Two weeks after a YouTube video surfaced depicting a phone call in which a former student accuses her one-time teacher of sexually assaulting her, 40-year-old Andrea Cardosa is behind bars.
"Jamie," the 28-year-old woman confronting Cardosa posted the video online. She says the former Alhambra High School assistant principal molested her when she was a student in Riverside County.
Cardosa was arrested Monday night at a rural home in Perris on a $5-million warrant. The former teacher and administrator is now charged with 16 felony counts, including lewd acts on a child and sexual assault of a minor. Fiteen of those counts are related to Jamie.
"I wanted to do this to expose her for what she really was and to protect other kids," Jamie said after the video was released.
Jamie says she was 12 years old when Cardosa, her basketball coach at Chemawa Middle School, began molesting her. According to an arrest declaration, the alleged abuse spanned a six-year period.
The affidavit shows detectives with the Riverside Police Department spoke with Cardosa shortly after the YouTube video surfaced, stating: "During the interview, Cardosa admitted to having a sexual relationship with Jane Doe #1, but said Jane Doe #1 was 15 or 16 years old at the time." Later in the interview, Cardosa said the girl may have been 14 at the time.
The video also was sent to the Alhambra Unified School District, where Cardosa was working as an assistant principal. Officials referred the case to police, and Cardosa resigned from her post at Alhambra High School.
After the YouTube video went viral, another alleged victim, identified only as "Brianna," stepped forward. The now-18-year-old woman says she was 14 when she was molested by Cardosa in 2010. At the time, Cardosa was a teacher with the Val Verde School District
."This should never have happened and I don't wish this on anybody," said Brianna.
Cardosa was held on $5-million bond at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside and was expected to be arraigned Wednesday.
