An Antioch Upper Grade School teacher accused of sexually assaulting a former student pleaded not guilty in Lake County Circuit Court Thursday.

Wes L. Owens, 52, of Salon Mills in McHenry County faces two counts of criminal sexual assault and two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for having inappropriate relations with a teenager.

Owens has also been indicted in McHenry County on four counts of criminal sexual assault and three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse stemming from allegations he had four separate sexual encounters with the teenager.

The incidents, authorities said, occurred between March 1997, when the girl was 15 years old, and April 1999.

Owens was arrested Sept. 4 by Lake County authorities after an investigation into a tip that he and the girl had an inappropriate relationship as far back as 1997.

The tip, authorities said, came from Kenneth Lee Johnson, 60, a former social studies teacher at Antioch Grade School who is now serving 3½ years in state prison on child pornography charges.

Antioch Elementary District 34 placed Owens on paid administrative leave Aug. 31, pending the outcome of the investigation.

He is scheduled to be arraigned on the McHenry County case Nov. 9. and is expected to return to Lake County Court in late November.