A California educator acknowledged to police that she had a sexual relationship with a teenage student who confronted her years later over the phone and posted video of the conversation on YouTube, authorities said in a court filing released Tuesday.
In an arrest declaration obtained by The Associated Press, Riverside police Detective Roberta Hopewell said 40-year-old Andrea Cardosa told Alhambra police she had a previous sexual relationship with the now-28-year-old woman who made the video.
The officers interviewed Cardosa after the woman sent a link to the video to the principal of Alhambra High School, where Cardosa was an assistant principal. Cardosa resigned her job that day.
“During the interview, Cardosa admitted to having sexual relationship with Jane Doe #1,” Hopewell wrote in the papers filed in Riverside County Superior Court seeking Cardosa’s arrest.
The declaration sheds additional light on the case that was spurred when the woman posted the video on Jan. 17 on YouTube of the telephone conversation she had with Cardosa about the alleged abuse. Within days, the video was seen nearly 1 million times.
Prosecutors charged Cardosa on Monday with five counts of aggravated sexual assault on a child and 11 other counts of abuse involving the youth and a second alleged victim who came forward after watching the video.
Cardosa was arrested on a $5 million warrant and was scheduled to make her first court appearance Wednesday. If convicted of the aggravated sexual assault charges, she could face a life sentence, prosecutors said.
Randy Collins, Cardosa’s attorney, declined to comment on the allegations but said he would challenge the use of the video as evidence since state law requires parties to consent to being recorded.
“These are old, old allegations, and before we get into whether or not the evidence is going to be viable or credible when we get to court, we have to deal with whether this case should even be in court,” he said.
John Henry, supervising deputy district attorney for Riverside County, said he intends to use the video in court.
“Based on my view of the law, I think that there is a very good chance that a judge will find it admissible,” he said.
The state’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing on Tuesday suspended Cardosa’s credentials, according to the agency’s website.
Fifteen counts against Cardosa stem from allegations of abuse between 1997 and 2001 involving Jamie, the woman who posted the YouTube video. The statute of limitations does not apply because the five aggravated sexual assault charges carry a life sentence and the other charges meet a handful of specific conditions, prosecutors said.
One count stems from accusations related to the second woman, named Brianna.
Both women have asked to be identified by their first names. The Associated Press is not using either woman’s full name because they say they are victims of sexual abuse.
In the video, Jamie phones Alhambra High School, where receptionists connect her to a woman who identifies herself as Cardosa.
“You should be so ashamed and so disgusted with yourself,” Jamie says.
“I am. I am,” the woman says. “I regret it every day. Every day.”
Jamie does not detail the alleged abuse in the video.
The arrest declaration says she told police that Cardosa was a mentor to her at a middle school in Riverside and began sexually abusing her in the girl’s locker room when she was 12. By the time she was 14, Cardosa had abused her “too many times to count” and continued to do so until she was 18, the woman told police.
Brianna, now 18, told detective that she met Cardosa when she was a student at a middle school in Perris. She said Cardosa drove her to a secluded area in 2010, where she tried to kiss her and inappropriately touched her, court papers state.
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