Former Bay Area education official sentenced for lewdness with child

A former superintendent for the Shoreline Unified School District was sentenced to jail Monday for engaging in lewd conduct with a child.

Robert Patrick Raines, 69, of Petaluma was ordered to serve 210 days at the Marin County Jail as well as a year of probation. Marin County Superior Court Judge Beth Jordan also ordered Raines to register as a sex offender for at least 10 years.

Jordan also issued a protective order to keep Raines out of contact with the victim.

“A driving concern is public safety,” Jordan said. “This has gone on for too long.”

Deputy District Attorney Daniel Madow asked Jordan to “send a message to the community that this abuse will not be tolerated.”

A jury convicted Raines in November of annoying or molesting the child of a school district employee in 2021. During the three-day trial, the employee testified that she brought her child to her workplace during the COVID-related shutdown of the child’s school. The woman allowed the child to spend time with Raines at his office in Tomales, and said the child bonded with Raines over comic books and drawing.

In her testimony, the parent recalled walking into Raines’ office and seeing him insert his right hand into the child’s pocket and apparently rub the child’s upper leg. The child testified that Raines reached into a pocket and touched a buttock.

During the day after the incident, the child’s mother confronted Raines in a recorded telephone call played for the jury. Raines replied that he did not recall putting his hand into the child’s pocket.

“I feel like I trusted you,” she said in the recording.

Raines was placed on administrative leave after his arrest in 2021. Prosecutors later reduced his felony charge to a misdemeanor.

Jurors also heard allegations that Raines engaged in lewd behavior with a student when he was principal of Wilson Elementary School in Petaluma more than 15 years ago. A retired teacher testified that she confronted him after seeing him have children sit on his lap in his office.

During the trial, a former student who is now 27 years old testified that Raines applied an ointment to a poison oak rash on his genital area. Raines was never charged in connection with the allegations.

Before Raines was sentenced, Madow described the defendant’s “come to Jesus moment” when he was confronted by the teacher at Wilson Elementary School.

“This is scary and this is the definition of a public safety risk,” Madow said about Raines’ alleged conduct.

During the sentencing Monday, the mother of the victim in the 2021 case read a statement about her struggles with anxiety and depression as well as her trust of other adults since the incident. She also praised her child for having the courage to testify.

She declined to comment after the sentencing.

Raines did not testify during the trial and also did not make a statement in court before his sentencing.

The judge said that she found the evidence presented against him to be “both shocking and appalling.” She also commended the victim, the victim’s parent and the other accuser for their testimony.

Raines’ defense attorney, Charles Dresow, noted his client’s lack of a prior criminal record. After the sentencing, Dresow said Raines plans to appeal his conviction.

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In addition to the protective order against him, Raines must allow law enforcement officers to search his electronic devices and social media accounts, and must inform future employers about his conviction, Jordan said.

Raines also must stay away from schools, playgrounds and other gathering places for children.

Madow was pleased with the sentence.

“I respect the court’s decision, and I think that the punishment was severe and it was justified,” he said outside the courtroom. “Justice was served today.”

Josie Sanguinetti, a retired Marin County sheriff’s deputy and school resource officer who investigated Raines and later testified in court against him, said that she was “ecstatic” about the ruling. She worked with Raines at the school district before his arrest.

Sanguinetti said she hopes that the victim’s family gets a sense of closure.

“I hope he never gets to work with children again,” Sanguinetti said after the sentencing.

The Shoreline Unified School District serves about 500 students in western Marin and southwestern Sonoma County.