Former Bay Area elementary school teacher sentenced to probation for misdemeanor sex offense
A former Benicia Unified teacher was sentenced Monday in Solano County Superior Court in Vallejo to probation for misdemeanor annoying or molesting a victim under 18 years of age.
Kurt Michael Sindel II, 58, appeared before Judge Bryan J. Kim, who also issued a protective order for him to stay away from and have no contact with the victim. The judge also ordered Sindel to register as a “Tier 1” sexual offender, according to official court records.
The sentencing came after Sindel, a former Independent Study coordinator with the school district, entered on Oct. 29, 2024, a no-contest plea to the misdemeanor charge in Department 15 in the Justice Building. The Solano County District Attorney’s Office filed its complaint on Sept. 29, 2023.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Silva prosecuted the case. Berkeley-based attorney Elizabeth Grossman represented Sindel.
Court records show that Grossman earlier this month submitted a letter to Kim for leniency and understanding of her client’s circumstances, citing Sindel’s medical and personal histories.
She noted that he suffered a brain injury in 2018, accepted responsibility for his actions, and submitted a letter of resignation addressed to district officials. She asserted that he had coooperated with court orders by adhering to a pretrial services contract’s terms and conditions.
Also in the letter, Grossman said Sindel was “in anguish” over his conduct “with deep self condemnation.” He was so distraught that he made an attempt to kill himself on Oct. 15, 2022, she added.
Sindel worked as a teacher for 26 years and his California teaching credential has been revoked, she said.
Additionally, Grossman said her client “lives with his elderly parents and his daily focus is as a caretaker for their needs.”
Sindel’s brain injury, she said, left him with “forever altered” mental abilities.
Neither the Solano County Probation Department nor the victim’s family demaned jail or prison time for Sindel, noted Grossman.
“Imposing electronic monitoring in place of custody time imposed will service justice in this matter,” she wrote.
Sindel’s sentencing was the second case in recent years involving alleged sex offenses against minors by a BUSD instructor.
Matthew Joseph Shelton, 43, charged with 12 felony counts of lewd acts on four children under 14, faced a held-to-answer arraignment on Monday following a preliminary hearing in December and early January in the Justice Building.
With his defense attorney, Amanda Bevins, at his side, Shelton, a former teacher at Robert Semple Elementary, again on Monday denied all the allegations.
During the brief proceeding, Deputy District Attorney Barry Shapiro told Judge Kim that he had “received information” that Shelton may have violated a court order by attending an unspecific “school function” within the district.
The judge set a 9 a.m. Feb. 11 hearing to address the matter, part of Shelton’s pretrial services contract, and also set a readiness conference and a “995 motion,” a defense request to dismiss a charge or charges, for 9 a.m. March 17 in Department 15.