Concord High School teacher Howie Leung pleaded not guilty to six charges in Middlesex Superior Court on Monday, all relating to the sexual assault of a Concord girl at a boarding school in Massachusetts.
In setting new bail conditions, the judge ordered Leung to surrender his passport to prevent him from leaving the country if he is able to make bail, which was lowered to $25,000 cash.
While Leung’s hearings have been held at Newton District Court in Newton, Mass., the city where the assaults are alleged to have occurred, prosecutors filed to move the case to superior court this week, due to the serious nature of the charges. In Massachusetts, district courts do not have jurisdiction over felony-level rape cases.
Leung was indicted by a grand jury on two charges of aggravated rape of a child with a 10-year age difference, two charges of aggravated indecent assault and battery on a child under age 14, and two counts of aggravated indecent assault and battery on a person age 14 or older.
Leung is accused of inappropriately touching and raping a Concord student during the summers of 2015 and 2016 at the Fessenden Summer ELL Program in Newton, according to court documents.
At the hearing, Leung submitted an affidavit indicating that he doesn’t have enough funds to pay for his own legal fees. He was appointed a public defender despite arguments made by the prosecution back in May that suggested Leung has an abundance of personal wealth and connections to wealthy relatives in Hong Kong.
Clerk Magistrate Daniel Flaherty, who presided over the hearing, set Leung’s bail at $25,000 cash, which is half of the former bail amount ordered by a Newton District Court judge in April.
A new bail hearing was set for July 23, where a superior court judge may raise or lower the current amount, and will likely set a date for Leung’s trial.
If Leung is able to post bail, the court ordered that he must remain in Massachusetts, where he will be monitored at all times with a GPS bracelet. His passport must be surrendered to the Middlesex Superior Court Clerk’s Office.
Flaherty also ordered that Leung must keep a curfew between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., cannot contact the victim or the victim’s family, and cannot have contact with any children under the age of 16.
Leung is being held at Middlesex House of Correction and Jail in Billerica, Mass.