PLEASANT HILL, Calif. – Kyle Lee Whitmore, a 39-year-old tenured communications professor and accomplished track and field coach at Diablo Valley College, was arrested last week on nine felony charges.
The charges allege Whitmore trafficked two women into prostitution and committed sexual assault.
Whitmore, who appeared in a Contra Costa County court on Tuesday, will be arraigned Sept. 19. He did not enter a plea and is currently being held without bail at the county jail in Martinez.
According to the district attorney’s office, Whitmore faces a total of nine charges, including two counts of human trafficking, two counts of pandering, one count of pimping, and four counts of forcible sexual penetration by a foreign object.
Whitmore, who was hired as an adjunct instructor at DVC in 2014, became a prominent figure in the campus community. He won the 2021-22 California Community College Athletic Association’s Coach of the Year award for Men’s Track and Field.
The DA’s office said Whitmore was taken into custody Sept. 7 following a joint investigation with the county sheriff’s office. According to DVC President Susan Lamb, “Mr. Whitmore was placed immediately on administrative leave” following his arrest.
One of the two victims, a student at DVC, initially spoke to a faculty member, who reported Whitmore’s actions to campus authorities. DVC officials began an internal investigation and quickly contacted the county sheriff’s office for further action.
“We knew this situation was way beyond our expertise,” Timothy Leong, director of communications and community relations for the Contra Costa Community College District, told The Inquirer on Wednesday.
“I am really proud of how quickly the district moved to support this student and to take the appropriate action with other law enforcement agencies,” Leong said.
“Once we got information from the student, we moved as quickly as possible. I have to believe that we did the right thing and that we did it in a timely manner,” he added.
The student involved in the case remains unnamed in order to protect her privacy. Leong said that despite the severity of the charges leveled against Whitmore, the district is withholding judgment until officials complete their investigation.
“We still live in a society where you are innocent until proven guilty,” he said.
In response to the allegations and arrest, President Lamb sent an email on Sept. 12 to the student body confirming what had happened and outlining the charges against Whitmore.
“The College is devastated by the seriousness of the allegations,” Lamb wrote. “The safety of our students and staff is our main priority.”
She continued, “We take seriously any accusations of inappropriate behavior by our employees and honor the expectation that our students, staff, and visitors have to be safe when they visit our campuses.”
The arrest sent shockwaves through the DVC community, where Whitmore was a fixture in the athletics department, a respected member of the faculty, and an outlet for students.
“You don’t reach that, or achieve that kind of recognition, if you’ve been doing bad things,” Leong said.