A former Orange County cheerleading coach is dealing with greater than 150 years in jail after being convicted of 23 felony counts of molesting a number of women, some as younger as 9, with allegations relationship again to 1998.
Monday’s conviction of Tennessee native Erick Joseph Kristianson, 46, in Santa Ana helps shut a authorized saga that features the suspect’s arrest in Fargo, N.D., in Could 2023, on a warrant for prices in California.
Kristianson was convicted of 11 felony counts of lewd or lascivious acts upon a minor below 14 years of age, 4 felony counts of lewd or lascivious acts upon a baby age 14 or 15, six felony counts of sexual penetration by international object of a minor below 18, and two felony counts of sexual penetration by a international object of a minor below 16.
He’s due again in courtroom March 19 for sentencing, which may end in a most time period of 165 years to life, in keeping with authorities.
“For many years, Erick Kristianson used cheerleading gyms in Orange County and throughout the nation as a sort of perverted catalog from which to pick the subsequent younger lady he was going to molest,” stated Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer in a press release.
This {photograph}, offered by the Orange County district legal professional’s workplace, reveals former Orange County cheerleading coach Erick Joseph Kristianson. Kristianson has been charged with molesting women as younger as 11 years previous in Southern California and he faces related prices in Florida.
(Orange County district legal professional’s workplace by way of Related Press)
A name to Kristianson’s public defender was not instantly returned.
Kristianson was first arrested in Kansas in 2022 and extradited to Daytona Seashore. He was suspected of masturbating on digicam to a few kids between 11 and 13 and inappropriately touching one other 13-year-old lady, in keeping with authorities.
At the moment, he had been working at Champion Elite Legacy cheerleading health club in south Daytona Seashore, which is now closed.
Information from that arrest filtered again to Southern California the place a sufferer contacted Orange County authorities.
The sufferer stated she was molested by Kristianson when she was 14 whereas he was her cheer coach, in keeping with courtroom paperwork. Kristianson had intercourse with the lady throughout her college lunch, taking her to his residence or the seaside, in keeping with courtroom paperwork.
Kristianson’s California allegations date from 1998 to 2006, with nearly all of prices taking place between 2002 and 2004, in keeping with courtroom paperwork.
Kristianson labored as a aggressive cheerleading coach at now shuttered Magic All-Stars of Anaheim, from 2002 to 2005, and as an assistant cheer coach at Mission Viejo’s Trabuco Hills Excessive College from 2004 to 2006.
It was on the latter location the place he was accused of having access to and molesting eight younger women, in keeping with authorities.
Two extra victims knew Kristianson by a member of the family and thru his employment in 1999 and 2000 as a South Orange County YMCA sleep-away camp counselor, in keeping with authorities.
He routinely transported women to non-cheer-sanctioned occasions and to his residence, the place he would molest them, in keeping with courtroom paperwork.
The ladies ranged in age from 9 to 16.
Two of the ladies stated they left cheerleading after Kristianson repeatedly molested them, in keeping with courtroom paperwork.
They didn’t report the abuse on the day trip of concern and embarrassment, they informed authorities.
“He was hiding in plain sight, a trusted coach banking on the truth that he may belief his younger victims to not say something in regards to the abuse they had been enduring,” Spitzer stated. “Pedophiles won’t ever cease till legislation enforcement stops them.”
Kristianson was initially arrested in Kansas in 2022 on a warrant and extradited to Florida. He posted a $300,000 bond and was launched with out restrictions.
