Evidence emerges against former Bay Area elementary school teacher accused of child sex crimes

On the witness stand in a Vallejo courtroom, a Benicia school resource officer and a Benicia police detective on Tuesday testified that students at a Benicia elementary school told them their former teacher had molested them.

The testimony marked the first day of Solano County Superior Court preliminary hearing for Matthew Joseph Shelton, 43, who is charged with 12 felony counts of lewd acts on four children under 14.

Some of the allegations date back to late 2022, while others stem from Shelton’s alleged behavior in 2024, according to the testimony heard in Department 23 during an afternoon session.

As his first witness, Deputy District Attorney Barry Shapiro called Stephen Adaya, the school resource officer at Robert Semple Elementary.

Adaya told Shapiro that Principal Christina Moore told him in December 2022 that three fifth-grade students, all girls, reported Shelton had “touched them inapprpriately.”

Adaya testified that he told Shelton what the students alleged, but Shelton, he said, described the students as “caught up in drama” and had “disciplined the class by singling them out.”

Shelton, he said, denied the students’ statements and further denied he had touched them inappropriately, including placing his hands on their buttocks.

The girls, said Adaya, were students in an afternoon “extended learning” classroom.

In her cross-examination, Shelton’s defense attorney, Amanda I. Bevins of Napa, asked Adaya if he sought an arrest warrant for Shelton. He did not, and, he said, he did not speak with other school staff members about the allegations at the time.

Adaya also confirmed that a Robert Semple student told him she “felt safe but uncomfortable” in Shelton’s class.

As his second witness, Shapiro called Benicia police Detective Ashley Wright to the stand. She testified that on March 27, 2023, she conducted an investigation with the help of specialists interviewing minors.

A student, said Wright, told her that Shelton touched her buttocks three times and touched “her crotch area” once underneath a desk for “three to five seconds” while in the after-school extended learning class.

Wright testified that the student described his touching her buttocks while she both entered and left the classroom, and, at one point, recalled his reaching his hand to the lower portion of her buttocks, where “she felt a slight squeeze.”

Later, on March 7 this year, another fifth grader came forward, alleging Shelton also had touched her inappropriately, Wright said, adding that Shelton molested her while in a vehicle during a field trip.

Wright testified that Shelton “reached behind while he was driving and touched her vagina,” causing the girl to feel uncomfortable.

Later, when they emerged from the car, Shelton, she said, walking the girl by the hand placed her hand on his “rock solid” penis for “five to 10 seconds.”

Shapiro showed Wright several anatomical drawings in which the girl had pointed out where Shelton had allegedly touched her, then asked why the girl came forward to accuse her teacher. The student knew his alleged action was wrong, Wright said.

More allegations against Shelton emerged in April 2024, with Wright testifying that, during that time, he would hug one of the girls and then run his hands down to her buttocks. Another student witnessed Shelton’s behavior, said Wright.

Recalling Shelton’s alleged behavior on Oct. 10, 2023, Wright said he, grabbing both of a girl’s hands, twirled her around in a way that caused her hand to brush up against his penis.

As Wright spoke, Shelton, a tall man easily over 6 feet with short-cropped black hair and clad in a burgundy shirt and gray tie over black pants, took notes while seated at the defense table.

Shortly afterward, Judge John B. Ellis, who presided over the hearing, recessed the proceedings at about 3:25 p.m. just as Bevins started her cross-examination.

Ellis, after hearing the attorneys’ schedules and as the clock neared 4 p.m., decided to resume the hearing at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 3 in Department 23 in the Justice Building.

The hearing for Shelton will determine whether there’s enough evidence to hold him for a jury trial.

Day 1 came as a Solano County Superior Court judge last week ordered Napa Valley Unified officials to release public records of the defendant’s alleged sexual abuse while he worked in the district in 2007.

Shelton was tried on sexual misconduct charges during his tenure in Napa but was  acquitted after a six-day jury trial in 2008.

In the BUSD case, Shelton, in an amended complaint filed Aug. 12, 2024, is charged with five counts of a lewd act on one child, two counts on another, one on another, and four on a fourth child.

Wording in the complaint includes “factors in aggravation,” and they are that the victims were “particularly vulnerable” and that Shelton “took advantage of a position of trust.”

Additionally, court records indicate the court has subpoenaed records from Highland Elementary in Vallejo, Adventist Health in Vallejo, and Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez.

Shelton remains out of custody on a pretrial services contract.