Substitute accused of sex crimes returns to court

A substitute math teacher at Saugus High School who has been accused of more than a dozen criminal counts of sex crimes against a minor returned to court on Monday.

David Cornish, 29, has been charged with 18 criminal counts that include oral copulation with a minor, lewd acts with a child, penetration with a foreign object and sending sexually inappropriate messages over the internet, according to investigators.

He is set to return to court on April 23 for a preliminary hearing. At the preliminary hearing, the evidence is presented, and a judge decides whether there’s enough for trial.

Cornish is said by investigators to be facing years in prison if convicted as charged, with the allegation being that he is suspected of texting with the 14-year-old student before engaging in a sexually abusive relationship.

Officials had originally arrested

Cornish in May of last year after the victim’s mother reportedly found out about a month-long relationship between her daughter and the substitute teacher.

Cornish had originally been arrested on a pair of charges, but law enforcement added charges later as more information became available to them. No other victims were identified, according to investigators, and the William S. Hart Union High School District suspended the substitute teacher shortly after his arrest.

“The Hart district is deeply concerned that one of our substitute teachers, David Cornish, was arrested and is expected to be charged with engaging in sexual misconduct with a Saugus High School minor student,” Hart district officials wrote in a statement released after his arrest. “The district strives to provide a safe educational environment for all of our students, and we are saddened and disturbed that one of our substitute teachers is being charged with this misconduct.”

Cornish is being held in lieu of $1,075,000 bail at Men’s Central Jail.