TEACHER DENIES CHARGES DECADES-OLD MOLESTING CASE INVOLVES FORMER STUDENTS.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Staff Writer

A veteran teacher in the San Fernando Valley pleaded not guilty Friday in Van Nuys Municipal Court to charges of molesting children, including pupils from more than 30 years ago.

Paul Kreutzer, a 61-year-old Canyon Country man with a pending federal child pornography case, was ordered by Judge Frank J. Johnson to return June 19 to have a preliminary hearing scheduled.

Kreutzer, a former president of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society, was arrested at his home Monday and charged in state court with five counts of lewd acts upon a child and two counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14.

Six of the seven molestation charges stem from complaints of six women who, after hearing about the federal case, told authorities they had been molested by the teacher between 1968 and 1976. The final charge of lewd conduct alleges incidents in September and October 1996.

Bail was set at $1 million as the mothers of two of Kreutzer's former students watched anxiously in the courtroom.

``We feel like we've been betrayed,'' said Robin Hutton, whose 9-year-old daughter was a student of Kreutzer's at Liggett Elementary school in Panorama. She said her daughter was not one of the alleged victims. ``It's a shock. We never thought he'd do a thing like this - he's a very intelligent man.''

Los Angeles County Deputy Public Defender Jim Bendat entered a not guilty plea on Kreutzer's behalf.

Kreutzer only comment at the hearing was ``I do'' when asked whether he agreed to the next court date.

``Just to hear his voice was bone-chilling to me,'' said Jeannie King, whose daughter, 10, was also one of his students at Liggett but not an alleged victim. ``I trusted him with the most precious thing I have.''

Kreutzer was put on unpaid compulsory leave at Liggett on March 16 after being charged in the federal case. His federal trial on child pornography possession, for which conviction carries up to five years in prison, is set for Tuesday but will likely be postponed, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors declined to comment on the arraignment Friday.

Kreutzer has worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District since 1986, first at Vena Elementary in Arleta and then Sunland Elementary in 1991 before transferring to Liggett in 1996.

Members of the Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Team, a federal multiagency task force investigating the case, are encouraging anyone with information on this case to contact them at [phone] or [phone].

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Paul Kreutzer

Charged with molesting