Benicia Unified sued over alleged sexual abuse by former teacher with previous arrest

BENICIA – The family of a Benicia student filed a lawsuit against a former teacher and the Benicia Unified School District, alleging the district was negligent in hiring and supervising the teacher, who allegedly sexually abused the girl while she was a student at Robert Semple Elementary School.  

The student is only identified as Jane Doe in the suit, which was filed in Solano County Superior Court on April 9. It alleges that 42-year-old Matthew Joseph Shelton, a former fifth grade teacher at Robert Semple, inappropriately touched and abused her during the 2022-23 school year. 

Shelton was charged with five felony counts of lewd acts with a child in February for the allegations involving the victim in the lawsuit. Prosecutors added two additional counts last month that involved a second victim, who alleged abuse by Shelton in 2018 and 2019.

Shelton did not respond to requests for comment, and his attorney in the criminal case declined to comment. Benicia Unified Superintendent Damon Wright said he was unaware of the lawsuit and unable to respond.

The case has alarmed parents with children in the school district, not only because Shelton was a trusted member of the teaching staff for years, but because he faced similar accusations at a previous job but was acquitted of criminal charges following a jury trial. It has raised questions about how well teachers are vetted, especially since after leaving Robert Semple amid a police investigation last year, Shelton was able to get another job at a nearby school district.

The Benicia school district did not disclose Shelton’s criminal charges to parents until after the Vallejo Sun reported them in March, nearly two weeks after he had been charged. After that, Wright promised transparency and to examine the district’s practices around hiring, supervision and responding to complaints.  The school board is expected to discuss the results of the review at a meeting on Thursday. 

The parents of the victim who filed the lawsuit, who asked not to be named to protect their child’s identity, said in an interview with the Vallejo Sun that the abuse has turned their lives upside down. The victim’s mother said the experience has been the most difficult thing their family has ever gone through. 

"It was hell. Absolute hell,” she said. “That’s what it’s been like this entire time.” 

A history of misconduct complaints 

Benicia is not the first school district where Shelton has been accused of sexually abusing students. The lawsuit alleges that Benicia Unified knew or should have known Shelton was unfit to be a teacher. 

Shelton was arrested in 2007 for allegations he sexually abused four female students while employed as a third grade teacher at Phillips Edison Elementary School in Napa, according to the Napa Valley Register. 

Three girls testified during a 6-day jury trial, but Shelton’s attorney argued that their stories were fabricated and inconsistent with one another. The jury took 20 minutes to find him not guilty, clearing the way for him to regain his teaching credential. 

From 2013 to 2015, Shelton worked as a “probationary teacher” at the West Contra Costa Unified School District, according to a spokesperson for that district. He was employed at Robert Semple Elementary School in 2015 after working for Benicia Unified as a substitute there, salary records show. 

The victim in the lawsuit alleges she was in the fifth grade when the abuse occurred at Robert Semple in the fall semester in 2022. The alleged abuse occurred at Shelton’s classroom during an after school program, among other locations, the suit claims. 

The suit alleges that in December, a fellow student reported inappropriate conduct by Shelton to administrators, but neither the school or the district took action to determine if there were more victims. 

The victim in the civil suit said she came forward to report the alleged abuse to the principal in February of last year. 

‘Set up to protect teachers over kids’ 

The lawsuit describes how the victim continues to be severely impacted by the alleged abuse, including that she has made “multiple attempts to take her life as a direct result of Shelton inappropriately touching and sexually abusing her.” 

Her mother said she felt sick after learning about Shelton’s previous arrest in Napa before he was hired at Benicia Unified, details that were easy to find with a quick internet search. 

Now, in filing the civil suit, the parents are pushing for more robust hiring practices as well as training on how to prevent abuse and respond to warning signs of such abuse. They are also hoping to learn new information about what went wrong and that more people who have been harmed will be encouraged to come forward. 

"Everything seems to be set up to protect teachers over kids,” the father of the victim said. "There is some failing either in the way the district managed the situation, or the way schools are allowed to operate under the law that did not work. Something broke down."

In a written statement, Wright, the district superintendent, said the current administration was not in place when Shelton was initially hired, and he is unable to respond to decisions made at the time. 

“I will, however, reiterate that once concerns were brought forward last school year, we responded immediately and took appropriate action to separate this individual from employment,” Wright said. 

Wright said the district immediately placed Shelton on leave on Dec. 21, 2022, promptly contacted law enforcement, and filed a report with Child Protective Services. A third party attorney was also “engaged to investigate the alleged conduct.” 

Wright said the district “communicates information with the broad community when it is legally possible and within the parameters of the law.” 

Shelton resigned from Benicia Unified on June 2, 2023, Wright said. 

Landing a job at another school district 

But even after multiple claims of misconduct involving students at two school districts, Shelton did not have long to wait before starting a new job at another school.

By July 1, Shelton was employed at the West Contra Costa Unified School District. He was employed as an assistant principal at Helms Middle School in San Pablo, according to a record of personnel changes posted on the school board’s website. His annual salary was $110,266.56. 

West Contra Costa Unified School District spokesperson Raechelle Forrest said the district had conducted reference checks for Shelton at the time of hire. 

The district said they contacted Benicia Unified after learning about “an article circulating the school community regarding Mr. Shelton and Napa Unified School District” in August. 

According to Wright, when West Contra Costa Unified reached out about Shelton in August, the district could not disclose the criminal investigation because Shelton had not been charged. Wright said the district “did not provide the former employee with a positive reference” but “simply confirmed his dates of employment, and positions.” He said that to his knowledge, no one from the Benicia school district administration spoke to anyone at West Contra Costa Unified prior to August 2023. 

The father of the victim in the suit against Benicia Unified said he called the West Contra Costa Unified district offices to warn school officials about Shelton after learning about his new job. The father said after leaving a voicemail, he spoke with staff at the superintendent’s office about his concerns and the ongoing criminal investigation. 

Forrest said the district learned of a “voicemail from a parent indicating concerns and a possible active case regarding Mr. Shelton and Benicia Unified School District” in September, confirmed a case was under review with the Solano County District Attorney’s Office, and placed Shelton on leave. 

“The West Contra Costa Unified School District conducts reference checks for all employees, and background checks are conducted through our required DOJ and FBI fingerprinting process. We also confirm credentials, and Matthew Shelton's credential was valid at the time of hiring,” Forrest said. 

Forrest declined to comment further. 

Helms Middle School has grappled with a staffing shortage, according to a civil rights firm that filed complaints with the West Contra Costa Unified School District over the issue in January. The complaints accuse the district of failing to provide students at Helms Middle School and two other schools with qualified teachers that they are entitled to under the law.

Nearly half of the students at Helms identify as English learners, and nearly 64% qualify for free and reduced meals, according to data collected by the California Department of Education. 

A teacher at Helms Middle School, who asked not to be named because of fears of retaliation from the school board, said she remembered Shelton’s abrupt departure. She learned of the acquittal in Napa after reading a news article. 

She said she was angered and sickened, and that the district needs to take a careful look at its onboarding process. 

"This is really just scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of accountability,” she said. 

Shelton's teaching credentials were not suspended until March 11, 2024, more than two weeks after criminal charges were filed, according to a document provided by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. 

When called for reference checks, schools are often advised by attorneys not to provide details of past allegations to avoid lawsuits, said Billie-Jo Grant, president of McGrath Training Solutions and a lecturer at California Polytechnic State University who specializes in educator misconduct and prevention. 

In a study of more than 100 cases collected from 2000-2010, Grant found it took an average of more than 580 days for a convicted teacher's license to be revoked by the Virginia State Department of Education.

“I had multiple examples of someone who got rehired in another district, abused more kids, because they still had a license to teach,” Grant said. A California bill proposed in 2018 would have required schools to ask superintendents or district officials whether applicants had faced claims of sexual misconduct with students. The measure failed to make its way through the legislature.

In a video message days after the current allegations against Shelton were reported by the Vallejo Sun, Wright announced that Benicia Unified would conduct an independent review of its processes and protocols including hiring, supervision, and responding to complaints. 

Wright said he expects the review to be shared with the school district governing board during a school board meeting this Thursday, and in a video message to the parent community after the board meeting. 

The lawsuit against Benicia Unified and Shelton seeks damages as well as a jury trial, and the victim’s parents say they’re focused on healing and supporting their child. 

Their attorney, Brendan Gilbert from the law firm Taylor & Ring, said he is troubled that Shelton remained in teaching positions for so long, “at various schools, various school districts for the past 15 to almost 20 years now.”  

“That's concerning to me,” Gilbert said. "I have to believe that there are other victims out there.”