A former competitive cheerleading coach has been charged with multiple felonies for molesting six girls as young as 11 years old in Southern California.Â
Erick Joseph Kristianson, a former coach at an Orange County cheer club and at Trabuco Hills High School in Mission Viejo, is also facing child molestation and child exhibition charges in Florida related to four young competitive cheer athletes he coached in Daytona Beach.Â
The 44-year-old was arrested last week in Fargo, North Dakota, on a warrant in the Orange County case.Â
Kristianson, of Antioch, Tennessee, is facing seven felony counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor under 14, five felony counts of a lewd act 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.Â
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Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a release that he is facing a maximum sentence of 105 years to life, as well as five years and four months if convicted on all charges.Â
Kristianson worked as a competitive cheerleading coach at Magic All-Stars from 2002 to 2008 and as an assistant cheer coach at Trabuco Hills High School in 2005, where he is accused of gaining access to six young girls that he molested in Orange County. Those allegations came to light in 2022 after he was arrested in Daytona Beach, 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.
All the Florida victims were students of Kristianson’s competitive cheer club in Daytona Beach.Â
After his arrest in Florida, a young woman reached out to authorities in Orange County to report she had been molested by Kristianson beginning when she was 14 years old while he was her cheer…
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