Apr 9, 2008

Teacher remanded into custody on porn charges

Police: He admitted to videotaping girls in bathroom

By Michael Manekin / Bay Area News Group

A high school English teacher accused of videotaping students in a girls restroom adjacent to his classroom and storing hundreds of images of child porn on his home computer was remanded into custody Tuesday on felony child pornography charges.

David Lista, 35, a teacher at Mills High School in Millbrae and a resident of Belmont, pleaded not guilty to three felony charges and two misdemeanors in connection with the pornography allegedly found on his home computer, plus the alleged videotaping of 19 girls using a school restroom.

He was initially arrested last month after investigators turned up a small amount of methamphetamine while searching his home for child pornography, authorities said. Lista, who was previously out on $10,000 bail for felony drug possession, was remanded into custody Tuesday after a Superior Court judge raised his bail to $125,000.

Lista has already admitted videotaping the students, according to police, who said the teacher installed a camera in the false ceiling of the bathroom. But he most likely never distributed the images he allegedly captured of students in the restroom, prosecutors said.

"In my wildest dreams, I never believed that a colleague of mine, a fellow teacher, would drill a hole through a wall and photograph young ladies in various forms of undress," San Mateo Union High School District Superintendent David Miller said Tuesday.

Lista will be placed on unpaid leave and administrators have put the wheels in motion to dismiss the teacher, Miller said.

Administrators are currently investigating why the district hired Lista some six or seven years ago despite a DUI offense that should have made him ineligible, Miller said.

"Every effort is being made to hire the very finest teachers, and obviously if there are issues with teachers, we will follow up in the most open manner possible," the superintendent said.

Lista, who faces at least five years in prison if convicted on all charges against him, is expected to return to Superior Court on July 29 for a preliminary hearing.