A former Santa Rosa City Schools employee is expected to be sentenced next month after pleading guilty Thursday, Feb. 5, to charges related to allegations he sexually touched a 20-year-old woman participating in a program for students with developmental disabilities.

Apolinario Santos pleaded guilty to one count each of assault with intent to commit a felony and committing lewd acts on a dependent adult, according to Sonoma County Superior Court records. Those counts carry potential concurrent sentences of four and two years, respectively, when Santos appears before Sonoma County Judge Kenneth Gnoss on March 3.

Santos initially faced eight additional counts of lewd acts — four felony and four misdemeanors — that may be dismissed as per his guilty plea. Each of the 10 total counts pertained to incidents from just as many days between March 5 and April 14 of last year.

According to Santa Rosa police, Santos was an instructional assistant in a program that helps young adults with disabilities gain work experience and life skills through partnerships with local employers. The program was based at Ridgway High School and run by Santa Rosa City Schools.

Investigators said the woman was a program participant but did not release her name or employer to protect her identity.

Santos, a caretaker, was accused of touching her “often multiple times a day,” an investigator wrote in a filing for his arrest warrant last year. Police said the school district contacted them April 14 after the woman’s employer reported concerns about Santos’ behavior.

An officer later reviewed security video from the workplace and believed Santos’s actions were sexually motivated, police said.

Prosecutors charged Santos in May and a preliminary hearing in October ended with Gnoss ruling there was sufficient evidence for the matter to move forward to a jury trial.

Proceedings were expected to begin this April but are canceled because of Thursday’s plea.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi.