Duane Beery is out of a job as girls basketball coach at Maranatha Christian Center if there is any truth at all to charges that he sought sex online from an undercover police officer in Pueblo he thought to be a 15-year-old girl.
After a meeting with parents tonight, school director Patricia Loser said, “As far as we’re concerned, unless he is totally and completely exonerated, he won’t have anything to do with our school and our students ever again.”
Arvada police interviewed all the girls on the team and found “absolutely nothing” incriminating against the 53-year-old coach. Loser said the extensive background the school requires before hiring turned up no reason for concern, either.
“He has no police record before this, whatsoever,” she said.
Pueblo police said Beery had been e-mailing with the decoy since November, seeking to arrange a tryst, according to the charges.
Beery was arrested Monday morning on several charges, including Internet luring and attempted sexual assault on a child.
Beery remained in the Pueblo County Detention Center this evening under a $25,000 bond after his court appearance Monday afternoon, a jail spokeswoman said.
The Pueblo detective who worked on the case was not available this evening, but 9News reported that the officer said Beery used the screen name highaltitudediver12000 and shaved five years off his age in the chats, as well as offering the person he thought was an underaged girl a bubble bath with whipped cream and chocolate syrup during the encounter.
Though a veteran coach in the metro region, Beery was in his first year at Maranatha, which has an enrollment of about 500, Loser said.
His team, the Lady Crusaders, were 10-7 in the 2A Mile High League through last Friday night’s 50-46 loss to Nederland, the last time Loser saw him, she said,.
According to a coaching bio on the Internet, Beery has a wife and two daughters. His first coaching job was 16 years ago at University Hills Lutheran School. From 1999 through 2004 he was head girls coach for Westland Christian in Lakewood, and 2004 until last season he was an assistant coach Christian Fellowship School in Lakewood, leading the team to the state tournament in 2006.
He also was hired as a youth coach with Summit Youth Sports, a for-profit, Christian-based recreation league based in Broomfield and run by Maranatha athletic director Tim Shaffer, but Shaffer said Tuesday evening that Beery never coached for the league. Shaffer had a heart attack in August, before the basketball program started, and suspended its operation while he recuperated, he said.
“Now with this scenario, with Duane in jail, we won’t be using him,” Shaffer said.
He said he had known Beery through coaching circles for 11 years.
“Duane is one of the most personable and gracious coaches you will ever meet,” Beery’s bio on the Summit Youth Web page noted. “He has a gentle approach that makes him an excellent instructor especially at the youth level.”
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
