LEWISTON — A former Auburn music teacher, convicted last year of molesting and assaulting students, has been charged with two counts of transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

James Raymond, 28, of Auburn, was indicted by a federal grand jury last week and was arrested on a warrant Friday. At a hearing in U.S. District Court in Portland on Friday afternoon, he pleaded not guilty to both counts. He is being held in federal custody until a detention hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig M. Wolff said.

According to the indictment, Raymond transported a girl younger than 18 from Maine to New Hampshire and back to Maine on July 14, 2007, and Aug. 13, 2007, with the intent to have sex, specifically, felonious sexual assault and unlawful sexual touching. The indictments, handed down Wednesday, were sealed until after Raymond's arrest.

Wolff declined to say whether the alleged victim is a former student of Raymond.

Each of the two counts is a Class A crime and carries a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life and/or a fine of $250,000.

The investigation was carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Auburn Police Department.

Raymond was tried and convicted at Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn in August 2008 on five charges: two counts of unlawful sexual touching and three counts of assault, all misdemeanors. The three girls involved were music students of Raymond at the time of the incidents in April 2005 and September and October 2007, according to the indictment.

One girl was a first-grader at East Auburn Community School, another was a second-grader at Park Avenue Elementary School and the third was a fifth-grader at Webster Intermediate School.

Raymond had denied the charges and testified in his defense, but the jury was shown his interview with police in which he confessed to having urges to touch young girls and sometimes acted on those urges.

He was sentenced to spend 60 days in jail and two years on probation.

Raymond was a teacher at Park Avenue and East Auburn Community elementary schools. He also was an assistant marching band instructor at Leavitt Area High School in Turner, founder of the Central Maine Children's Theater Project and an instructor for the Central Maine Children's Chorus.