Former Keppel High School Basketball Coach Charged With Sexually Abusing Student

Former Mark Keppel coach Joseph Kikuchi. – Courtesy Photo

A 56-year-old man was charged with sexually abusing a female high school student over seven months, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced. Joseph Alan Kikuchi (DOB 7/1/59) of Monterey Park has been charged with 19 felonies and five misdemeanors in case GA097357: 13 counts of sexual penetration by foreign object, five counts of lewd act upon a child, five counts of child molestation and one count of oral copulation of a person under 16. The defendant is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Department 5 of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Alhambra Branch. Prosecutors will ask bail be set at $1.47 million.

Deputy District Attorney Rena Durrant, who is assigned to the case, said at the time of the alleged crime, Kikuchi was the girls’ varsity basketball coach at Mark Keppel High School in Alhambra. In July, details of an alleged inappropriate relationship between Kikuchi and a female student began circulating through the school, according to the prosecutor. Last month, a staff member at the school relayed the information to law enforcement, which then began an investigation into the alleged crimes. The charging document alleges that Kikuchi sexually abused the female student between February and September of this year. If convicted as charged, the defendant faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in state prison and lifetime sex offender registration. The case is being investigated by the Alhambra Police Department.

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