CALIFORNIA—Substitute teacher, David Cornish, 28, was charged with sexual assault on Saturday, May 30 for two months of abuse with one of his female students. Cornish was charged on:
- Five counts of lewd acts upon a child
- Sexual penetration of a person under the age of 18
- Oral copulation of a person under the age of 16
- One count for each meeting with a minor for lewd purposes
- Contact with a minor for a sexual offense
- Distributing or showing child pornography to a minor.
Over the past two months, the defendant is accused of having an unlawful sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student he taught at Saugus High School. Cornish was arrested after the victim reported the relationship to authorities.
Cornish was booked at the Santa Clarita Valley’s Sheriff Station on arrest charge 287(B) 2 PC that states ,“any person over 21 years of age who participates in an act of oral copulation with another person who is under 16 years of age is guilty of a felony.”
Arraignment has been postponed until Monday, June 1 in Department S of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, San Fernando Branch. If convicted as charged, the defendant faces a possible maximum sentence of 16 years and six months in state prison.
The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Special and is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney, Ani Bailey.
Saugus High School is also the site of a school shooting that occurred on November 14, 2019. Nathaniel Tennosuke Berhow, 16, arrived to the high school with a 45-caliber semi-automatic handgun and shot five schoolmates, killing two, before killing himself.
