Alleged victims in California started to come back ahead after the defendant was arrested in 2022 on suspicion of masturbating on digicam to a few kids between the ages of 11 and 13 and touching the personal elements of one other 13-year-old lady in Florida.
A repeat youngster sexual abuse offender is taking a look at the potential for life in jail after he was discovered responsible by a jury on 23 separate felony counts in relation to his alleged molestation of 10 ladies as younger as 9 years previous.
The alleged offenses occurred whereas Erick Joseph Kristianson, 46, of Antioch, Tennessee labored in Orange County, California as a aggressive cheerleading coach at Magic All-Stars from 2002 to 2005 and at Trabuco Hills Excessive Faculty in Mission Viejo from 2004 to 2006, in addition to a YMCA sleepaway camp counselor from 1999 to 2000.
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His arrest got here in 2023 after an arrest the 12 months prior on comparable expenses impressed alleged victims to start coming ahead, in line with a press launch from the Orange County District Legal professional’s Workplace.
Final Monday, Kristianson was convicted on 11 felony counts of lewd or lascivious acts upon a minor beneath age 14 years of age, 4 felony counts of lewd or lascivious acts upon a toddler age 14 or 15, six felony counts of sexual penetration by international object of a minor beneath 18, and two felony counts of sexual penetration by a international object of a minor beneath 16.
The allegations courting to the flip of the century got here to mild after Kristianson’s 2022 arrest in Kansas associated to expenses in Daytona Seashore, Florida, the place he was accused of masturbating on digicam to a few kids between the ages of 11 and 13 years previous, and touching the personal elements of a distinct 13-year-old lady, per the DA’s assertion.
All of those alleged victims have been a part of the Champion Elite Legacy cheerleading health club in South Daytona Seashore membership, the place Kristianson was working, in line with the Los Angeles Instances and CBS Information. Each cheer services Kristianson labored at at the moment are closed, notes the Instances and USA In the present day.
After media studies of his arrest started to flow into, a lady contacted authorities in Orange County, California to report that she was allegedly molested by Kristianson when he was her cheer coach.
She stated that the alleged abuse started when she was 14 years previous, claiming Kristianson would meet up along with her throughout her lunch at college to take her to the seaside and his dwelling to have interaction in “sexual exercise.” The lady claimed this carried on via the age of 15.
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The lady’s claims launched an investigation that led to allegations Kristianson had molested seven extra ladies between the years of 2002 and 2006 whereas he was working as a cheer coach with two totally different organizations.
The DA’s report alleges Kristianson would “routinely” take them to “non-cheer-sanctioned occasions and to his dwelling the place he would molest them.” Two of the women stated they left the game due to the alleged repeated abuse, however didn’t report it on the time as a consequence of “worry and embarrassment.”
Two extra victims got here ahead with allegations towards Kristianson courting again to his employment as a sleepaway camp counselor with the South Orange County YMCA. Additionally they stated they knew him via relations. The ten victims ranged in age from 9 to 16 years previous on the time of the alleged abuses.
Kristanson posted $300,000 bond after his arrest and extradition to Florida in August 2022 and was launched with none journey restrictions. He was then picked up in 2023 in Fargo, North Dakota on a felony warrant in connection to the case in Orange County.
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“For many years, Erick Kristianson used cheerleading gyms in Orange County and throughout the nation as a type of perverted catalog from which to pick the following younger lady he was going to molest,” stated Orange County District Legal professional Todd Spitzer in his workplace’s assertion.
“He was hiding in plain sight, a trusted coach banking on the truth that he might belief his younger victims to not say something concerning the abuse they have been enduring,” Spitzer continued. “Pedophiles won’t ever cease till legislation enforcement stops them. And this conviction ensures that these younger girls have a voice to talk out towards the sexual abuse they endured as kids.”
His most attainable sentence is 165 years to life in jail, plus six years and eight months in state jail, when he’s sentenced March 19, 2026. Moreover, he’s nonetheless going through youngster intercourse expenses in Florida for his alleged crimes there, per USA In the present day.
In the event you consider you or another person is the sufferer of kid sexual exploitation, the Nationwide Middle for Lacking and Exploited Youngsters affords 24/7 assist for these in want at  1-800-THE-LOST (843-5678), or at report.cybertip.org. You may also contact the FBI at ideas.fbi.gov.
The Nationwide Sexual Assault Phone Hotline — 800.656.HOPE (4673) — offers free, 24/7 assist for these in want.
