Ex-Payson coach going to jail on sex charge

PROVO — A former assistant softball coach at Payson High School was sentenced Tuesday to 120 days in jail for having a sexual relationship with a girl who had been on the team.

McKell Shurtliff, 24, accepted a deal last month in which she pleaded guilty to lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor.

She originally was charged with two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and lewdness involving a child, all third-degree felonies. The charges stemmed from activities that occurred in 2008 when the girl was 15, according to court documents.

Shurtliff's attorney, Randy Kester, said she was not a predator and that she and the girl had sought each other out because they were both going through hard times.

He said Shurtliff had recently dealt with the breakup of a long-term relationship and the death of her grandfather, while the girl had been ostracized by her schoolmates.

"I think these two girls just came together to comfort one another, and it went beyond the bounds of what it should have," Kester said.

But 4th District Judge Fred Howard said he imposed the sentence, 90 days more than the prosecution had sought, because he found the case a "very disturbing" example of a crime that has become "all too common."

Prosecutor Tim Taylor said Shurtliff hid the relationship by buying the girl a cell phone so they could communicate in secret and then coached her to lie about it.

Police first became aware of the situation when the girl said Shurtliff touched her genitals while they were visiting a relative of the coach. The girl told police there had been five other sexual encounters.

Shurtliff was arrested in May and admitted the sexual activity, saying she loved the girl, according to court documents.

She was ordered to serve 24 months of probation, pay over $2,000 in fines and restitution, and register on the state's sex-offender list for 10 years.

— Paul Koepp