Teacher Tried on Molestation, Child Porn Charges

A former elementary school teacher accused of molesting five boys appeared Tuesday in a South County Courtroom.

John Kinloch, 41, taught in South County Schools for 14 years until his arrest in November 2012 as part of a national child pornography bust.

Federal officials claim Kinloch posed as a 13-year-old girl to befriend boys ages 12 to 16 through a website.

After his arrest, new charges were filed against him including accusations of lewd acts with students and non-students age 8 to 15.

At a pretrial hearing in September 2013, a young man testified he was molested by Kinloch after school in the classroom of a Chula Vista charter school.

The alleged victim, identified in court as β€œJohn Doe 1”, met the defendant when he was a student in Kinloch’s 2nd grade class at Feaster Charter School on Flower Street.

Kinloch faces an additional 12 counts of lewd acts with a child under the age of 18 involving a second alleged victim. The allegations involve situations that happened between August and December of 2012, investigators said. The alleged victim was under the age of 13 and not a student.

He also faces six additional lewd act charges involving a third victim who was 14 or 15 between 1996 and 1998 when he alleges inappropriate contact. The incident allegedly occurred when Kinloch was 24 or 25 and not working as a teacher.

Kinloch has pleaded not guilty and is currently on unpaid leave from the Chula Vista Elementary School District.

If convicted on all charges, he faces between 450 years to life in prison.

Kinloch was teaching first grade at Wolf Canyon Elementary School at the time of his arrest. He had passed background checks designed to protect students, according to district officials.

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