WAILUKU - A former Iao Intermediate School substitute band teacher has been indicted on 52 sex assault charges for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a former student, officials said.
Wailuku resident Jim Alan Balicanta was being held on $750,000 bail at the Maui Community Correctional Center on Friday, said Lt. Wayne Ibarra, Maui Police Department spokesman.
Ibarra said the 40-year-old allegedly had a sexual relationship with a former female student when she was in the 8th grade.
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JIM ALAN BALICANTA, taught at Iao Intermediate
Members of a U.S. Marshal Task Force arrested Balicanta at 7:50 a.m. Friday on a warrant at his residence at 85 Kapi Lane, according to the task force.
The warrant was for 27 counts of first-degree sexual assault and 25 counts of third-degree sexual assault. The assaults occurred over a three-year period, the task force said. The victim came forward with allegations in January.
District School Superintendent Bruce Anderson said that Balicanta has not worked at the school since January.
"The department takes these kinds of allegations very seriously," he said. "Our focus is the safety of our students."
A bail hearing for Balicanta is scheduled for Wednesday.
