Los Angeles school principal arrested on child pornography charge

The principal of Del Rey Continuation School in Los Angeles was arrested today on suspicion of possession of child pornography on his personal computer, police said.

Randolph Barnett Cornfield, 60, was arrested at his home without incident, said Los Angeles police Officer Moses Castillo. He is accused of downloading several images of child pornography on his computer, he said.

The Los Angeles Unified School District employee is being held on $20,000 bail. He has no prior convictions, Castillo said.

The investigation is continuing.

Meanwhile, an assistant coach at L.A.'s Birmingham High School was charged today with 12 felony counts of sexually assaulting an underage girl, authorities said.

Kevin Lamont Thomas, 40, was charged with one count of a lewd act on a 15-year-old girl, five counts of sexual penetration with a foreign object while the victim was unconscious, five counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object on a child under 18 and one count of possession of child pornography, authorities said.

Thomas, who coached basketball during the summer and also gave private lessons, allegedly assaulted the victim, who is now 19, on several different occasions between 2004 and 2006, authorities said. Thomas, who was arrested Tuesday and is being held on $670,000 bail, faces a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison if convicted of all the charges.

The alleged victim came forward this week on the advice of her parents, authorities said. Based on information she gave detectives, police said they believe there may be other victims.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call detectives at (818) 374-0040 or (818) 374-9500.

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com

victoria.kim@latimes.com