Boot Camp Operator Charged With Sexually Assaulting Teen Girls

PASADENA (AP) — Prosecutors say the operator of a boot camp for troubled youth in Pasadena and Altadena has been charged with sexually assaulting two teen girls in 2004.

District attorney's office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons says 42-year-old Kelvin Bernard McFarland pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to five felony counts. He is being held on $275,000 bail.

McFarland has been charged in a separate criminal case stemming from allegations that he abused children at Sarge's Community Base/Commit II Achieve Boot Camp.

Charges in that case include kidnapping, false imprisonment and extortion. Prosecutors did not say whether the sexual assault charges were connected to the boot camp.

McFarland is scheduled for a preliminary hearing April 17 in the sexual assault case.

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