SoCal child abuser, cheer coach faces 150 years in prison

A former Orange County cheerleading coach is facing more than 150 years in prison after being convicted of 23 counts of sexually abusing several girls, some as young as 9, allegedly dating back to 1998.

Monday’s conviction of Tennessee-born Erick Joseph Kristianson, 46, in Santa Ana helps close a lawsuit involving the arrest of a suspect in Fargo, ND, in May 2023, on a California warrant.

Kristianson was convicted of 11 counts of lewd or lascivious behavior on a child under 14 years of age, four counts of lewd or lascivious behavior on a child 14 or 15 years old, six counts of indecent exposure of a child under 18, two counts of foreign sex.

He will next appear in court on March 19 for sentencing, which could result in a maximum sentence of 165 years to life in prison, according to authorities.

“For decades, Erick Kristianson used gyms in Orange County and across the country as a sort of reverse catalog from which to choose the next girl he would molest,” said Orange County Dist. He said. Todd Spitzer in the statement.

A call to Kristianson’s public defender was not immediately returned.

Kristianson was first arrested in Kansas in 2022 and extradited to Daytona Beach. He is accused of masturbating on camera to three children between the ages of 11 and 13 and inappropriately touching another 13-year-old girl, according to authorities.

At the time, he was working at the now-closed Champion Elite Legacy gym in south Daytona Beach.

News from that arrest filtered back to Southern California where the victim contacted Orange County authorities.

The victim said he was molested by Kristianson when he was 14 when he was his coach, according to court documents. Kristianson slept with the girl during lunch at school, taking her home or to the beach, according to court documents.

Kristianson’s alleged crimes in California spanned 1998 to 2006, with most of the crimes occurring between 2002 and 2004, according to court documents.

Kristianson served as a competitive cheerleading coach for the now-defunct Magic All-Stars of Anaheim, from 2002 to 2005, and as an assistant cheer coach at Mission Viejo’s Trabuco Hills High School from 2004 to 2006.

It was at the latter location that he was accused of finding and sexually assaulting eight teenage girls, according to authorities.

Two additional victims knew Kristianson through a family member and through his employment in 1999 and 2000 as a YMCA sleepaway camp counselor in South Orange County, according to authorities.

He used to transport the girls to illicit events and to his home where he molested them according to court documents.

The girls ranged in age from 9 to 16.

The two girls said they left happy after Kristianson repeatedly molested them, according to court documents.

They did not report the abuse at the time out of fear and embarrassment, they told authorities.

“He was hiding in plain sight, a coach who trusted him, trusting that he could trust his young victims not to say anything about the abuse they were enduring,” said Spitzer. “The molesters will never stop until the law enforcement stops them.”

Kristianson was first arrested in Kansas in 2022 on a warrant and extradited to Florida. He posted a $300,000 bond and was released without bond.