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	Dino Cardelli Denied Release on Own Recognizance; Prosecution Alleges Continued Contact with Alleged Sexual Abuse Victim through Facebook By Matt Drange Contra Costa Times March 1, 2011 http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_17509000?nclick_check=1 Former Arcata pastor Dino Cardelli was denied his request to be released on his own recognizance Monday, while Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Bruce Watson opted to keep the alleged child molester's bail set at $850,000. Cardelli, 49, pleaded not guilty in January to a slew of charges stemming from his alleged sexual relationship with a girl under the age of 14, and prosecutors in the case believe there is at least one additional victim. An array of new charges were filed against Cardelli this month, including a single felony count of attempting to dissuade a witness and more than two dozen misdemeanor counts of willful disobedience of a court order. In December, Cardelli was given explicit orders from the court to refrain from any contact with the pair of alleged minor victims in the case, including both phone and Internet contact. Cardelli's attorney, Mark Bruce, said the former pastor at Calvary Chapel in Arcata should be held on a reduced bail between $300,000 and $500,000, closer to the standard $250,000 that Cardelli's charges would generally warrant. While neither confirming nor denying the allegations that Cardelli was in contact with one of the alleged victims in the case, Bruce urged the court to consider that the bulk of messages prosecutors produced as evidence were responses from messages Cardelli received from the victim. "The overwhelming majority of these messages came as responses to numerous phone calls on my client's cell phone and e-mail," Bruce said, adding that he's received support from pastors in the community who've expressed an interest in speaking on Cardelli's behalf. "If he didn't understand before, he certainly understands now that he is to refrain from any contact with her." But Humboldt County Deputy District Attorney Kelly Neel urged the court to consider Cardelli's past history in the case, which includes posting a reduced $250,000 bail in early October. Cardelli was arrested a short time later and has been in custody since. Prosecutors are alleging that Cardelli created a false Facebook account under a different name and that he initiated contact with the victim with messages, including one that read: "I will never leave you, all the days of your life I will find a way to be in contact with you until we can be together again." Neel said that while Cardelli has not been convicted of any charges, he faces significant time in prison if he is found guilty, and that bail remains set at $850,000 -- $100,000 of which stems from the new charges. "This has been enormously difficult on the victim and her family," Neel said. "For him to be out of custody again gives him full access to her. Mr. Cardelli simply cannot be trusted to abide by the terms of his release." With one hand shackled to another inmate, Cardelli remained quiet during the proceedings except to answer yes when asked by Watson if he would waive time prior to the start of his trial. Cardelli has pleaded not guilty to all his charges. Along with charges of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, lewd and lascivious acts with a minor and oral copulation with a minor, Cardelli now faces 25 counts of violating a court order, charges stretching from Oct. 12, 2010, to Jan. 16 of this year. DA investigator Jack Bernstein said he is waiting to receive returns on the half dozen search warrants he's filed in the case, including warrants with Facebook and multiple cell phone companies. Seeking evidence from social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace is a common practice in sexual abuse cases today, Bernstein said, adding that it often takes months to get information. "I don't know if we will ever truly know the total amount of contact between them," Bernstein said, adding that conversations with the alleged victim have led investigators to believe that the recent discovery is only the beginning of a lengthy history of contact. "We speculate there is a lot more, but at this point we don't really have any evidence for that." Cardelli's trial is scheduled to begin on May 23.
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