Bradley Mrozek

The man accused of molesting and snatching a 9-year-old girl from a San Mateo school and trying to photograph four young female students using the bathroom on a Daly City campus is heading straight to trial after waiving a preliminary hearing on the evidence yesterday.

The move means Bradley Mrozek, 25, would rather wait for a jury to weigh the evidence rather than have a judge decide if it is even strong enough to try him on charges of committing a sexual act with a child under 10, kidnapping, assault and trespassing on school grounds in the original case plus felony charges of burglary and attempted possession of child pornography and four misdemeanor counts each of child annoyance and disorderly conduct involving loitering at a rest room in the Daly City incident. He also faces charges of child annoyance and offering alcohol to a minor for allegedly harassing four preteens the same day prosecutors say he took the girl from Parkside Elementary School in San Mateo.

After waiving the hearing Thursday, Mrozek was held to answer on all 19 counts and ordered back to court March 8 to enter a Superior Court plea and possibly set a trial date.

Defense attorney Dek Ketchum did not return a call about the decision to waive the hearing.

Prosecutors say Mrozek groped the girl and covered her mouth with his hand before carting her off campus just before 2:45 p.m. Sept. 21. A short distance away, the girl escaped by kicking her attacker and running back to the school where she reported the incident, according to San Mateo police. Mrozek is also accused of offering vodka to two 12-year-old boys; verbally harassing two girls at Bayside STEM Academy; and was escorted off the Horrall Elementary School campus by a suspicious administrator. Both schools are in San Mateo.

After reading of Mrozek's arrest, an official at George Washington Elementary School in Daly City contacted authorities about a March incident in which four 9-year-old girls reported seeing a flash from under the bathroom stall as they used the facilities. The girls fetched a teacher who tried forcing the man from the stall. He finally ran from the bathroom and fled.

The teacher picked Mrozek out of a photo lineup. Mrozek has no similar criminal history and remains in custody without bail.

michelle@smdailyjournal.com

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