Ex-Alhambra High School administrator admits molesting former students in Riverside, Perris

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RIVERSIDE >> A former Alhambra High School assistant principal who was accused of molesting a two former students, including one who confronted her in a phone call and posted the conversation online, pleaded guilty Friday to three counts of child molestation involving two victims, authorities said.
Andrea Michelle Cardosa, 41, reportedly pleaded guilty to three counts of committing lewd acts on a child under 14 in Riverside Superior court. The charges stemmed from the molestation of two female students at middle schools in Riverside and Perris. The alleged Riverside crimes took place between 1997 and and 2001, and the alleged Perris crimes took place in 2009 or 2010.
She faces up to maximum sentence of 10 years, eight months in prison. Sentencing was scheduled for Feb. 9.
She was initially charged with 16 felony counts related to child molestation and could have faced life in prison if she had been convicted as charged, prosecutors said.
Cardosa resigned from her position as an administrator at Alhambra High School shortly after her first victim posted the telephone confrontation on YouTube in January of 2014, but before her arrest in early February of 2014, officials said.
The video confrontation, in which Cardosa apparently incriminates herself, went viral after it was first posted by a 28-year-old woman who alleged she was molested by the Cardosa for six years, beginning when she was a 12-year-old student at Chemawa Middle School in Riverside.
Following the release of the video, a second woman, 18, came forward and alleged she also had been molested by Cardosa in 2009 and 2010 while a student at Tomas Rivera Middle School in Perris.
Prior to entering her plea Friday, Cardosa was being held in lieu of $5 million bail.

– From staff and wire reports.

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