CORRY — A volunteer football coach in the Union City School District is accused of having a sexual relationship with a student.
Daulton J. Kerns, 24, was arraigned Thursday afternoon by Corry District Judge Denise Buell on felony counts of intercourse/sexual contact with a student, dissemination of sexually explicit material and unlawful contact with a minor, and on a misdemeanor count of corruption of minors.
The Pennsylvania State Police accuse Kerns of having a sexual relationship with a then-17-year-old girl, which included having sexual intercourse on one occasion, between September 2023 and October 2024, according to information in the criminal complaint filed against him. Police also allege Kerns and the girl exchanged nude photographs of themselves on multiple occasions.
State police in Corry first revealed the investigation that led to the charges against Kerns in a news release issued in October, when the investigating trooper wrote that the suspect, who was not named, had sexual relations with a victim who was a juvenile student at the time.
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According to information in the affidavit of probable cause filed with the criminal complaint against Kerns on Wednesday, troopers were called on Oct. 21 to the administration office of the Union City School District to investigate a report an assistant football coach was having sexual relations with a student. Troopers spoke to a district administrator and were told the victim, who was now 18, told a school secretary about having sexual relations with Kerns, investigators wrote in the affidavit.
The victim told troopers that Kerns added her as a friend on Snapchat on her 17th birthday. She said she knew Kerns was 23 years old at the time, and said she made it clear to him that she was only 17, according to information in the affidavit.
The girl told state police she and Kerns communicated on and off for a year and sent nude photographs of themselves to each other. She also stated the two had sex in the woods behind the Union City Elementary School in March, investigators wrote in the affidavit.
State police obtained search warrants for the cell phones of Kerns and the victim and found a “high volume of contact” between the two as well as stickers created by the girl from pictures Kern sent her, according to the affidavit.
Buell set bond for Kerns at $50,000 unsecured following his arraignment Thursday afternoon and tentatively scheduled his preliminary hearing for Jan. 27. A lawyer for Kerns was not listed on his criminal docket sheet Thursday afternoon.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNhahn.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Volunteer coach in Union City charged with having sex with 17-year-old