Assistant Band Instructor, Diamond Bar Resident Pleads Not Guilty to Sexual Assault Charges

A Diamond Bar man who has worked as an assistant band instructor at area high schools pleaded not guilty Friday morning to charges that he sexually assaulted a teen girl.

Albert Anthony Morales, 33, appeared in Pomona Superior Court to formally hear the charges against him.

The defendant faces two counts of oral copulation of an unconscious person, two of sexual penatration by a foreign object, one of sodomy of an unconscious victim, and one of oral copulation of a person under the age of 18, said Sandi Robbins, a Los Angeles County District Attorney spokeswoman.

Morales was arrested Feb. 5 at his Diamond Bar home. Authorities allege that he sexually assaulted the victim in the summer of 2006 when she was a student at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton.

Morales tutored band students, specifically working as a percussion instructor, for the past 13 years, according the the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.  He has taught or volunteered in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas, including stints at Diamond Ranch High from 2012-2013, Sunny Hills High from 2004 to 2009, and Diamond Bar High from 1998 to 2000, authorities said.

A pre-preliminary hearing is set for March 21.  Morales remains in custody in the Men's Central Jail. His bail is listed at $275,000.