HAYWARD — It started with a chance meeting at a mall between a man in his late 20s and a teen girl, who told police she reluctantly gave him her number and rebuffed his attempt to hug her.
And the saga ended eight months later, after the man allegedly raped the girl in his vehicle, and threatened to expose video of them engaged in sex acts to her loved ones if she didn’t meet him one last time, according to court records.
Now, 26-year-old Andrew Patrick Kelly is in Santa Rita Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail, facing criminal charges of forcible rape, unlawful sex with a minor and oral copulation with a minor, all felonies. The charging records allege that Kelly sexually abused the woman during two meetups in early 2024, then raped her during their final encounter in February, before driving her back to her high school in the East Bay.
After their final encounter, Kelly was arrested on suspicion of sexual battery in a separate incident, according to court records. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor in April — one month after the charge was filed — and was given a probation sentence, records show.
Kelly has pleaded not guilty, and his preliminary hearing has been set for November, according to court records. The evidence against him includes not just statements to police from the alleged victim, but Kelly’s own conversations with two Fremont police detectives who were posing as the girl after she informed them of the alleged extortion attempt, authorities said.
In those conversations, police say that Kelly repeated a threat he’d already made to the girl — that he would publish videos depicting him sexually abusing her unless she agreed to meet again. She had allegedly agreed to meet, on the condition he’d delete the videos in front of her, but instead turned her phone over to detectives so they could gather evidence against him.
Kelly was arrested in late September at the same Newark mall where he allegedly met the girl, police said. In a subsequent interview, he claimed all their sexual contact had been after her 18th birthday, and was consensual. But police say they have digital evidence that contradicts this.
Kelly allegedly approached the girl and asked for her number in early 2024. She later told police that she provided it, but felt creeped out when he attempted to hug her during the same conversation. After they began texting she agreed to meet him several times, but cut off contact after he raped her, according to authorities.
In addition to these charges, Kelly has two pending misdemeanor domestic violence cases, as well as a drunk driving and child endangerment case, all filed against him this year. Police say he was also arrested on suspicion of indecent exposure in 2021, but never charged.