AVON LAKE (OH)
WKYC-TV, NBC - 3 [Cleveland OH]
February 10, 2026
By Annabelle Childers
Andres Andino, a 60-year-old former employee at both St. John Bosco and St. Joseph Catholic parishes, faces trial for alleged sexual abuse of a minor.
Attorneys delivered opening statements Tuesday afternoon in the trial of Andres Andino, a 60-year-old former church worship director accused of sexually abusing a minor.
Police arrested Andino 11 months ago outside St. Joseph Parish in Avon Lake, where he worked part-time. He had additionally served as director of worship at St. John Bosco Catholic Church in Parma Heights, and also volunteered for a number of other parishes and faith groups around the Diocese of Cleveland.
Andino faces two counts of sexual battery, two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and one count of rape. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors told the jury Tuesday that Andino served as a private music teacher for the victim and that their relationship became physical during weekly private lessons. The state alleges Andino had sex with the victim repeatedly from when she was 15 until she left for college — a roughly five-year period from 2013-18.
According to authorities, the victim was too scared to report the abuse to police until 2024.
“She remembers him saying, ‘We can’t do that. We shouldn’t be doing this. You’re only 15,” Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Steve Szelagiewicz said Monday. “[He] went on for it anyways, and he told her, ‘Don’t tell anyone. You tell anyone, you’ll ruin my life.'”
The defense argues the victim is lying, and maintains the relationship between her and Andino was a friendship.
“Over time, Mr. Andino considers her to be more of a daughter … a daughter he never had,” defense attorney Marc Doumbas told the court. He further characterized the case as one person’s word against another’s.
“This is a he said, she said case: One person is claiming improper sexual conduct or abuse, one person is claiming this never happened,” Doumbas said.
The defense claims Andino and the victim exchanged more than 5,000 text messages over several years, demonstrating that they were friends. They also argue these allegations have wrongly destroyed Andino’s reputation.
A friend of the victim testified as the first witness, stating the victim disclosed the abuse to her while they attended college together.
“It’s very difficult for her, incredibly difficult for her, to say the things that happened,” the witness stated. “She is the sweetest person I know, and to know she went through that is heartbreaking.”
The next witness — one of the victim’s college professors — testified the victim confided in him about the abuse. He said he helped the victim secure on-campus housing for the summer after she expressed fear over going home from college and having to interact with Andino.
The defense challenged both witnesses’ testimonies, asking whether they directly witnessed the alleged abuse or heard about it secondhand. Both witnesses stated the information came from the victim.
At the time of Andino’s arrest, the Diocese of Cleveland described the allegations as “very serious and troubling,” and he was subsequently placed on unpaid leave by both St. John Bosco and St. Joseph. In the months since, St. John Bosco has hired a new worship director to replace Andino on a permanent basis.
The victim is scheduled to testify in the trial, per officials.