Records detail how Benicia teacher accused of sexual misconduct regained teaching license

BENICIA – Newly released records show how a former schoolteacher in Napa who was charged with sexually molesting three students was able to regain his teaching license and was hired again as a teacher in Benicia, where he was charged with molesting students again this year.

Matthew Joseph Shelton, 43, faces 12 felony counts of lewd acts with a child stemming from his employment at the Benicia Unified School District. The charges against Shelton have shaken district parents, who say the school district left them in the dark about the allegations. 

When news about the charges were first reported by the Vallejo Sun in March, parents were also disturbed to learn that Shelton was hired despite facing similar allegations of abuse made by elementary school students in Napa. Shelton was acquitted of those charges, and went on to teach at Benicia Unified and most recently worked at West Contra Costa Unified.

Until now, few details have been known about the allegations investigated by Napa police in 2007 or what led the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing to allow him to be licensed to teach. 

But newly obtained records from the Napa Valley Unified School District show the commission considered a police investigation where teachers cast doubt on the alleged victims and letters from members of the Napa Valley school community who vouched for Shelton. 

Shelton sued both the Benicia and Napa Valley school districts in April to prevent them from releasing records of the complaints against him after the Vallejo Sun requested them under the California Public Records Act. 

The court temporarily prevented the districts from releasing records while it considered the case. This reporter, with assistance from the First Amendment Coalition, intervened in the case and Solano County Superior Court Judge Stephen Gizzi ruled against Shelton last week, allowing both districts to release the records. 

Through his attorney in the criminal case, Amanda Bevins, Shelton declined to comment. 

Shelton faced allegations from three students in 2007

Before the release of the records, the Vallejo Sun and Benicia residents learned of Shelton’s history of misconduct allegations because of a Napa Valley Register article about his 2008 acquittal. 

Shelton was accused of inappropriately touching students while still a probationary employee during his first year teaching at Phillips-Edison Elementary. But that was not his first teaching experience, according to his professional resume included in the Napa records.  

Shelton had also worked as a student teacher at the Rio Linda Union School District and football coach for the Mira Loma High School in the San Juan Unified School District, according to the resume. Shelton listed experience working with children with autism as one of his professional activities. 

By April 2007, less than a year into his tenure with Napa Valley, Shelton was facing allegations from three third grade students, ages 8 and 9, who complained Shelton touched them inappropriately. They said he hugged them, touched their hips, buttocks, vagina area, and made them touch his groin area, according to a summary of the police investigation reviewed by the credentialing commission. 

As part of the police investigation, additional female students in the class and some male students were interviewed, but none saw Shelton touch students on the butt or vaginal area. 

The students did, however, describe Shelton pat girls on their head “like a dog”, rub a student’s fingers, poke a student’s stomach, hold a student’s wrists, and run his fingers through a girls’ ponytail and place her hand on his leg.

Two teachers who police also interviewed questioned the credibility of the students. One teacher described one of the alleged victims as “big drama” and “more savvy” than the typical seven- or eight-year-old and “not an innocent, typical, happy-go-lucky seven-year-old.” 

The teacher speculated the student would “make up an allegation of being molested” because “there might be some problem in her home life.” 

Another teacher said Shelton was "young and probably had not thought of the consequences.”

Shelton was placed on administrative leave when the district learned of the police investigation in April 2007. A month later, Shelton wrote to Phillips-Edison Principal Debra Brown saying he was concerned about his future at the school. 

“Since I have not heard from you during the past few weeks, I am beginning to wonder if I still have your support,” Shelton wrote. “I fully intend to return to Phillips next year to teach 3rd grade.” 

A state commission declined to revoke Shelton’s teaching license

After Shelton was acquitted in 2008, the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing needed to determine whether to revoke his teaching license, which had been suspended because of the criminal allegations. 

The commission asked Napa Valley Unified for contact information for students Shelton allegedly touched inappropriately, complaints, and investigative reports. 

Then-Assistant Superintendent Sharyn E. Lindsey responded in a May 2008 letter that the district did not have the requested information because the allegations were made to Napa police. 

Nine people, including his former assistant principal and four third grade teachers, vouched for Shelton in “very favorable letters” to the commission. 

The commission also considered a psychological evaluation about Shelton where the psychologist described him as a young man who “very clearly does not exhibit those personality traits or demographic factors, that empirical research has shown to be present in most child molesters.” 

For his part, Shelton denied the allegations, saying at the time that he “underwent a psychological evaluation and took a polygraph test to show that he had nothing to hide.”  

He told the credentialing committee reviewing his case that he was “willing to put this event behind him, and looks forward to continuing to develop his career as an educator.”

The suspension of Shelton’s credential was lifted in April 2008 after his acquittal, and the credentialing commission ultimately declined to revoke it. Shelton would go on to keep his teaching credential until this past July, months after he was charged with allegations he sexually abused students in Benicia. 

More allegations surface at Benicia Unified

Six students have filed three lawsuits against Benicia Unified, alleging the district ignored warning signs and failed to protect students from harm. 

One lawsuit filed in April alleges that the school neglected to determine whether there were additional victims after the reports of abuse. A separate lawsuit filed weeks later alleges Robert Semple Elementary School Principal Christina Moore mishandled the complaints. 

In a statement, Superintendent Damon Wright said that in response to the litigation, the district placed Moore on paid administrative leave in May 2024. He said an investigator found the allegations against Moore to be unsubstantiated. 

Benicia Unified also released more than 100 pages of documents in response to the Public Records Act request, but the majority of pages include handwritten notes, some illegible. Nonetheless, the records do offer some insight into how Moore handled a complaint about alleged boundary crossing by Shelton the same day he was placed on leave. 

According to an email from Moore summarizing the meeting, she met with Shelton on Dec. 21, 2022, and instructed him to limit his physical interactions with students to high fives or handshakes. 

In response to Moore’s email, Shelton responded, “Thank you for checking in. Yes, your email captured what we discussed very well. My class and I will have a discussion about boundaries, big emotions, and joking.” 

It is not clear from the records what allegations prompted the district to ultimately place Shelton on administrative leave, but Benicia Unified said he never set foot in a district classroom after that day. Shelton resigned in June 2023. 

A preliminary hearing in the criminal case is underway and set to resume in January.

This article was produced with the support of the Investigative Reporting Program at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.