Teen pleads guilty to sex assault.

Byline: Winston Ross The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran 1/07/04): A headline that appeared on Page A1 Tuesday listed an incorrect criminal charge that Bradley Kellerhals pleaded guilty to. The correct charges were felony assault and misdemeanor sexual harassment.

COQUILLE - The younger of the two North Bend High School students charged with sexually assaulting a football teammate pleaded guilty to reduced charges, district attorney Paul Burgett said Monday.

Bradley Kellerhals, 15, originally faced Measure 11 crimes on charges of unlawful sexual penetration and sexual abuse, but under the plea agreement, he will be sentenced Monday in juvenile court for third-degree assault, a felony, and sexual harassment, a misdemeanor. The maximum penalties for the crimes is 5 1/2 years in juvenile detention, Burgett said.

The prosecutor declined to comment further on the case, so it's unclear whether Kellerhals has agreed to testify against 17-year-old Jordan Akins, who has pleaded not guilty. Akins will answer to the stiffer, Measure 11 charges as an adult when his three-day trial convenes March 9.

Attorneys for Kellerhals and Akins did not return phone calls on Monday.

"I'm glad we have a resolution with Kellerhals," North Bend school Superintendent Jim Howard said. "The fact that he's 15, younger and was a person assisting reflects why the charges weren't as serious.

"I feel what the court has done with him is well deserved," he added. "Victims need to know there's a consequence."

Though Burgett has refused public records requests seeking the release of the incident's police report, The Register-Guard has obtained a redacted version, which sheds some light on how the assault took place.

On Oct. 16, the junior varsity football team was traveling on a minibus back from a game against Sutherlin High School in Douglas County, when "the atmosphere on the bus began to become one of chaos," according to the police report, "with students throwing papers, ice, plastic bottles, yelling and screaming and generally being uncontrollable, then hitting (the driver) in the head with ice multiple times."

At some point between Elkton and Reedsport on Highway 38, Akins moved into the seat behind another student, who told police that several boys were punching, shoving and grabbing each other at the time.

Another boy, seated in front of the victim, grabbed the victim and held his arms down, according to police.

The student in front was reportedly unaware that Akins intended to assault the victim when he no longer had control of his arms.

That's when Akins assaulted the victim, police say.

"(The victim) said that Jordan (Akins) laughed at him, then threatened him if he told anyone," the report reads. "He believed Jordan was taking advantage of a situation where his arms had been pinned down during the course of general roughhousing on the bus."

Kellerhals is not mentioned in this segment of the report, which indicates that he wasn't involved in the assault on the school bus. He is, however, mentioned in the following paragraph, during which the victim describes Akins, Kellerhals and another boy's plans to tackle another student in the parking lot of the high school when they arrived.

The second victim told police that he had become aware that several students were planning to "get him" in the parking lot, meaning they'd assault him in the same way Akins allegedly had done to the first victim. When he got off the bus, Kellerhals, Jordan and the student who reportedly held down the first victim's arms began trying to wrestle the second victim to the ground, according to the report.

The struggle was not in fun, the victim told police.

"I did not want to be there," he said. "I only got away because I started punching at people."

When the team reached the locker room, the fight continued. That's when Akins assaulted the second victim, he told police. He said he couldn't remember whether the third boy had held him during the locker room assault, which is apparently why only Akins and Kellerhals were charged. The third boy was banned from riding school buses for the remainder of the football season, however.

The second victim did remember Akins assaulting him and Kellerhals holding him down, according to the report.

Akins and Kellerhals no longer attend North Bend High School after expulsion hearings held in November. Howard would not confirm whether they'd been expelled, but he has said he would err on the side of expulsion in cases as serious as these.

Burgett said he planned to ask for Kellerhals' sentencing to be postponed.

Winston Ross can be reached at [phone] or [e-mail].