A former operator of a boot camp for troubled youth has been sentenced to prison time and ordered to register as a sex offender in connection with a child sex abuse case, authorities said.
Kelvin McFarland, 43, was sentenced to four years and four months in state prison after pleading no contest to nine charges, including sexually assaulting girls, kidnapping and child abuse, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Known as First Sergeant Mac, McFarland ran Family First Growth Camp in Pasadena, which caters to at-risk kids. It came under fire in Oct. 2011 when videos surfaced depicting alleged heavy-handed tactics at two Pasadena boot camps, one of which was McFarland’s.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Suzette Clover sentenced McFarland on Jan. 17, the DA’s office said.
The charges stemmed from two separate cases, one of which was brought about in 2012 and involved two alleged victims, both 14 at the time, who said they were sexually assaulted by the McFarland in March and December 2004. The first case against McFarland was filed in 2011.
McFarland pleaded no contest last summer to these charges:
- sexual penetration by a foreign object,
- oral copulation of a person under the age of 16,
- lewd act upon a child,
- unlawful sexual intercourse,
- child abuse,
- kidnapping,
- false imprisonment,
- extortion,
- and a misdemeanor count of unlawful use of a badge.
