Cheerleader Coach Accused of Molesting 6 Girls in Orange County

This photograph, provided by the Orange County District Attorney's Office shows former Orange County cheerleading coach Erick Joseph Kristianson, who has been charged with molesting girls as young as 11 years old in Southern California and he faces similar charges in Florida, prosecutors said on May 10, 2023. (Orange County District Attorney's Office via AP)

SANTA ANA, Calif.—A cheerleader coach made his first appearance in court on May 10 on charges of molesting six girls in Orange County.

Erick Joseph Kristianson, 44, of Antioch, Tennessee, was booked into the Orange County Jail on May 8 on multiple charges of molesting girls from 2002 through 2006, according to court and jail records. Kristianson, who is being held without bail, had his arraignment Wednesday in the jail courtroom in Santa Ana rescheduled for May 26 in the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach.

Kristianson was arrested last week in Fargo, North Dakota, on a warrant out of Orange County, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

Kristianson coached cheerleaders for the Magic All-Stars club from 2002 through 2008 and was also an assistant cheer coach at Trabuco Hills High School in 2005, according to prosecutors.

An alleged victim in Orange County came forward to authorities last year when she saw news reports about Kristianson, who was accused of touching himself during a FaceTime call with three girls ages 11 to 13 and allegedly touching the breasts of a 13-year-old girl in Florida, prosecutors said.

The alleged victim in Orange County told investigators Kristianson molested her starting when she was 14 when he was her coach, prosecutors alleged. She accused him of picking her up from school or giving her a ride home from practice and molesting her until she turned 16, according to prosecutors.

Kristianson is charged with molesting five other girls he coached in Orange County between 2002 and 2007 who ranged in age from 11 to 16, prosecutors said.

He was arrested in August last year on the Florida charges and posted $300,000 bail, prosecutors said.

Kristianson is charged with five lewd acts with a child 14 or 15, six counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor, a single count each of sexual penetration by a foreign object of a victim younger than 16, sexual penetration by a foreign object of an underage victim and oral copulation of a victim younger than 16, which are all felonies.