FULLERTON, Calif. (AP) A former elementary school teacher was
sentenced to a year in county jail and placed on five years
probation after pleading guilty to 14 felony counts of producing
child pornography.
James Hiland, 37, of Anaheim was sentenced Friday under a plea
agreement reached with Orange County Superior Court Judge Kelly
MacEachern, said Deputy District Attorney Joe Dane.
If the case had gone to trial, he could have faced over 11 years
in prison, Dane said.
Police found hundreds of pictures stored on Hiland's computer in
March and were able to identify 14 of the boys, including 12
students at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, where Hiland taught
for nine years. The victims range in age from 11 to 17.
Hiland posed the boys to allow him to view up their shorts, and
most were not aware their genitals were photographed, prosecutors
said.
Hiland resigned from his position with the Anaheim City School
District a week after the investigation began.
He will have to register as a sex offender and was required to
seek counseling under the plea agreement.
The investigation began in November when two 13-year-old boys
told a school counselor that they had been persuaded by Hiland to
be photographed and they were uncomfortable with his behavior.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)