(Underage) Sex, Drugs, and Wrestling: The 'Cerna Mafia' of Toppenish, Washington
A look at the pair of educators and coaches who engaged in the alleged 'sexual grooming' of a student, as well as furnishing minors with alcohol, drugs
*Trigger warning: this piece contains references to sex with minors, as well as drug and alcohol use.
On July 29, 2022, former Toppenish High School teacher and wrestling cheer coach Bertha Cerna was charged with Sexual Misconduct With Minor 1st Degree. In addition to that felony, she was charged with two counts of supplying liquor to or permitting a minor to consume alcohol.
There’s currently a warrant out for Bertha’s arrest, and she is listed on the Crime Stoppers Yakima Valley website.
But some in the Toppenish community are asking why charges haven’t been filed against her husband, former Toppenish High School Assistant Principal and Head Wrestling Coach John Cerna Jr., also known as Johnny. Johnny is the son of Toppenish School District Superintendent John Cerna. It should be noted that according to the records I have, John Sr. stepped back from this incident and let Assistant Superintendent Shawn Meyers take point for the Toppenish School District.
According to a Yakima County Sheriff’s Office incident report filed May 26, 2021, a female Toppenish high school student said Johnny “had messaged her ‘inappropriate’ things via Snapchat.”
Snapchat is a platform designed for messages to disappear after 24 hours, and a user is notified if the recipient takes a screenshot of a message. It’s an app with a reputation as a tool for adults who want to have illicit and even illegal interactions with minors.
So the girl did not have evidence of the conversation. But she described her conversation with Cerna to Dep. Dan Cypher.
“John messaged, ‘I want to do it with you,’” she told Dep. Cypher.
“What do you mean?” she replied.
“I want to stick it in you,” Cerna wrote.
“Bro, what are you talking about? Be more specific,” she replied.
“I want to have sex with you,” he wrote, according to Cypher’s report.
The girl told the deputy the incident made her feel “weird about it” and that this was new behavior from a man in a position of authority in her life. Cerna was a man she had known for two years at this point, and he and Bertha were close with her family.
While the girl didn’t have evidence of that Snapchat conversation, she did have screenshots of text message conversations with Johnny.
“I reviewed the messages and found that John tells (redacted) that he loves her at one point,” Dep. Cypher wrote. “John also opens up to (redacted) about marital issues he’s having and explains ‘she lies hella,’ ‘she talks to hella guys!’ Haha loser mother fuckers too.’ I later uploaded the screenshots into evidence.”
According to the report, the reason the girl decided to tell authorities about the incident with John was because of Bertha's behavior afterward.
On or about May 13, Bertha picked the girl up to “just cruise around and talk,” Dep. Cypher quoted her saying in his report.
“They had then decided to go to Rite Aid and Bertha stated that ‘she needs to go do a line real quick,’ Bertha then went into her home and soon returned. I asked (redacted) what this meant and she stated that Bertha ingested cocaine,” he wrote.
Cypher asked her if she had seen the drugs and what evidence she had to confirm that allegation. The girl explained that “Bertha was sniffling her nose when she returned to the car.” She also said that Johnny had “Snapchatted her a picture of a small plastic baggie with white powder in it that she assumed was cocaine,” he wrote.
Bertha asked her if she was having sex with Johnny and told her she wasn’t the only girl he was “talking to.”
“(Redacted) stated that Bertha had shown her at least 10 different screenshots of messages off of John’s phone. (Redacted) further explained that John has repeatedly tried to give her money so she could her nails done but she refuses his offers ‘cause its weird,’” Cypher wrote. “(Redacted) stated that she has become increasingly uncomfortable with her relationship with John and Bertha which has led her to opening up to (redacted) who in turn is a mandatory reporter. (Redacted) encouraged (redacted) to come forward with this information and now she has.”
Here’s that page of the law incident table.
The girl and her family sought and secured a protector order not long after the initial report was made.
Bertha Allegedly Admits to Relationships with Male Students
During another interview with Dep. Cypher and Detective Sergio Reyna in June 2021, the girl told the officers that one of the last times she was at Bertha and Johnny’s home in April 2021, “she was offered alcohol and weed.”
She said she was given a Truly Hard Seltzer and drank it. She was offered marijuana but said she declined.
She also provided more details about Bertha’s alleged sexual relations with students.
“(Redacted) spoke about a time within the last year that Bertha told her that she has had sexual relations with male students and then showed her a message thread from her phone with pics of penis’s along with messages from people with the pic,” Dep. Cypher wrote. “(Redacted) said she does not know who the messages were from.”
The girl went on to tell the officers about a photo she received from Bertha via text that showed a bullet hole in her car.
“Bertha told her that Johnny was the one who shot her car, putting the bullet hole in it,” he wrote. “Note in the messages from Bertha to (redacted) there is picture of a red car with a bullet hole in it. (Redacted) stated that Bertha does drive a red car.”
Johnny and the Wrestling Team
Johnny was head coach of Toppenish High School’s wrestling team and was named Central Washington Athletic Conference coach of the year in 2014 and 2015. High School wrestling in the Yakima Valley is about as important as High School football is in Texas, so a successful coach is usually a highly-respected and high-profile member of a community like Toppenish, Zillah and Sunnyside.
But due to the allegations and incidents surrounding them at the time, he and Bertha were both on administrative leave by June 2021. That means neither were allowed to be on school district property, and Johnny was to have no contact with the wrestling team. However, according to another report filed by Dep. Cypher, Johnny did come on to district property and even took part in coaching a wrestling match.
Dep. Cypher had a conversation about that with Toppenish School District Assistant Superintendent Shawn Myers.
“I spoke with Myers in reference to Johnny being the head coach for Toppenish wrestling program and that I was made aware that after Johnny had received his administration letter of leave he came on district property of which the letter states he is NOT to and had contact with the wrestling team and coached at a wrestling match as well,” Cypher wrote. “I further advised that it was also said that Superintendent Cerna was present during the match at which time he would be aware of the admin leave letter as well as allowed the violation of the admin leave letter to take place.”
Coming on to district property to coach was an offense that pales in comparison to some of the other allegations that came out during the course of the Yakima Sheriff’s Office investigation of Johnny and Bertha.
According to a former wrestling cheerleader Dep. Cypher and Det. Reyna interviewed on June 21, 2021, it was common knowledge “that Johnny Cerna would supply cocaine to wrestlers prior to matches.”
She also said that Johnny was “sleeping with cheerleaders when they were out of town at tournaments,” and “alcohol and drugs would be supplied to students/wrestlers at the Cerna’s residence.”
Pressuring Witnesses to Stay Silent
Nearly every subject interviewed by Yakima County Sheriff’s Deputies expressed concerns over being targeted for talking to authorities, which is an important part of this story.
The girl who came forward to tell Dep. Cypher about Johnny propositioning her on Snapchat said after she spoke with him she was harassed by males shouting “snitch” from passing cars.
The pressure to keep quiet was also something that Sarah Wixson, the investigator the Toppenish School District hired to look into the Cernas, also faced while interviewing subjects in the course of her work.
“The extended wrestling community is very loyal to Mr. Cerna, and to Ms. Cerna as well. When interviewed Toppenish High School Graduation Specialist Mike Romero stated, ‘no one from the wrestling team is going to talk to you.’ This turned out to be true,” she wrote. “Absent being compelled to be interviewed as a condition of employment, no one associated with the wrestling team – parents or students – consented to being interviewed.”
Wixson wrote that other witnesses reported being physically intimidated or their employment was threatened after speaking out.
So What’s Next?
Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Brusic told NBC Right Now the Yakima County Sheriff's Office stopped investigating, but that doesn’t mean the case is closed.
While there’s a warrant out for Bertha, none has been issued for Johnny. But Brusic said he’s still under investigation and “not off the hook just yet,” according to Sophia Lesseos with NBC Right Now.
Brusic told Lesseos he doesn’t believe Bertha is currently in Washington state.
If you have information about the whereabouts of Bertha Cerna and would like to submit a tip, you can do that via the Crime Stoppers website here.
For more background, you can watch a series of videos about the Cernas and the Toppenish School District via this watchdog/whistleblower YouTube channel titled Seek Truth here.
And if you have any additional information about Johnny and Bertha Cerna, don’t hesitate to reach out.