A South El Monte elementary school teacher accused of groping five female students on campus will be back in court next month after he pleaded not guilty to five criminal charges.
Joseph Alfred Baldenebro, 54, of Montebello, is charged with one felony count of committing a lewd act on a child and four misdemeanor counts of child molesting, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Baldenebro taught at Miramonte Elementary School, where he’s accused of inappropriately touching five girls between the ages of 8 and 11, both in the classroom and on school grounds, between August 2015 and May of this year, according to Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials and the District Attorney’s Office.
Baldenebro was arrested June 21 by the sheriff’s Special Victims Bureau and released July 1 on bond, according to jail records.
He is due back in a Pomona courtroom on Aug. 10, when a date is scheduled to be set for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to require him to stand trial. He entered his not guilty plea Thursday.
Baldenebro was placed on administrative leave after school officials were notified about the allegations, according to a statement released last month by Mountain View School District Superintendent Lillian Maldonado French.
The superintendent said then that the school district “has and will continue to fully cooperate with the sheriff’s investigation, and out of respect for judiciary due process and privacy laws, we cannot discuss any confidential details about personnel or students within the district.”
She said additional school counselors were made available to any students who might have been impacted by the teacher’s removal.
— City News Service