ROTC Instructor Pleads Not Guilty to Sex With Imperial Beach Student [UPDATED]

CHULA VISTA, CA: A substitute teacher and ROTC instructor at Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach, who's accused of having sex with an underage student, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a pair of felony charges.

Martin Albert Gallegos, 48, faces nearly four years in prison if convicted of sexual penetration by a foreign object and oral copulation of a person under 18.

Gallegos, who remains free on $50,000 bail, will be back in court May 31 for a readiness conference and June 14 for a preliminary hearing.

He was arrested April 9, one day after a campus police officer got a report about the alleged crimes, said sheriff's Lt. Dan Brislin.

The lieutenant declined to disclose the age of the student, who is a senior at the Elm Avenue school. Detectives believe the alleged sexual relationship had been going on for roughly a month or six weeks, Brislin said.

The alleged victim is a 17-year-old senior at the Elm Avenue school, authorities said. The alleged sexual assaults took place on Feb. 29 and March 5, according to the criminal complaint.

Gallegos worked for the Sweetwater Union High School District since last fall, filling in periodically for full-time teachers, according to SUHSD spokesman Manny Rubio.

Gallegos is one of three people who worked at Mar Vista High School who were charged recently with having sex with underage students.

Last week, a former walk-on assistant coach for the same Imperial Beach high school pleaded not guilty to 20 felony counts, including child molestation, for an alleged relationship with a ninth-grade girl who attends the Elm Avenue campus. Edward Aaron Mendoza, 27, who was arrested the day after Gallegos, was being held on $900,000 bail as of April 14.

City News Service

***Updated at 5:49 p.m. Pacific Time; Originally posted at 8:43 a.m. Pacific Time, April 19 2016

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