CROWN POINT | A Clark Middle/High School band teacher pleaded not guilty Monday in Lake Criminal Court to charges alleging he had sex with one of his eighth-grade students.

James Ciammetti, 41, was charged Friday with five felonies -- two counts of child molesting, two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and one count of child solicitation. He is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl at the Hammond school.

Police have said Ciammetti and the girl had sex multiple times on school grounds during the course of a 10-month relationship.

The Oak Lawn, Ill., man's alleged activities were discovered by the girl's father, who was using a computer program that tracks his children's activities on the family's computers, court records allege.

Ciammetti and the 14-year-old girl had traded more than 1,100 e-mails, most sexual or obscene in nature, prosecutors said. He had been her band teacher since sixth grade, court records state.

Ciammetti was suspended without pay because of the "seriousness of the situation," Hammond schools Superintendent Walter Watkins said.

Ciammetti, who has taught for 16 years, according to state education records, has a bond reduction hearing scheduled for Sept. 22 and was being held Monday afternoon at the Lake County Jail on $160,000 bail.