Ex-Swim Coach Sentenced to Jail for Sex with Teen

A former Chester County swim coach with ties to Malvern was sentenced to jail Tuesday for a sexual affair with a 17-year-old West Chester student, according to multiple news reports.

Kenneth Fuller, who coached at Bayard Rustin High School, will also undergo mandatory sexual offender counseling. His jail sentence was handed down Tuesday despite the entreaties of his family and supporters in the courtroom, according to the Daily Local News: 

In fashioning a sentence, Common Pleas Court Judge David Bortner rejected Kenneth Fuller’s plea to allow him to remain free so that he could work to support and care for his family, and instead ordered him to serve a seven-to-23 month term in jail.

“There is no doubt in my mind that confinement will involve hardship for Mr. Fuller and his dependants,” Bortner said at the conclusion of an emotional three-hour sentencing hearing, during which Fuller asked for forgiveness and at which his wife and two daughters spoke in his behalf.

Fuller was charged in May 2012 with institutional sexual assault and other offenses. Investigators said that he supplied alcohol to one of the swim team members and had at least three sexual encounters with her. He pleaded guilty in January to a reduced set of charges including endangering the welfare of children, a felony, and corruption of minors.

The Daily Local also quotes the unnamed victim as saying, "Kenneth Fuller is an evil man."

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, he could be released from jail in four months:

In addition to the jail sentence, Fuller will serve eight years probation and was ordered to undergo treatment. He is eligible for work release after four months, according to the Clerk of Courts office.

Fuller had also coached part-time with the Malvern Swimming Association, based at Malvern Prep, which barred him from the campus after his arrest.

District Attorney Tom Hogan praised prosecutor Beth Pitts for her work on the case in a Facebook post Wednesday, and noted that Fuller has been banned from coaching.