C.R. Anderson Middle School paraeducator arrested on child sex assault allegations

A paraeducator at C.R. Anderson Middle School was arrested Tuesday night on allegations he sexually assaulted a student on multiple occasions over the past three months.

James Michael Huber, 52, was booked into the Lewis and Clark County Detention Center around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday after being arrested on a warrant that includes three counts of sexual intercourse without consent, one count of indecent exposure to a minor and one count of sexual abuse of children, all felonies.

Huber made his first appearance before Judge Michael Swingley in county justice court on Wednesday afternoon. His bond was set at $200,000 and he was still listed in the detention center as of press time.

Helena Public Schools spokesperson Taylor Lassiter said Wednesday morning the district was aware of the arrest and charges Huber faces. Huber was placed on unpaid administrative leave on Wednesday pending the outcome of the criminal case, Lassiter said.

“The District is fully cooperating with the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s office and authorities during this investigation. The employee is not in the education setting and will be placed on administrative leave,” Lassiter said in a statement. “The safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priority. We are committed to maintaining a safe environment for our school community and will continue to work closely with local authorities throughout this process.”

According to an affidavit for Huber’s arrest, the investigation into Huber started when a Lewis and Clark County sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to C.R. Anderson on Monday after a student reported some alleged “inappropriate” behavior involving their father to Huber, who in turn reported the student's allegations against the father to law enforcement.

But according to the document, investigators quickly discovered that Huber was the one allegedly assaulting the student.

A deputy spoke with the student's mother, who said nothing inappropriate had happened between the student and their father. But she said that Huber attends the same church as the family and that the student had gone on a walk with Huber and his wife over the past weekend.

The mother told the deputy she’d witnessed “extremely inappropriate” interactions between Huber and her child, according to the affidavit, including the student being invited to dinner at Huber’s home.

The deputy later called the mother again, who by that time had gone through the student's phone and found text messages and Snapchat messages between the student and Huber that were sexual in nature, as well as photos, according to the affidavit.

A deputy seized and got consent from the mother to search the phone and confirmed there were message threads and photos exchanged between Huber and the student, including nude photos, the affidavit states.

The deputy also found a recently deleted text thread between the two that contained 36,000 messages, according to the affidavit. Among those were alleged instances of Huber calling the student “baby” and saying he loved them. He also allegedly asked them several times to delete their text and call histories.

A forensic interview of the student was done on Tuesday, in which they said Huber had sexually assaulted them numerous times in several locations around the Helena area, according to the affidavit.

Under Montana law, no one under the age of 16 can consent to sex.

According to the affidavit, the two started talking in December and the alleged assaults began in January, continuing up through last Sunday.

Each of the sexual intercourse without consent counts and the lone count of sexual abuse of children carry 100-year prison terms should Huber be convicted of them.