This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse of a minor.
A Helena middle school educator pleaded not guilty Tuesday morning to allegations that he sexually abused a 12-year-old student.
James Michael Huber, who works at C. R. Anderson Middle School, was charged last month with seven felony counts. District Court Judge Hannah Roe entered the plea on Huber’s behalf during his arraignment in Lewis and Clark District Court.
Huber was initially taken into custody March 24, and he has been held at the county detention center since, unable to post $200,000 bail. His charges include three felony counts of sexual intercourse without consent, one felony count of sexual abuse of children, one count of sexual assault and one felony count of grooming a child for sexual offense. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison.
He is also charged with solicitation, tampering with/or fabrication of physical evidence, another felony, with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
On March 23, Helena police were called to C. R. Anderson Middle School for a report of sexual assault, according to an affidavit filed by Lewis and Clark County prosecutors. The officer was then informed that Huber told a school resource officer that a student reported inappropriate sexual behavior by another individual.
The police officer spoke with the victim’s mother, who told the officer that Huber attends the same church as their family and that her daughter went on a hike with Huber and his wife that past weekend. The mother told the officer that her daughter asked if she could accept Huber’s invitation to have dinner with Huber and his wife, which the mother felt was “extremely inappropriate.”
The victim’s mother later reported that she had found cellphone messages between her daughter and Huber. Police officers then retrieved the phone and found sexual messages in a social messaging app with the contact name, “james_huber23” referred to as “Future Husband.” Additionally, the police also found nude images of the victim and screenshots of a text thread under the contact name “James.”
The text conversations included “James” stating that he loved the victim and referring to her as “baby.” Police also found a hidden photo folder that contained explicit photographs and videos, according to the affidavit.
The police later found 36,000 messages in the phone’s recently deleted folder between Huber and the victim, the affidavit said. That phone number matched the number listed for Huber. Among those messages were conversations that were sexual in nature and that Huber had asked the victim on several occasions to “delete her call history and her text messages,” the affidavit said.
The victim subsequently told investigators that she and Huber would “make out” and engage in sexual activities in a classroom at the middle school. Additionally, the victim told officers that Huber and she engaged in sexual activities outside of school.
The victim told officers that she and Huber began talking in December and that their physical relationship started in January. She said that she felt like she and Huber were “a real couple,” that Huber was nice to her and that “age was the only thing that seemed wrong,” according to the affidavit. In Montana, a person must be at least 16 years old to legally consent to sex.
A Helena Public Schools spokesperson told Montana Free Press that Huber, a para-educator who works under the supervision of licensed teachers and assists with special education students, has been placed on unpaid administrative leave pending his trial.
An email was sent out to the parents from C. R. Anderson principal Kathleen Prody March 26, two days after Huber’s arrest. The email, obtained by MTFP, asked that anyone with more information about the incident to contact school officials and that counseling staff would be available for students.
“We are working to support the student and family referenced in yesterday’s allegations while also supporting all students and staff,” the email stated. “Our school continues to provide a structured and supportive environment as students move through a typical middle school day.”
On the same day the email was sent, some middle school students participated in a walkout to protest the school’s “failure to deal with James Huber quickly enough,” a school parent told MTFP.
Students held signs as they walked out that read, “Stop protecting pedophiles and betraying our trust,” and “Schools aren’t safe.”
Huber’s trial is scheduled for Sept. 28.
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