Jury acquits former Cleveland-area church worship director of rape and sexual misconduct charges tied to 2013–2018 allegations
Verdict ends criminal case stemming from allegations by former teenage music student
A Cuyahoga County jury found Andres Andino, a former worship and church music director in the Cleveland area, not guilty of all charges alleging sexual abuse of a teenage music student during the 2010s.
Andino, 60, had faced five felony counts: one count of rape, two counts of sexual battery and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. The indictment alleged conduct spanning from Feb. 25, 2013, through Feb. 24, 2018, a period prosecutors said covered years when the accuser was a minor and later a college student.
Background: work at two parishes and 2025 arrest
The case centered on Andino’s role in church music programs and private instruction. At the time the case became public in 2025, Andino was working as worship director at St. John Bosco Catholic Church in Parma Heights and part time at St. Joseph Parish in Avon Lake. He was arrested in March 2025 after a grand jury indictment returned Feb. 25, 2025.
Church officials removed him from ministry duties after the criminal case was filed, placing him on administrative leave while the legal process moved forward.
Key issues at trial: relationship, private settings, and digital records
Testimony presented two sharply different accounts. The accuser described an ongoing sexual relationship that she said began when she was 15 and continued for years, including allegations that encounters occurred in a Cleveland music studio where she said Andino kept a mattress and a couch.
Andino denied the allegations while acknowledging that he spent substantial time alone with the student. Trial testimony addressed youth-protection expectations for adult-minor interactions and included discussion of boundaries and supervision.
Jurors also heard about the limits of available electronic records. Thousands of text messages were introduced into evidence, with testimony indicating the surviving messages largely covered later years and did not contain explicit sexual images or messages, leaving the jury to weigh witness accounts and other circumstantial evidence.
Timeline of the case
Feb. 25, 2025: Grand jury indictment returned.
March 2025: Arrest and court proceedings begin.
Feb. 2026: Jury trial held in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court; deliberations followed closing arguments.
Verdict: Not guilty on all counts.
Not-guilty verdicts require jurors to conclude the state did not prove each charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt, a standard that can turn on credibility assessments, corroboration, and the completeness of available evidence.
What happens next
The acquittal ends the criminal prosecution and eliminates the possibility of sentencing in the case. Separate from the criminal outcome, institutions and individuals involved may still face internal reviews, employment decisions, or other proceedings outside the criminal courts, which operate under different rules and standards.
For the broader community, the case underscores how allegations involving minors and authority figures can hinge on years-old events, witness testimony, and the strength and preservation of contemporaneous records.