since transferred to another school, Richards said.

Prosecutors notified Coleman of the charges on Thursday, and the teacher agreed to surrender to authorities on Monday. He has no criminal record, Richards said.

Klarich said the only physical contact Coleman had with students at the school was harmless “wrestling and fooling around” during gym class. Perhaps prosecutors took this out of context, he said.

“It’s one of those [allegations] where, regardless of guilt or innocence, it’s a dark cloud over his head,” Klarich said. “And him being a teacher makes it even worse.”

Coleman’s colleagues also defended him.

Gene Lloyd, a former high school basketball coach, worked closely with Coleman and said he saw no evidence and never heard any complaints or even rumors about such incidents.

“I was probably with him more than anyone else, and I witnessed nothing that was inappropriate,” said Lloyd, who also coached Coleman as a student at Brea-Olinda High. “I can’t believe this is happening. It’s absolutely flabbergasting.”