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OC Man Accused Of Having Sex With Girl, 14, While Teaching At Catholic School

SANTA ANA (CBS) — A former Spanish teacher at a Roman Catholic high school in San Juan Capistrano was scheduled to be arraigned Monday on charges of having sex with a 14-year-old student.

Ricardo Aldana, 37, was fired from JSerra Catholic High School after he was arrested in December. He now faces seven felony counts of lewd acts on a child, according to Deputy District Attorney Jana Hoffmann.

The former teacher, who also coached boys soccer at the school, met the girl at JSerra when she was 13 years old, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors allege he had sex with the girl in his Dana Point home while her mother was out of town in September. They also claim he massaged her inappropriately in June and communicated with her via text messages and phone calls.

Aldana's attorney, Michael Molfetta, denied the charges and criticized prosecutors for putting out a public statement about the arrest and the charges.

"I have a lot of respect for the D.A.'s office. I have no doubt that they believe in their case and I am sure they feel a conviction is imminent," Molfetta said. "But I am not a fan of press releases. I see no need to stand on the courthouse steps and publicly level accusations and leak facts to the public."

"When live bullets start to fly and facts are brought forth, the truth shall come out," he said. "That is when press releases matter. Until then, let's save some trees and do our talking in court."

Aldana, free on $100,000 bail, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday. If convicted as charged, he could get up to seven years in prison.

(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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