A powerful video of a young woman's phone call to a former teacher and coach she accuses of sexual abuse has led to another alleged victim coming forward and to the arrest of that educator in Riverside County, Calif.
The video that began the chain of events is posted here. It was posted on Jan. 17 by 28-year-old Jamie Carrillo. As you can see and hear, Carrillo says she's calling Andrea Michelle Cardosa. They met when Carrillo was a middle school student in Riverside County. The conversation does include some graphic language.
When Carrillo placed the phone call last month, the now-40-year-old Cardosa was a vice principal at Alhambra High School in Riverside County.
During the conversation, as KTLA-TV reports, Carrillo is heard saying of her former basketball coach that, "I was only 12 years old when I met you. Do you realize that you brainwashed me and you manipulated me and that what you did was wrong?"
"Yes. And I regret it," the other woman responds.
The sexual abuse allegedly continued through Carrillo's high school years.
Within hours of the phone call, Cardosa had resigned from her position at Alhambra High School.
The video was viewed more than 1 million times within a week of its posting. Carrillo also went on TV to tell her story, both locally on KTLA and nationally on ABC's The View.
"After the video surfaced," says Riverside's Press-Enterprise, "an 18-year-old woman known as 'Brianna' came forward with accusations from when she was a student in Perris."
On Monday, Cardosa was arrested and charged with "16 counts related to aggravated sexual assault and lewd acts on a child under the age of 14," the Los Angeles Times writes. The Press-Enterprise adds that "the felonies Cardosa is charged with include five counts of aggravated sexual assault on a child, which can carry up to a life sentence, if she's convicted." Her bail has been set at $5 million.
Note: NPR's ethics guidelines state that we do not "name individuals who are the alleged victims of sexual assaults." The guidelines also say, however, that "there are exceptions at times — such as certain instances when such an individual goes public with his/her identity — and NPR editors will judge these instances on a case-by-case basis." In this case, Carrillo has already appeared in news accounts and on both local and national TV. "Brianna" has not gone public.
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