A school volunteer arrested in Palm Desert for alleged child sexual abuse and distribution of child pornography pleaded not guilty Wednesday.
James McCall Anderson, 31, is accused of six felony charges relating to possessing, sending and distributing child pornography. He also faces one misdemeanor count of endangering or abusing a child and two misdemeanor counts of committing immoral acts before a child — which a criminal complaint describes as being “habitually drunk” in the presence of at least one child in his care or custody.
The complaint also describes Anderson and Devin Daniel Lujan, 28, as having engaged in a sexual act with a child before their arrests on June 28.
The two were taken into custody in the 74000 block of Scholar Lane in Palm Desert after deputies were tipped off to an allegation of child sexual abuse.
Lujan, who pleaded not guilty last month to willfully harming a child, two felony counts of lewd acts with a minor and two felony counts of oral copulation with a minor, appeared in court Wednesday morning for a scheduled felony settlement conference. He is being held in lieu of $5 million bail.
Prosecutors made a motion to increase Anderson’s bail, which will be heard Oct. 7. He remains out of custody on $30,000.
Both defendants volunteered at George Washington Charter School in Palm Desert, Desert Sands Unified School District spokeswoman Mary Perry told The Desert Sun, and Lujan was also a teacher at the Bermuda Dunes Learning Center.