CHULA VISTA
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A National City junior high school teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with a student was arrested last night at a residence in downtown San Diego. A threat to his estranged wife, a teacher at Otay Ranch High School, prompted a one-hour lockdown earlier in the day at the Chula Vista campus after authorities believed he was nearby.
The report that he might be at Otay Ranch turned out to be erroneous.
Craig Edward Kelso, 38, was arrested about 7:10 p.m. at a residence that police had been watching on Second Avenue near Upas Street, National City police Lt. Craig Boegler said.
Kelso, a teacher at Granger Junior High in National City, is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl, a former student at the school, Boegler said.
The lieutenant said the report that Kelso might have been at Otay Ranch High yesterday afternoon was an apparent miscommunication.
“I don't think he was anywhere near there, and to the best of our knowledge, he did not make a threat (to go there),” Boegler said last night.
Lillian Leopold, a spokeswoman for the Sweetwater Union High School District, said earlier yesterday that the Otay Ranch teacher became concerned when her estranged husband – later identified by police as Kelso – threatened her and might be heading to the campus on Olympic Parkway. The teacher, who was not on campus at the time, called the school, and officials immediately called 911, Leopold said.
Police officers from Chula Vista and National City circled the campus with pistols and shotguns drawn as helicopters flew overhead. The lockdown was lifted about 3:30 p.m.
About two hours after the incident, National City police issued a statement asking for the public's help in locating Kelso and released a photo of him. The statement said that “based on evidence obtained . . . there is probable cause for the arrest of Craig Edward Kelso.”
Meanwhile, Leopold said the Otay Ranch teacher “felt threatened” even before the call yesterday. Because of that, she did not report to school for the first day of classes Monday, and “isn't expected to return until further notice,” Leopold said. Otay Ranch is a year-round school.
A letter explaining what prompted the lockdown will be sent to parents today, the spokeswoman said.
Parents who arrived to pick up their children about 2:30 p.m. were told they could not go on campus. As of 3:20 p.m., there was “a big backlog of parents outside waiting to pick up their kids,” Leopold said.
Worried students and parents called or sent text messages to each other on cell phones, but students were not told why the lockdown was issued.
Victoria Carrillo, 17, said that although the event was scary, “I'm happy to know that my school handles things so well.”
David Berlin is a Union-Tribune news assistant.
Mark Arner: (619) 542-4556; mark.arner@uniontrib.com
