A long-term substitute teacher at Highland High School in Palmdale pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he sexually abused a 17- year-old boy enrolled in a special needs program at the school.
Aaron Joseph Alvidrez, 28, of Lancaster, is charged with seven felonies: three counts of sodomy of a person under 18, two counts of oral copulation of a person under 18 and one count each of distributing or showing pornography to a minor and meeting a minor for a lewd purpose.
The crimes allegedly occurred in September and October in a school classroom and inside Alvidrez’s vehicle, according to Deputy District Attorney Seth Carmack.
The student went to school officials and alleged that the teacher had sexually assaulted him on several occasions while Alvidrez was working at the school as a “long-term substitute teacher,” the sheriff’s department reported.
He was arrested Oct. 21 and released on bond two days later. Alvidrez is due back in a Lancaster courtroom Dec. 2 for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to require him to stand trial.
— City News Service