An 11-year-old girl attending a summer camp for foster youth at UC Berkeley told police that a 27-year-old counselor entered her dorm room multiple times during the night, touched her inappropriately, and at one point tried to sodomize her — inside a room whose door lock had reportedly been taped over so staff could check on campers. Quaylin Wesley, an East Bay educator from Oakland and Vallejo, has since been charged with 10 felonies and pleaded not guilty.
The alleged assaults happened on the night of June 13 at the SOAR for Youth summer program, a weeklong UC Berkeley camp that specializes in serving foster youth, according to The Mercury News. Wesley had been assigned by SOAR to watch over the girls' dorm overnight, with duties limited to occasionally opening doors to check on campers without entering their rooms. According to the outlet's reporting, SOAR had disabled the dorm rooms' locking mechanisms by taping over them, and campers complained that their doors would swing open on their own — prompting some to brace their doors shut with heavy objects.
The camp used UC Berkeley's Foothill residential complex, a cluster of wood-shingled housing buildings near Hearst Avenue and Gayley Road on the north side of campus, as reported by Face2Face Africa. SOAR housed boy and girl campers in separate dormitories within the complex. University officials have maintained that SOAR, founded in 2009 to provide academic and life-skills programming for foster youth ages 11 to 21, operates independently even though it rents residential space from the university.
What the Girl Told Investigators
The girl reported that Wesley entered her room while she and a roommate were sleeping and touched her inappropriately, per the Mercury News account. When he allegedly asked her something, she said no. Wesley allegedly groped her, allegedly forced her to touch him, and allegedly attempted to sodomize her before leaving when the roommate appeared to wake up. He then allegedly returned to her room moments later.
Wesley confirmed with the girl that she had asked him for a marijuana vape pen the night before, and he claimed that request was the extent of their interaction — an account the girl also confirmed to investigators, according to the same reporting. Another counselor told police that Wesley smelled like alcohol and marijuana. When counselors called 911, Wesley allegedly fled, and he allegedly yelled at another counselor before the entire girls' dorm was evacuated. Asked whether he was going to hit the counselor, Wesley reportedly said no.
Another camper told police she noticed Wesley sitting where he could see her leave the showers and walk back to her room, and said his behavior unsettled her enough that she changed her daily habits — bringing a change of clothes into the shower area to dress there instead of walking back to her room afterward. The whereabouts of the dorm's master key, which Wesley held onto, were unknown following his arrest, per the Mercury News.
Campus Alerts and the Investigation
UC Berkeley issued campus-wide WarnMe safety alerts after the initial emergency call on June 14, first reporting an attempted sexual assault before updating the alert to confirm that police had determined a completed assault occurred, according to SFist. Wesley met with the University of California Police the day after the alleged assault, and he has denied sexually abusing the girl. The Alameda County District Attorney's Office initially charged Wesley with eight felony counts, including six counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 and two counts of residential burglary, following the UCPD investigation, as reported by The Berkeley Scanner. He now faces 10 felonies related to the allegations, per the Mercury News, and has pleaded not guilty.
SOAR for Youth did not respond to requests for comment, according to the Mercury News reporting. Under California Penal Code Section 288(a), lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under 14 is a felony punishable by three, six, or eight years in state prison per count, with each distinct act potentially charged separately, along with mandatory lifetime sex offender registration, according to Kann Law Office.
A Pattern of Youth-Serving Jobs Since 2023
Wesley has held education and youth-program roles since 2023, including as a physical education teacher at Francophone Charter School of Oakland, where his staff profile was removed from the school's website shortly after charges were announced, according to SFGATE. He previously worked at Martin Luther King Elementary School, Triple Threat Academy, and MetWest High School, and he served on the board of the Catalyst Youth Network. In court filings, attorney Annie Beles said Wesley dedicated his life to education after graduating from UC Berkeley.
The Bail Fight and a 2021 Supreme Court Ruling
Wesley was initially held at Santa Rita Jail on $425,000 bail before his arraignment in Alameda County Superior Court. Prosecutors described Wesley as a public safety threat and asked Judge Thomas Reardon to deny bail entirely or set it at $900,000, while Wesley's defense attorney argued he had zero criminal history. Reardon, who has served on the Alameda County Superior Court bench since 1998 and previously presided over the trial in the 2007 murder of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey, according to the Alameda County Bar Association, ultimately set bail at $75,000.
That figure traces to the California Supreme Court's unanimous 2021 ruling in *In re Kenneth Humphrey*, which held that jailing arrestees solely because they cannot afford bail is unconstitutional and directed judges to set bail at a reasonably attainable level unless prosecutors show clear and convincing evidence of a danger to public or victim safety or a flight risk. Legal research from UCLA Law notes that trial judges retain broad discretion under the ruling to weigh monetary bail and supervision conditions against public safety concerns. Wesley posted the $75,000 bail and was released in July. He is next due in court on August 26.
