Cheerleading coach charged in Daytona for molesting children jailed in California
A cheerleading coach out on bail from the Volusia County Branch Jail on charges of molesting four children in the Daytona Beach area last year has been charged with molesting six girls in California, authorities said.
In July 2022, Daytona Beach police filed charges against Erick Joseph Kristianson, 44, of Antioch, Tennessee, for allegedly molesting girls he coached at a local gym, according to court records.
Kristianson was charged with lewd and lascivious exhibition using a computer on a victim younger than 16, two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation of a person under the age of 16, and lewd and lascivious molestation of a person 12 to 16 years of age.
In November, attorneys filed federal lawsuits by Kristianson on behalf of three athletes alleging sexual abuse at Champion Elite Legacy cheerleading gym in South Daytona, according to a News-Journal story in November 2022.
Leaves Florida
Kristianson apparently left Florida after Daytona Beach police filed the charging affidavit with the State Attorney's Office.
State Attorney's Office spokeswoman Haley Harrison said Thursday he was located in Lyon County, Kansas. He was extradited to Volusia County from the Lyon County Detention Center on Aug. 4, 2022.
Kristianson got out of the Volusia County Branch Jail in August after posting $300,000 bail, court records show.
Sexual act via Facetime
Daytona Beach police said that on July 11, 2022, the parents of three girls came to the Daytona Beach Police Department and reported that Kristianson had exposed himself to them. He performed a sexual act via a Facetime video conference call, his arrest report states.
Some of the parents knew Kristian for nine months while others knew him for three years, One of the parents even rented him a room, police said.
Daytona Beach police received a second report also in July that Kristianson fondled an underage girl who was home alone, the second arrest report states.
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Court records show Kristianson has a pre-trial hearing in Volusia County scheduled for June 6 at 10 a.m. before Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano.
Alleged molestation in California
Kristianson was charged in Orange County, California with multiple felonies for molesting six girls as young as 11 years old while coaching at a competitive cheer club and a Mission Viejo High School, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
Kristianson is facing seven felony counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor under 14, five felony counts of 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 object on 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, according to a release.
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 the six young girls that he molested in Orange County.
Students come forward in California
The allegations came to light in 2022 after his South Daytona arrest.
After news reports regarding Kristianson’s arrest in Florida, 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.
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. The girls ranged in age from 11 to 16 years old.
Kristianson is currently jailed at the Theo Lacy Facility in Orange County, which is described as a "maximum security jail complex."
“This was not a predator hiding in the shadows waiting to grab innocent girls, said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. "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."
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Tennesee cheerleading coach molested children in Florida and California
