Former Bay Area elementary school teacher to face arraignment on child molestation charges

After a two-day preliminary hearing, a Solano County Superior Court judge on Friday ruled there was enough evidence to hold for further arraignment a former Benicia Unified school teacher accused of child molestations.

Judge John B. Ellis, following a one-hour proceeding in Department 23, ordered Matthew Joseph Shelton to return at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 13 for a held-to-answer arraignment in Department 15 in the Justice Building in Vallejo.

Shelton, 43, is charged with 12 felony counts of lewd acts on four children under 14.