Former Chula Vista schoolteacher John Raymond Kinloch could receive a maximum 405-year prison term after a jury convicted him June 3 of 33 counts involving molestation of one former student and three other boys.
The Chula Vista Superior Court jury deliberated one day before also acquitting Kinloch, 43, of three molestation counts involving a fifth boy. Sentencing was set for July 24 by Judge Ana Espana.
Kinloch last worked at Wolf Canyon Elementary School in Chula Vista as a first grade teacher before he was arrested on Nov. 30, 2012. Before then, he worked at Feaster Charter School, which used to be called Feaster Elementary School, also in Chula Vista.
Kinloch was convicted of 18 counts of committing a lewd act with a minor who was his former student many years earlier, going back to 2004, at Feaster Charter School. That student is now an adult and testified against him. He was also found guilty of possessing images of minors engaging in sexual activity on his computer that were found in his San Ysidro home.
Kinloch reportedly posed as a girl on the Internet and had online chats with teen-age boys. Kinloch apparently persuaded the boys to pose naked and perform a sex act which Kinloch could watch via a webcam in the boys’ bedrooms.
His attorney, Kerry Armstrong, conceded to jurors in the trial that he was guilty of three counts including the possession of child pornography. He argued the counts involving the webcam was not child molestation and said it is an issue for an appeal court.
Kinloch passed a background check before he was hired in 1999 by the school district. However, Kinloch’s name came up in a 1998 court case in England when he testified against an acquaintance accused of trafficking in child pornography on the Internet. Kinloch was granted immunity for his testimony and he was not a teacher at the time.
Because he was a witness, his name did not surface in a background check.
