Man pleads not guilty to relationship with teenager

A former Laguna Niguel choir director pleaded not guilty Friday to having a sexual relationship with a Costa Mesa teenager more than a decade ago.

Albert L. Schildknecht, 57, is accused of two felony counts of oral copulation with a person under 18 and one count of digital penetration of a minor after a Costa Mesa woman was interviewed by detectives last year. The woman, now nearly 30 years old, claims that between January 1995 and January 1997 she and Schildknecht had a sexual relationship.

She was between 16 and 17 years old at the time. Schildknecht would have been between 45 and 46 years old at the time.

According to the criminal complaint filed in court, Schildknecht and the girl had several sexual encounters, including one after a lunch date at The Gypsy Den Cafe.

The girl sang in the youth choir for St. Timothy’s Roman Catholic Church in Laguna Niguel, where Schildknecht was the choir director. He was placed on leave and eventually resigned after the accusations surfaced. He remains free on $100,000 bail. His pretrial hearing is scheduled for Nov. 6.

— Joseph Serna