Former Ralston Custodian Takes Plea Deal in Student Molestation Case

The former Ralston Middle School custodian arrested in March 2011 for molesting female students on two separate occasions has struck a plea deal with prosecutors that puts him in jail for less than a year.

Andre Edwards, 54, pleaded no contest on Monday to felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor child annoyance in exchange for a maximum of nine months in jail, and no prison time, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Tuesday.

Edwards, who worked as a janitor and coach at Ralston Middle School until a month before his arrest, will be sentenced on June 13.

Prosecutors said he molested two female students at the school, once in 2001 and again in 2010.

In the 2001 incident, Edwards allegedly put his hands down the pants of a 13-year-old girl. The girl reported the incident and police investigated, but the case wasn't prosecuted due to a lack of corroboration.

In the second incident, Edwards was alone with a 13-year-old female student in his office at 7:30 a.m. on Nov. 15, 2010, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Edwards allegedly "grabbed her buttock and cupped her breast with his hand," the district attorney's office reported.

The student told school officials after first period, and the police were called. Edwards was arrested in March 2011.

Up until his plea deal, Edwards has denied the claims. He retired from the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District on Feb. 28, 2011 where he had been employed since September 1987.

Numerous trial dates were set, then delayed, after the case was sent to the District Attorney's Office. Edwards has remained out of custody on a $50,000 bail bond.

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