Arraignment postponed in "YouTube sex abuse case"

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Arraignment was postponed Wednesday in the case against a former school administrator accused of molesting two Riverside County girls, reports CBS Los Angeles. The case gained attention after one alleged victim posted a video to YouTube containing a phone conversation accusing the suspect.

Forty-year-old Andrea Michelle Cardosa, of Perris, Calif., was in court for the first time on Wednesday. She did not enter a plea, however, because her attorney requested more time to review the charges and speak with his client. The arraignment was rescheduled for March 7 and Cardosa’s bail was kept at $5 million.

The allegations against Cardosa surfaced after a 28-year-old woman uploaded a videotaped phone conversation to YouTube in which she confronts Cardosa with claims of sexual abuse from 16 years earlier, when she was a 12-year-old student at Chemawa Middle School in Riverside, Calif.

In the video, Cardosa appears to acknowledge the accusations.

In the time since the video was posted, a second woman who is now 18 has come forward with her own accusations of abuse. She told authorities that Cardosa sexually abused her when she was 15 at Tomas Rivera Middle School in Perris.

Cardosa held teaching, coaching and administrative positions at both schools been 1997 and 2013, district officials confirm.

Cardosa, who most recently worked as the assistant principal at Alhambra High School, had vocal supporters at her hearing.

One woman in the courtroom was ordered outside after saying loudly, “Godspeed baby girl.”  Other supporters said, “The truth will be revealed.”

Court documents claim Cardosa admitted to abusing the woman in the YouTube video to Riverside police Detective Roberta Hopewell, telling police that she believed the girl, who was a 12-year-old student at the time of the alleged abuse, was 15 or 16.

"We just got handed this information," said attorney Randy Collins, who would not comment on his client’s reported confession. “We’ll come back on March 7 and then we’ll proceed with the arraignment.”

The prosecution says they intend to use the YouTube video as evidence.