High School Coach Arrested for Alleged Sexual Assault on Teen

A coach and school security officer was arrested this week on suspicion of a lewd act with a 15-year-old girl in South San Francisco in July, police said.

Mark Avery Turner, 38, was arrested Tuesday night after investigators corroborated statements made by the girl about the incident, according to police.

Turner has been employed for several years as a football coach and campus security officer at El Camino High School in South San Francisco, although the July incident did not occur during any school-sponsored event, police said.

Turner had also been coaching girls’ club basketball for several years in the Bay Area, police said.

South San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Alejandro Hogan issued a statement saying that Turner will not be returning as an employee of the district regardless of the outcome of the case. “The emotional and physical safety of our students is the highest priority of our Board of Trustees and administration,” Hogan said. “The district is fully cooperating with the South San Francisco Police Department’s continuing investigation into this matter.”

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call South San Francisco police at (650) 877-8910.

--Bay City News