A former Napa elementary school teacher who’d beaten the rap on some 2007 child sexual abuse charges is now somehow facing more felony counts for lewd acts with children under 14 in Benicia, and a judge has ruled he’ll stand trial.  

Matthew Joseph Shelton had already faced six counts of misdemeanor sexual abuse charges from a 2007 case when he was a third-grade teacher at Phillips Edison Elementary School in Napa. But in 2008, he was acquitted on all of those charges, with a jury finding that some of the childrens’ stories seemed fabricated or inconsistent.

Yet now 17 years later, Shelton found himself in Solano County Superior Court Monday morning facing 12 felony counts of lewd acts with children, according to the Bay Area News Group. In this case, there are four alleged victims under the age of 14, though given the records that are being subpoenaed in this case, there seems a possibility that more alleged victims may come to light.

Moreover, a judge has ruled the trial will subpoena records from the Napa Valley Unified School District with regards to that previous 2007 case.

Shelton’s trial is now scheduled to begin October 8, but his attorney has filed a motion to dismiss some parts or all of the case, and that motion is scheduled to be heard April 21.

This round of abuse accusations was reported in 2022 in the Benicia School District, involving four different students at Robert Semple Elementary School. But there may be more to this, as the News Group reports the court has subpoenaed additional records from Highland Elementary School and Adventist Health in Vallejo, plus the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez.

Though clearly Shelton’s defense attorneys have some sort of strategy. The news group reports they had previously put in a subpoena for a “confidential juvenile case file from Placer County,” for reasons that are quite unclear. The judge denied that request, reportedly saying “I have a responsibility to make sure this person (a minor) is protected.”

Shelton awaits trial out of custody, while on a pretrial services contract.

Related: Trial Underway for Vacaville Mormon Bishop Accused of Sexually Abusing Adopted Daughter [SFist]

Image: Judge’s gavel, Themis sculpture and collection of legal books on the brown background. (Getty Images)