A former substitute teacher pleaded not guilty this week to sex-related crimes involving a 14-year-old girl he taught at Saugus High School.
David Cornish, 28, of Valencia, is accused of having an unlawful sexual relationship with the teenager during April and May of this year, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Cornish, who is being held on $1.075 million bail, was ordered to return to court July 2, when a date is expected to be set for a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial.
Authorities said the teen disclosed the alleged relationship to investigators, and Cornish was arrested May 27 by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies.
He could face up to 16 1/2 years in state prison if convicted of five counts each of committing a lewd act on a child, sexual penetration of a person under the age of 18 and oral copulation of a person under the age of 16, along with one count each of meeting a minor for lewd purposes, contact with a minor for a sexual offense and distributing or showing child pornography to a minor.
