Who Is Cesar Oriol Cardoso? Miami-Dade Elementary Teacher Arrest

Cesar Oriol Cardoso is a 53-year-old Miami-Dade educator accused of showing sexually explicit material to elementary school students and engaging in inappropriate physical contact with multiple girls at Sunset Park Elementary School in the Kendall area.

Miami-Dade Schools Police arrested Cardoso in September 2026 on three felony charges. Police say their investigation identified at least five alleged victims. The allegations include showing students pornography and nude images, touching girls on their buttocks or thighs, making sexual comments and attempting or expressing a desire to kiss students.

Cardoso has not been convicted. The accusations described by police and students remain allegations in a pending criminal case.

What Is Cesar Oriol Cardoso Charged With?

Cardoso faces three felony charges following the Miami-Dade Schools Police investigation. Jail records and the arrest report identify the charges as offenses against students by authority figures, transmitting or showing obscene material to a minor, and lewd and lascivious conduct involving a child under 16. [Local 10] [NBC 6 South Florida]

Florida law makes it a second-degree felony for a school authority figure to solicit or engage in sexual, romantic or lewd conduct with a student. The statute defines an authority figure to include an adult employed by, volunteering at or under contract with a school. [Florida Statutes §800.101]

Florida’s obscenity law makes it a third-degree felony to knowingly show, distribute or transmit obscene material to a minor. [Florida Statutes §847.0133]

Florida law also defines lewd or lascivious conduct to include intentionally touching someone under 16 in a lewd or lascivious manner or soliciting that person to commit a lewd act. An adult convicted under that provision commits a second-degree felony. [Florida Statutes §800.04]

What Is Cesar Cardoso Accused Of Doing To Students?

Police say Cardoso repeatedly isolated students from other classes and then showed them inappropriate material in his classroom. According to the arrest report, Cardoso would remove girls from physical education, lunch or other classes on the premise that they needed to finish classwork and bring them back to his classroom. [Local 10]

One student told investigators that Cardoso would call her to his desk and show her images or videos featuring naked women. She also alleged that on separate occasions he showed her nude images of men, including one image she believed depicted Cardoso himself. [NBC 6 South Florida]

Local 10, citing the police report, said at least two students reported being shown what they believed were nude photographs of Cardoso. Police also said one image allegedly shown to a student depicted child sexual abuse involving a boy estimated to be between 12 and 14 years old and an adult woman. [Local 10]

Police Say Cardoso Inappropriately Touched Students

Several girls separately accused Cardoso of inappropriate physical contact. One student said Cardoso brought her and another girl into his classroom and slapped both on the buttocks while telling them that if they continued misbehaving he would strike them there again. [NBC 6 South Florida]

Another student alleged that Cardoso put a hand on her shoulder and moved it down toward her thigh. A different girl said he attempted to touch her upper thigh or buttocks but that she redirected his hand and told him not to touch her. She said Cardoso then apologized. [NBC 6 South Florida]

A fifth alleged victim told investigators that Cardoso began touching her arm and thigh and slapping her buttocks near the end of third grade. She said the alleged behavior continued as she entered fourth grade. [NBC 6 South Florida]

Students Accused Cardoso Of Making Sexual Comments

The arrest report also describes sexual remarks and other behavior allegedly directed at students. One girl said Cardoso repeatedly complimented her appearance, touched her hair and continued similar behavior toward other girls after she told him to stop. [NBC 6 South Florida]

Another alleged victim told police that Cardoso said he wanted to kiss her. Police said at least two students described incidents in which he either attempted to kiss them or expressed a desire to do so. [Local 10] [NBC 6 South Florida]

One student alleged that she approached Cardoso for help with a math problem and saw him with a hand over his crotch area before he made a sexually inappropriate remark to her. [Local 10]

How Many Students Have Accused Cesar Cardoso?

Miami-Dade Schools Police identified at least five alleged victims in the arrest report. The students separately described being shown sexual material, subjected to unwanted touching or confronted with inappropriate comments. [Local 10]

Police did not publicly release the girls’ exact ages. At least one was identified as having been in third grade when some of the alleged behavior began and fourth grade when other alleged incidents occurred. [Local 10]

The identities of the students have not been publicly released.

Police Say Cardoso Showed Students Pornographic Videos

Multiple students described seeing explicit images or videos on Cardoso’s phone. One girl told investigators she was shown videos of naked women as well as footage depicting an adult man and woman engaged in sexual activity. [NBC 6 South Florida]

Another alleged victim said Cardoso showed her sexual pictures and videos on multiple occasions and once asked whether she was frightened while displaying an inappropriate image. [NBC 6 South Florida]

Local 10 reported that many of the images described in the Miami-Dade Schools Police report featured nude women. [Local 10]

One Image Allegedly Depicted Child Sexual Abuse

Police said one of the images allegedly shown to a student constituted child sexual abuse material. According to the arrest report, the image depicted an adult woman with a boy police estimated to be between 12 and 14 years old. [Local 10]

Cardoso has been charged with showing obscene material to a minor. The publicly reported charges do not include a separate possession-of-child-sexual-abuse-material count. [Local 10]

Florida Statute §847.0133 prohibits knowingly showing, giving, distributing or transmitting obscene material to someone under 18 and classifies a violation as a third-degree felony. [Florida Statutes §847.0133]

How Did The Investigation Begin?

Miami-Dade Schools Police began investigating Cardoso in approximately mid-April 2026. The arrest report does not publicly detail in the available reporting exactly what initially prompted the investigation, but detectives ultimately interviewed multiple students and identified at least five alleged victims. [Local 10]

The allegations described to detectives involved conduct occurring at Sunset Park Elementary School, located at 10235 SW 84th Street in the Kendall area of Miami-Dade County. [Local 10]

What Did Cesar Cardoso Tell Police?

Cardoso did not provide investigators with a statement about the allegations. Miami-Dade Schools Police detectives interviewed him at department headquarters on September 11. Police said Cardoso invoked his constitutional right to remain silent. [Local 10]

NBC 6 similarly reported that Cardoso invoked his rights and declined to provide a statement before he was arrested and booked into jail. [NBC 6 South Florida]

Invoking the right to remain silent is a constitutional right and should not itself be interpreted as evidence of guilt.

When Was Cesar Cardoso Arrested?

Cardoso was arrested on Friday, September 11, 2026. Miami-Dade jail records list his booking that afternoon. [NBC 6 South Florida]

Local 10 reported on September 14 that Cardoso was being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. [Local 10]

Public booking information separately lists the three allegations against him, including offenses against students by authority figures, an obscene-material offense involving a minor and lewd and lascivious conduct involving a child under 16.

Was Cesar Cardoso A Teacher At Sunset Park Elementary?

NBC 6 identified Cardoso as a Miami elementary school teacher, while Local 10 described him more cautiously as a Sunset Park Elementary employee. The Miami-Dade Schools Police arrest report reviewed by Local 10 did not state Cardoso’s precise position at the school at the time of the alleged offenses. [NBC 6 South Florida] [Local 10]

A previously published Miami-Dade County Public Schools document lists a Cesar Cardoso among Sunset Park Elementary teachers, with school email, instructional resources and teacher office hours.

Local 10 noted that Cardoso’s arrest report listed his occupation as “hospitality,” making it unclear whether he remained employed by Miami-Dade County Public Schools when he was arrested. [Local 10]

Both Local 10 and NBC 6 contacted Miami-Dade County Public Schools for comment after the arrest and had not received a response when their initial reports were published. [Local 10] [NBC 6 South Florida]

What Is The “Offenses Against Students By Authority Figures” Charge?

Florida enacted a specific criminal prohibition covering sexual, romantic or lewd conduct between school authority figures and students. State law defines an authority figure as an adult who is employed by, volunteers at or contracts with a school. [Florida Statutes §800.101]

The statute prohibits an authority figure from soliciting or engaging in sexual conduct, a romantic relationship or lewd conduct with a student. A violation is classified as a second-degree felony. [Florida Statutes §800.101]

Cardoso’s arrest on that charge is an accusation. Prosecutors would still have to prove the elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt for a criminal conviction.

What Is Lewd And Lascivious Conduct Under Florida Law?

Florida law makes intentionally touching a child under 16 in a lewd or lascivious manner a criminal offense. The statute also covers soliciting a child under 16 to commit a lewd or lascivious act. [Florida Statutes §800.04]

When the accused person is 18 or older, lewd or lascivious conduct under that provision is a second-degree felony. [Florida Statutes §800.04]

Police accuse Cardoso of inappropriate touching involving several girls, including alleged contact with their thighs or buttocks. [NBC 6 South Florida]

Has Cesar Oriol Cardoso Been Convicted?

No conviction has been reported. Cardoso has been arrested and accused of three felony offenses, but an arrest report and criminal charges are not findings of guilt.

The allegations are based largely on accounts investigators say were provided by multiple students. The case had only recently entered the criminal court process when news of the arrest became public on September 14. [Local 10] [NBC 6 South Florida]

Cardoso is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless and until prosecutors establish guilt in court.