A former Pella band instructor accused of sexually exploiting a former Pella High student has pled not guilty to charges in Marion County.

Ben Thompson faces three charges of sexual exploitation of a student, one of which is a class D felony. He’s accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a student, which culminated with an incident in May 2014. A pretrial conference is scheduled for August 28th. Earlier this week, Thompson pled not guilty to three counts of 3rd degree sexual abuse in Floyd County. A jury trial for that case scheduled to begin on September 9th.