Ex-Carpentersville substitute teacher accused of sexually abusing 2 more
A former Carpentersville substitute elementary school teacher has been charged with sexually abusing and assaulting two more victims in 2016, bringing number of his accusers to 10.
Carlos Bedoya, 62, of the 100 block of Acorn Lane, Lake in the Hills, was charged with two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault and seven counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of victims younger than 13, according to Kane County court records.
Bedoya was arrested in July 2017 on charges he molested and assaulted two 6-year-old students over several months in 2016 and 2017 while serving as a substitute teacher at Golfview Elementary School in Carpentersville.
In subsequent months, more children came forward to say they also had been abused and assaulted by Bedoya, according to court records.
Two of the children have sued Bedoya, Golfview Principal Lindsay Sharp and Algonquin-based Community Unit District 300 for damages, arguing the district and administration knew or should have known Bedoya was “unfit” to be a teacher and was a danger to children because of his “sexually deviant behavior.”
Bedoya's defense attorney, Franciso Botto, has asked a judge to split the criminal cases into a separate trial for each accuser instead of several or all of his accusers testifying in one trial.
“Each of the allegations of sexual assault or abuse are each their own separate offenses, occurring within a different alleged victim and a different time,” read part of the motion. “It does not matter that the defendant is accused of using similar modus operandi, or that he was in similar positions of authority to all of the alleged victims, or that some of the allegations of his conduct are similar.”
A judge will hear arguments on Botto's motion for separate cases on July 19.
Bedoya is being held at the Kane County jail on $4.85 million bail, meaning he must post $485,000 to be released while the cases are pending. If convicted of the most severe charges, he faces life in prison.