Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Teacher Pleads Not Guilty to Sex Assault on Colleague : Santa Clarita: The alleged victim may sue the school district over its handling of the case, her attorney says.

An elementary school teacher and former sheriff’s deputy has pleaded not guilty to charges he sexually assaulted a female colleague in a classroom in the school where the two work.

Edward Keith Culhane, 35, entered the plea Tuesday in Newhall Municipal Court, where he was charged this week with felony counts of rape by a foreign object, sexual assault, and attempted forcible oral copulation.

Culhane was released on $50,000 bail. If convicted of all charges, he faces a maximum of 10 years in state prison. A preliminary hearing is set for March 17.

The 44-year-old alleged victim is considering a civil suit against the Saugus Union School District over its handling of the incident, her attorney said Thursday. Attorney Gary Paul contends that district officials were negligent when they allowed Culhane to return to work four days after he allegedly attacked a fellow teacher.

“They put this guy back in the same school with her, which made her completely uncomfortable,” Paul said of the district’s action. “They were negligent and intentionally inflicted emotional distress.”

District Supt. Troy Bramlett said the incident was dealt with “by the book,” and in accordance with the school district attorney’s instructions.

The alleged attack occurred late on the afternoon of Nov. 5, a Friday, in a Santa Clarita Elementary School classroom after the students had been dismissed for the day. The woman reported the incident to school authorities the following Monday and the school put Culhane on paid leave for four days while the matter was investigated.

Bramlett said disciplinary action was taken, but it was confidential.

Culhane was arrested after the alleged victim filed a criminal complaint with the Sheriff’s Department on Jan. 14.

The woman’s attorney said that her first inclination was to report the alleged attack to police immediately, but that school district officials dissuaded her from doing so.

“She was led to believe that he would be removed from the school and that she would not have to face him,” Paul said. “Now, the same people who talked her out of going to the police are trying to use the fact that she didn’t against her.”

Culhane was a deputy sheriff with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department from January, 1982, to August, 1991.

He was put on paid leave Jan. 14 from his teaching position pending the results of the criminal proceedings, Bramlett said.