Former Benicia Elementary Teacher Found Guilty of Sexually Abusing His Students
Editor’s Note: This story includes details of alleged sexual misconduct against minors.
A jury on Thursday found a former Benicia teacher guilty of sexually abusing four students at Robert Semple Elementary School, bringing to a close a criminal case that rocked the waterfront community and highlighted statewide gaps in educator vetting.
Matthew Shelton, 44, faced 12 felony counts of lewd acts with a child. He was convicted of 11 of those counts. The jury declared a mistrial for the remaining count.
This was not the first time Shelton had been on trial for sexually abusing elementary students. Nearly two decades ago, Shelton stood trial over similar allegations that he sexually abused students at Phillips Edison Elementary School, a charter school in Napa. The jury acquitted him in 2008 after deliberating for just 20 minutes. The Benicia Unified School District hired him months later. Shelton then taught at the West Contra Costa Unified School District before returning to Benicia in 2015.
“Justice has been delayed,” deputy district attorney Barry Shapiro told the jury in closing statements on Tuesday before deliberations began. “It will not be denied.”
Seven former students from two school districts, ranging in ages from teens to adults in their late 20s, took the stand over three weeks to testify against Shelton. The women and girls alleged that between 2007 and late 2022, he touched their butts, their crotch area, or that he made them touch his penis. Most of the abuse occurred in his classroom, including while other students were present.
After Shelton was acquitted in 2008, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing — the state agency charged with determining who is fit to teach in California public schools — considered whether to discipline him, ultimately issuing a private admonishment. Such punishments, which are rare, are hidden from the public and must be expunged by the state and employers within three years.
While making the case to the state for why he should be allowed to continue teaching, Shelton said he was willing to “put this event behind him” for future students who could benefit from his educational experience. He told the state panel of volunteers who reviewed his case that he changed his teaching practices, putting neon orange tape on the floor by his desk to create a physical barrier students were not allowed to cross, according to audio from the review played for the jury.
The state allowed him to keep his license, and Shelton worked hard to ingratiate himself with Benicia parents and school administrators so future victims would not be believed, Shapiro said. Shapiro said when girls first reported inappropriate touching by Shelton to the Robert Semple Elementary principal in December 2022, they did not think their principal believed them.
“He thought that if he were valued by the school district, even if those students and victims did come forward, they likely would not make their way to the police department and certainly would not have the strength to make it into court,” Shapiro said. “The defendant was wrong.”
Shelton’s defense attorney, Amanda Bevins, declined to comment on the verdict on Thursday. She had argued in her closing statement on Tuesday that multiple girls making allegations did not mean the claims were true.
“Repetition is not corroboration,” Bevins said. “The argument assumes the accounts developed independently. The evidence shows the opposite.”
She told the jury that the Benicia victims’ allegations became more detailed and egregious over time, beginning with claims of hugs and pinches on the arm that eventually morphed into accusations of sexual abuse. The girls’ memories, she said, had become “contaminated” by outside influences, from classmates and parents to attorneys posting ads online seeking victims of Shelton to represent in civil lawsuits.
Shelton acknowledged that he hugged students at Robert Semple Elementary School, and Bevins noted the school had no policy against touching students. She said no other students in Shelton’s classroom independently corroborated the girls’ claims that he touched their butts.
“If the prosecution’s theory is true, and Shelton was touching girls’ bottoms every day, multiple times a day, in front of the classroom, where is the corroboration? Where is the immediate outcry?” Bevins said. “It’s not there.”
She said another one of the girls’ claims that Shelton reached in the back seat of the car he was driving — then touched her crotch and smiled — was either impossible or nearly impossible.
Two of the girls who accused Shelton of sexually abusing them at Phillips Edison Elementary School in Napa testified again at this trial. Bevins described the students as obstructive during their testimonies. One answered several of the defense attorney’s questions by saying she could not remember. Bevins said the other student appeared “angry” and “out for vengeance.”
KQED does not name victims of alleged sexual abuse without their consent.
One former Napa student alleged during the trial that Shelton touched her crotch and made her touch his penis when she was in the third grade. Shapiro asked her to describe his demeanor.
She said Shelton would smile.
“Like he’s doing now,” she said from the witness stand.
While the criminal trial is over, Benicia Unified still faces three lawsuits alleging the district failed to protect its students when administrators hired Shelton in 2008. During the trial, the prosecutor presented evidence that appeared to show the school district was notified that the state privately admonished Shelton.
Since 2025, California public school administrators have been required to ask every single previous employing school whether teaching candidates were reported to the state for credible or substantiated reports of egregious misconduct. A new law, which goes into effect next year and was prompted by a KQED-ProPublica investigation, clarifies that administrators who fail to do so may be subject to discipline by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
But some school administrators say contacting every former employing school and getting their responses leaves room for error, since prospective teachers can omit information or lie. Two California bills that would have created a searchable database were killed this year. The database would have allowed hiring schools to determine whether prospective teachers had been reported to the state after they were fired or resigned over claims of misconduct.
After Shelton agreed to resign from Benicia Unified in 2023 following complaints that he touched students inappropriately, he applied for a job as an assistant principal at Helms Middle School in West Contra Costa Unified.
On the job application, Shelton listed as his supervisor a former teaching colleague and identified her as a principal, which she was not. Shelton acknowledged to the jury that he lied and that he expected the teacher to provide a favorable reference.
He got the job.
Shelton is scheduled for sentencing in December.