The Mercury News15%
Former Bay Area school superintendent starts jail term in molestation case 2%
By Gary Klien1%
7/16/2026, 1:16:04 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 6 faulty reasoning types, including Unattributed Quote, Negativity Bias, and Biased Writer Voice, with Recency Bias as the most egregious example at 17.3% saturation with 34 hits. Analysis detected 129 faulty-reasoning hits from 196 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 12.4% and a BS Rank of 2% (16,499 of 16,805 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 98.20% of the article peer group.
The former superintendent of the Shoreline Unified School District has begun serving his jail sentence for a child molestation conviction in 2023.
Robert Patrick Raines, 72, of Petaluma was arrested in 2021 on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts against a child younger than 14, a felony.
Authorities alleged he inappropriately touched the child of a district employee.
The Marin County District Attorney’s Office filed a misdemeanor case.
Raines took the case to trial, and a jury convicted him.
In January 2024, a judge ordered Raines to serve 210 days at the Marin County Jail and to register as a sex offender.
Incarceration was delayed while Raines appealed.
The appellate division in Marin County Superior Court affirmed the conviction, and the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco recently declined to review the case, according to Deputy District Attorney Daniel Madow.
Raines surrendered at the Marin County Jail on Monday to serve the time.
A negligence lawsuit filed by the victim’s mother against Raines and the school district remains unresolved.
A case management conference to set a trial date is scheduled for Sept.
24.
Analysis
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