A former cheerleading coach in California has been charged with molesting underage girls.
Erick Joseph Kristianson, 44, is facing 16 felony counts for allegedly abusing victims ranging from 11 to 16 years old, while coaching for Mission Viejo High School and a competitive cheer club in Orange County.
Kristianson is also facing child molestation and child exhibition charges in Florida related to four young competitive cheer athletes he coached in Daytona Beach.
Kristianson was arrested last week in North Dakota on a warrant in the Orange County case and is currently being held without bail.
The allegations against Kristianson involving California children came to light in 2022 after he was arrested in Florida on suspicion of masturbating on camera to three children between the ages of 11 and 13 and touching the breasts of another 13-year-old girl, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office. All of the Florida victims were students of Kristianson's competitive cheer club in Daytona Beach, authorities said.
After his arrest was made public in Florida, officials say a young woman contacted Orange County authorities to report she was molested by Kristianson beginning when she was 14 years old while he was her cheer coach. Kristianson is accused of picking up the girl from school or taking her home from cheer practice and engaging in sexual activity with her until she turned 16, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Kristianson is accused of molesting five other Orange County girls he coached between 2002 and 2007, routinely taking some of the girls to off-campus events and to his home where he would molest them, authorities said. The girls ranged in age from 11 to 16 years old. One of the girls quit cheerleading after Kristianson allegedly molested her at his home, but she did not report the abuse at the time.
In August 2022, Kristianson was arrested in Kansas on a warrant and extradited back to Florida to face charges for exposing himself to three teenage girls during a FaceTime call. He posted a $300,000 bond and was released without any restrictions on leaving the state.
"Pedophiles will never stop stalking and grooming their prey unless they are stopped," Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. "This was not a predator hiding in the shadows waiting to grab innocent girls. He was hiding in plain sight as he assaulted girl after girl, thinking he would never be caught because they trusted him as a coach."
Kristianson is facing seven felony counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor under 14, five felony counts of a lewd acts upon a child age 14 or 15, two felony counts of sexual penetration by foreign object of a minor under 18, one felony count of sexual penetration by a foreign objection of a minor under 16, and one felony count of oral copulation of a person under 16 years old.
He is facing a maximum sentence of 105 years to life, plus five years and four months if convicted on all charges.
Authorities believe there may be additional victims and are seeking the public's help. Anyone with information about potential victims is asked to call the Orange County Sheriff's Department at 714-647-4016.
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