Pretrial begins for accused teacher

A Huntington Beach man and high school teacher charged with having oral sex with an underage student is expected to begin pretrial today.

Christopher John Ontiveros, 42, was a history teacher at Oxford Academy in Cypress, where he is accused of engaging in sexual acts with a 17-year-old female student.

He pleaded not guilty in January to oral copulation, sexual penetration by a foreign object and distributing harmful sexual material all to a minor.

He is also charged with contacting a child with the intent to commit sexual penetration and sexual battery, a misdemeanor count. The charges hold a maximum sentence of six years in state prison.

Ontiveros is accused of sending the student sexual text messages, making unsolicited sexual advances and sexually assaulting the girl in his classroom and car between June and October. He has been out on $100,000 bail.

The pretrial is expected to begin at 8:30 a.m. in Courtroom W-14 at the West Justice Center in Westminster.

— Britney Barnes