How YouTube helped a woman ensnare alleged childhood abuser
Jamie Carillo is being called brave by many and a hero by others after posting a video that shows her confronting via telephone a former teacher she says sexually abused her for years.
Carillo, now 28, posted the video to YouTube on Friday. In the heated exchange, Carillo confronts Andrea Cardosa, an assistant principal at Alhambra High School in California. The video has already been viewed more than 400,000 times.
After a brief exchange confirming Cardosa’s identity, Carillo formally confronts the former school basketball coach:
Carrillo: “So what happens when a student comes in and says that they’re having a sexual relationship with a teacher?”
Cardosa: “Then I would involve law enforcement.”
Carrillo: “So how is that any different from what you did when I was at Chemawa Middle?”
Cardosa: “It’s not.”
Carrillo: “So why are you excluded from the law? Why did you do that? I was only 12 years old when I met you. You realize you brainwashed me and you manipulated me? And that what you did was wrong?”
Cardosa: “Yes. And I regret it.”
Here is the call in its entirety:
“Everything was stolen from me,” Carillo told KTLA, saying that the abuse began when she was 12 and continued until she was 20. “I want her to be in jail and to pay for what she's done.”
After posting the video to YouTube, Carillo contacted officials at Alhambra High School. School officials released a statement saying that "an administrator” (they did not identify Cardosa by name) resigned after a brief interview on Friday and that they have turned the information over to police for further investigation.
According to the Los Angeles Times, it was Cardosa who resigned.
"At the conclusion of that interview the Alhambra High School administrator tendered her resignation," the school said in a statement. "Alhambra Police Department will be handing this matter over to the jurisdiction of the appropriate police department."
The school says it took action within 10 minutes of being made aware of the video. For her part, Carillo says she decided to take action because she has a 12-year-old daughter of her own. She did not speak out previously because, she says, Cardosa threatened to publicly humiliate her.
Superintendent Laura Tellez-Gagliano noted that Cardosa had been working for the district only since October and said that Cardosa passed a criminal background check before being hired and that the Alhambra Police Department found no other cases of alleged abuse.
“Her records were clear. We also did reference checks,” Tellez-Gagliano told the Pasadena Star-News.
The investigation has reportedly been turned over to the Riverside Police Department.
Though Carrillo states the statute of limitations has run out, her attorney is saying that's not necessarily the case. David Ring told the Star-News that California law in abuse cases is complex and it is difficult to determine what charges can be pursued 10 years later. According to Nolo.com, the statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse in California is "eight years from the victim's 18th birthday or three years after the victim realizes that physical or psychological injury has resulted from childhood sexual abuse, no matter what the victim's age."
“The statute of limitations for childhood abuse should basically be indeterminate because people like this, people like Jamie, come forth in their 20s, 30s, 40s,” Ring told the Star-News.
Ring told the New York Daily News that his client is also considering filing a criminal or civil lawsuit against Cardosa, adding that the apparent confession was virtually unprecedented.
“She’s copped to it all in that phone call. It’s incredible," Ring told the paper. "You never gain the admission that you see here — you've certainly never seen it posted on YouTube before.”
