Bakersfield, CA– A janitor at a California elementary school spent five years in prison due to false accusations made by a woman with mental health issues and a history of substance abuse, according to a recent lawsuit.
At the age of 55, Pedro Martinez was employed as a custodian at Maple Elementary School near Bakersfield when he faced unexpected arrest and was charged with multiple counts of child sexual assault in 2019.
After spending several years incarcerated, the janitor was finally exonerated in December 2023. However, he endured significant public shame, being unjustly vilified and branded as a child molester, as outlined in a lawsuit submitted to California’s District Court earlier this week.
The woman claimed that the janitor had “collected multiple children for group rapes that took place on a daily basis every Monday through Thursday over a several month period,” as stated in the legal document.
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Martinez asserts that even in the absence of concrete proof, investigators and prosecutors from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department began constructing a case against him based solely on the woman’s “absurd and fantastical claims.”
The lawsuit claims that Martinez’s accuser suffers from mental illness and is a self-confessed opioid addict with a criminal history who had repeatedly made multiple extremely similar allegations against others.”
The filing asserts “allegations were so impossible and fantastical that any prudent person or law enforcement officer would have investigated her background to determine their veracity rather than take her word at face value,”
Despite having no prior legal issues, Martinez was arrested in January 2019 and faced 11 counts related to child sex abuse.
The lawsuit claims he endured nearly five years behind bars before the charges were dismissed after a criminal trial in December of the previous year.
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Even with the verdict of not guilty, Martinez contended in the lawsuit that the “harm had already occurred.”
“Mr Martinez has been ostracized from his community and suffers, naturally, the deep emotional distress that would naturally arise from such a horrible, avoidable, offensive, and constitutionally abusive tragedy,” the complaint states.
A legal action has been initiated against the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office, the district attorney’s office, and various county officials, aiming for undetermined compensatory and punitive damages.
The Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department chose not to provide any remarks regarding the lawsuit, referencing the ongoing legal proceedings.
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