Trial Delayed for Alleged Teacher, Molester

A former Murrieta and Temecula substitute teacher accused of lewd acts with a child under 14 was due to start trial today, but that has been delayed to Feb. 27 after his attorney filed a motion for a continuance, court records show.

The trial officially started for Daniel James Oberg, 50, more than a year ago on Aug. 10, 2010, though he was arrested Oct. 8, 2009.

At his last trial appearance Oct. 17, the prosecutor on the case said there was an issue with the witness and Judge Kelly Hansen granted a continuance until today.

Defense attorney Karen Lockhart told the Judge Timothy Freer today that she needed more time to prepare, according to court records.

Meanwhile, Oberg to travel to Arizona during the Thanksgiving holiday, according to court records.

The day of the arrest, Oberg, a then-Wildomar resident, was scheduled to work at a Temecula school, said Melanie Norton, spokesperson for the Temecula Valley Unified School District. He had worked at six school sites, including high schools, middle schools and elementary schools, Norton said at the time.

He also worked in the Murrieta Valley Unified School District, substitute teaching at schools including At the time of Oberg's arrest, district spokesperson Karen Parris confirmed he'd worked three days since the start of the 2009-2010 school year, two of those at Shivela.

The Temecula district took his name off its list of substitute teachers immediately after the arrest, Norton said. Parris also confirmed his name was removed from the Murrieta district's list following his arrest.

"He is no longer a substitute teacher in the district," Parris said.

The incident had nothing to do with students in the Temecula or Murrieta districts, both districts confirmed. Sheriff’s officials declined to give any more information about the incident.

Oberg taught at six Temecula schools a total of 10 times before being arrested. The school district does background checks on all its substitutes, according to Norton.

At the time of Oberg's arrest, The Californian reported that the alleged victim was known personally to Oberg and was not a student of his.

Mirna Alfonso, Peter Surowski and Maggie Avants contributed to this report.