The vice principal of a small San Diego school for children who have suffered trauma or abuse or have mental health issues has been arrested on 25 counts of child molestation, the center's CEO said Saturday.
According to the Sheriff Department's jail booking log, Kettrell Berry, 49, was taken into custody Friday for allegedly having sex with a child and other molestation charges, NBCSanDiego reported.
Berry is vice principal of the San Diego Center for Children, which say it offers day treatment, counseling and education to children "whose trauma, abuse, emotional, or mental health challenges have kept them from achieving their full potential."
The log confirms Berry has been booked into San Diego Central Jail, where his bail is set at $1,120,500. His arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday.
Read more on the case at NBCSanDiego.com
On Saturday, center CEO Dave McCaslin released a statement on Berry's arrest.
"We are saddened by the breach of trust that has occurred. In the Center’s 125 years of service in San Diego we have been a lifeline for over 10,000 children. We took immediate action by contacting the San Diego Police Department and Child Protective Services and have been partnering with them throughout the investigation," said McCaslin.
"The safety of our children is always our first priority and we are taking action to ensure their continued safety. We are committed to helping and protecting children and the action of one person will not deter us from providing the best possible care and hope for these children," he continued.
UTSanDiego.com reported that the school fired Berry on April 19 and that McCaslin said the allegations seem to concern one female student.
The San Diego Police Department would not confirm or discuss Berry's arrest at this time.
According to its website, the San Diego Center for Children has five locations in San Diego County and offers "mental health and academic services for these children, including day treatment, outpatient counseling, a K-12th grade education in our accredited school, a residential treatment program, as well as foster care services."
UTSanDiego.com reported that the center has about 70 students at its main campus in Kearny Mesa, a community in San Diego.
Msnbc.com's Gil Aegerter contributed to this report from Monica Garske at NBC SanDiego.com.
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Well, job well done, for the hiring department. I suppose this is YET ANOTHER case of a person who was well screened with no prior criminal record of ANY kind.....RIGHT!
Might as well hire criminals, and watch them closely than to hire those without these days.....does it really matter!!
I believe that there is WAY MORE going on here. SOMEBODY had to recognize what signals there were for this, AND THERE HAD TO BE RED FLAGS AND SIGNALS, but the problem is that children are just dollar signs to employees, social workers, CPS WORKER (in particular)and other professionals.
They all think they are so smart, so they should not have let this get by them! What I think is really happening is that there are more culprits involved who harbor hate and cruelty in the system, but hide it and protect it in others who are their "peers".
Enough is enough! It is in the "system" that these things are more likely to go on and children are 600 times more likely to become more seriously injured than by their own birth relatives, although it does occur within families. I would like to point out that is MORE likely in foster, adoptive and non blood relative homes!!!!!!
When will we learn to give the help to the families instead of taking them away for perverts within the system to play with!!!???? And they are in the system because they seek out these positions!
Pamela
Are you aware the person charged has worked there for over nine years?
Do you have some statistics to back up your claims? It sounds like you have an ax to grind with the "system".
This guy is BAD news but using this story as some sort of platform is just creepy.
Another thing, is that when children are taken from home, they fail to sometimes fail to tell the public that it is a"foster" or "adoptive" family!!!!!
Just like the awful perverted and cruel "adoptive" mother, who adopted a Russian child in Alaska; she gave him "hot sauce" and "cold showers" when she was "alone" with him.....that cruel b......!
Or, maybe, since her husband was a "police officer" she sprayed pepper spray in his mouth or possibly all over him when she did NOT film it for Dr. Phil! Maybe pepper spray was in the hot sauce!
She adopted a child to torture him, and I do not know if she got to keep the child. I HOPE NOT!!!!!! It is no telling what all she REALLY did, since she became so bold as to film "part of it".
You can bet that there was WAY more that no one knows about with that situation!!!!!!!
The charge involves one female student - it would be a good idea to reserve comment here until the investigation is complete. Several cases against administrators and teachers in this area have been proved false. Students who were angry over some grade or discipline handed out.
Kids watch much TV these days - and - can easily fabricate molestation stories. In one case a female accuser had been molested - she blamed her teacher at school - turned out it was her Doctor. She felt less threatened accusing her teacher - than - her doctor.
Pam - many schools now have cameras in areas where students are allowed - and - neither teachers or administrators are allowed to meet with a student alone. A Vice Principal for instance is not allowed to meet with a student alone even when discipline is involved. Some schools now have TWO teachers who are certified as counselors - so that no counselor has to meet with a student alone. It may be that there are some students who won't talk in these situations - but - educators are now taking steps to protect themselves from false accusations.
Why does it take 25 victims to discover something wrong was going on.
Bill H-1430012
ONE student multiple counts.
A Sheriff’s Department jail booking log obtained by U-T San Diego indicates Berry was booked on child molestation charges including lewd and lascivious acts with a 14-or 15-year-old, oral copulation with a person under 16, and 20 charges of sex with a foreign object on a person under 16.
That last one could be fondling even. What ever it is, it is WRONG if proven true.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2140245/Kettrell-Berry-Vice-principal-school-abused-kids-arrested-suspicion-child-molestation.html#ixzz1u7dlndiJ
Read the article, it seems ONE Victim many events, even if as some said the " Victim was willing " the fact that the victim is underage still makes this Paedophilia and it is a crime.!
I just read the article, the girl was 15 and it is probably a case where the vice principal crossed the line and started an improper relationship with this girl. Some man don't understand that even if a girl looks like a woman, she is still underage and any sexual contact will be treated as a crime, especially in this type of setting. He knew better but so many men are destroyed by their urges and poor judgement.
I hope the accusations are false and this is just some child that is just a little upset about something else and does not know the gravity of this, but if he did something like this, Crucify the mother-hubbbard!
This crap is going on too much in these schools with these kids. Nobody is sending a strong enough message. They do it because its worth the risk to them. Nobody is doing @!$%# to them..........crazy!!!
Forced castration seems like an appropriate punishment. Not only would it serve as a deterrent (probably not), it would ensure the likelyhood of him offending again would approach zero.
I am a union man myself, but for once I would hope that the teachers union would take a hands off approach to this one and let him twist in the wind. No effing way does a person like this deserve their protection or the benefits that he'll likely get anyway, despite being a disgusting pervert who violated the trust of the children and community he was supposed to be serving.
At least my union has the decency and common sense to ostracize people who have committed these acts.
In schools of any kind, there should be rules that no "teacher" or anyone at the school can be alone in an environment where they could possibly harm the kids. What are we doing in schools and special schools where any adult would have enough access to a child to be able to physically abuse them? This should be a given - to make sure there is no way to have a one-on-one scenario where this could happen.
When my chld was in day-care, I found one that had many teachers involved all day long. Even if a teacher got too stressed, they were in an environment where another could take over immediately. There should never be an environment set up where this can happen. Cameras are great, but they are after the fact. Schools have to take absolute responsibility to insure the safety and well-being of every child.
It only takes one whacko to harm a lot of kids. We can't always know who these people are, but why do the collective "we" keep giving them environments where they can act on their sick impulses?
trust_verify
" wow... That you are willing to sacrifice ONE innocent speaks volumes. "
hy·poc·ri·sy
/hɪˈpɒkrəsi/ Show Spelled[hi-pok-ruh-see] Show IPA
noun, plural hy·poc·ri·sies.
1.
a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.
2.
a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.
3.
an act or instance of hypocrisy.
Origin:
1175–1225; Middle English ipocrisie < Old French < Late Latin hypocrisis < Greek hypókrisis play acting, equivalent to hypokrī́ ( nesthai ) to play a part, explain ( hypo- hypo- + krī́nein to distinguish, separate) + -sis -sis; h- (reintroduced in 16th century) < Latin and Greek
A Typical Hypocrite " One Life " they want to safe is the CRIMINAL, no mater HOW many LIVES the Criminal takes, see " RE Offending " of Criminals that re offend KILL Hundreds/Year, but an imperfect criminal system wrongly convicts a few every decade. so who is the HYPOCRITE, and why?
trust_verify
Have you seen the costs of the death penalty? It's not as simple/cheap as a tall tree and a new rope. You don't like the costs of keeping them in prison then work to fix that. The cost of ONE wrongful execution is beyond comprehension or any dollar value. Let me guess you are Pro life also. #1.25 - Mon May 7, 2012 10:40 AM EST
Seems this SOD pretends to be interested in " life " and yet the only life is indeed the criminal, and it uses " cost and accidental death convictions " as an excuse to allow Criminals to prosper and take control.
Eagle
and just what is the life of someone who is wrongfully executed worth then? You seem to have not answered that question. What value to you place on taking someones life who is not guilty of a crime other than poor police work?
#36 - Mon May 7, 2012 10:47 AM EST
$1,120,500 bond? If available, he should have claimed a Stand Your Ground defense and the bond would have been $250,000 tops.
In all seriousness, what this man is accused of doing is reprehensible. The high bond amount makes it seem like guilt or innocence doesn't matter, though...just like an absurdly low bond would suggest the same. It seems like the authorties have already made their minds up.
If this man is truly found guilty, then throw the keys away. Something just seems a bit off...for a Democracy anyway. The ends are not supposed to be allowed to justify the means in America.
Justice is not Democracy. If it were, Casey Anthony and O.J. would both have been convicted. The US Justice system is based on LAWS and EVIDENCE. Don't get the two confused.
That said; remember this is California. Who knows where they come up with bail. Had this guy wanted to leave, he was only about 20 miles north of the Border and it does not appear they arrested him the day he was fired. More than likely bail was set for politics or based on some formula based on the charges.
#1.25 - Mon May 7, 2012 10:40 AM EST
What's been left out of this article is what the victims' suffered. The terror, the pain, the fear, the anger......and the repercussions in their lives. The gains they had made that disappeared, being unable to control their behavior, the withdrawal. The frustration and fears of their parents trying to figure out what happened (in some cases, again) - who hurt their child, who caused their child to regress or shut down.
Evil walks the earth.....victimizing vulnerable children for its own sick pleasure. Save your sympathies for the victims, not the perpetrator. Only 25 charges were placed - with this population of kids, it's likely there were many, many more victims who could not report what happened to them.
Sue K
Involving ONE child. While this happened to one single victim is horrendous, your attempt to make it larger is nothing short of making it MORE than it was. You must WANT it to be larger. I in no way condone what happened but from all reports there was only a single victim. You appear to want to victimize the rest of the at risk children.
Scream ...scream.....Blow it up ...Like the GOODYEAR...Shout it from the Roof ToPS...Whatever...
Stop these predators from messing with these kids....you can bet...for every one predato...that gets identified...
There are probably tens to hundreds that never get caught and even more victims that are afraid to come
forth............Shout it OUT.........This is too serious to be quiet about..or .the next victim might be your kid!!
This went in the Catholic Church for centuries because nobody had the guts to call a clown out....thousand of
kids suffered needlessly!!
Hindenburg actually. The sky is falling the sky is falling. Lets spend billions to "FEEL" safer. e.g. TSA.
Happened in many churches and instead of holding the holier than thou to the same standards we allowed them to keep it behind closed doors and simply spread the sickness. Amazing how few cockroaches there are when the lights are shown brightly.
To those of you out there that desire little children, I’m curious, do you think your victim(s) are going to stay children forever? As you are robbing them of their innocence, do you think that’s it’s something they are just going to forget? In case that’s what you’re counting on, let me be the first to dismiss your false hopes and tell you they do not forget.
If and when they muster the courage to speak of your despicable actions, your perversions will be known and the whole world can then see what a POS you truly are. As the jury finds you guilty…..and they will, know that there are people in prison that would love nothing more than to beat the life out of an individual such as yourself and they won’t lose a wink of sleep over it. See, even in the mind of a murderer, you are scum and deserve no place on this mudball we call earth.
If you prey on children, you deserve every vile and despicable thing that can happen to you.
I can't imagine anyone missing this sub-human if he suddenly disappeared.
How did that go on for so long and no body caught on, dammit. Why do scum like this get jobs in schools? He'll get less time than someone who comitted murder. They need to create a molester lock-up where they all have to stay for life.
Moomoo16
Seeing that it is only ONE victim/accuser at the moment more than likely this is not an ongoing thing. It doesn't take long to rack up 25 counts if they want to put the screws to the guy. Without going into details, use your own imagination and think heavy petting, 20 counts of foreign object could happen in one encounter. http://law.onecle.com/california/penal/289.html See item L
If guilty - throw away the key.
This story offers so little detail that I think that this might be an case of statutory rape. It involves one girl and she is probably a teenager who this man probably thought he was in love with so in his mind, it made it ok to have sex with her. If he was a predator like Jerry Sandusky, there will be more than one child involved in the case. It sickens me that men and women in their 30's and 40's think it is ok to have a relationship with a minor just because they think they are in love. Teenagers need to date people their own age and these grown men or women who prey on these young girls/boys are robbing them of their life experience. It is a selfish act but a lot of men and women get away with this.
Indeed have a look at " cougar " sites and see how many females boast about it!