A 46-year-old Orange County cheerleading coach was sentenced Thursday to more than 174 years to life in prison for molesting 10 girls in attacks dating back more than two decades.
Erick Joseph Kristianson was convicted in December of 23 felony child sexual assault counts with sentencing enhancements for multiple victims and substantial sexual conduct. Orange County Superior Court Judge Kevin Haskins sentenced the defendant to 174 years and four months to life in prison and awarded him 1,622 days of custody credits while ordering him to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Multiple victims told Haskins how they were traumatized by Kristianson’s abuse.
One victim described how special the defendant made her feel as a 14-year-old.
“One minute I was the happiest I’ve ever been in love and the next moment, I was discarded,” she told Haskins. “Because of the rejection and stonewalling I spiraled … I wanted to die. I hated myself.”
The fell into abuse of alcohol and drugs, she said.
“Substances were my escape,” she said. “I barely graduated from high school.”
Another victim said in a written statement read aloud in court that the judicial process helped unburden some of the feelings she had stemming from the abuse. She said she forgave the defendant and hoped Kristianson would one day feel repentant.
Another victim said in a written statement that she still struggled with the effects.
“Because of what happened, I have deep trust issues, especially with men,” she said. “For years, I kept my experience to myself because I was afraid to be judged.”
She said she also abused alcohol and drugs “to numb the pain” and had to seek years of therapy.
“I experience thoughts and flashbacks,” she said, adding at times that they were so powerful she would have to leave work for the rest of the day and go home.
“I developed a very negative body image,” she said, adding she also struggled with an eating disorder.
“It affected my ability to be intimate,” she said. “I have lost relationships because of my fear of trust.”
As an aunt. she said she is “hypervigilant” around her niece.
“I find myself constantly worrying about them,” she said. “What was taken from me was my childhood innocence.”
Another victim said she went into coaching cheerleading and has won awards for that and for her job as a first responder. She said she’s focused on spearheading sexual abuse prevention.
“I was in a domestic violence relationship for many years,” she said, adding she has had a difficult time explaining to others why it was so hard for her to leave it.
The victim said she also struggles with intimacy and trust issues.
“But my resiliency should not lead to leniency” for the defendant, she said. “He does not deserve leniency… I am a success despite him.”
The victim characterized Kristianson as a “monster. He chose to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. … There’s not a day I don’t think about what I’ve gone through.”
Another victim said she met the defendant when she went to a camp.
“I was targeted and groomed by a pedophile,” she said. “I believed I was special, interesting… because he told me I was. He manipulated me. … I was traumatized and still am.”
She said she was devastated when Kristianson dumped her for one of her classmates.
“I dropped out of high school and instead, got a GED,” she said.
She struggled with suicidal ideation, she said. As a mom now she would never let her children go on a camp trip unsupervised now. “I seriously doubt I will ever have closure.”
Another victim told the judge how she has struggled with eating disorders and substance abuse.
“I used anything to get away from overwhelming shame,” she said. “I still don’t trust anyone at all.”
The woman said she met the defendant through his brother, who was her friend.
“I felt his family was mine,” she said. “He knew I was someone he could take advantage of.”
Another victim said she was a “painfully shy” 9 year-old when she met him. Her mother enrolled her in cheerleading classes to get her out of her shell, she said.
“He seemed to focus on me,” she said. “He told me he thought I was cool. He said I was like a little sister to him.”
Kristianson family friend John Stewart told Haskins that when Kristianson was arrested, he took him into his home in Indiana and that he did not see any troublesome behavior.
“I’ve known him for most of his life,” he said, adding he met the defendant when he was in third grade.
“I care deeply about him and his family,” Stewart said, adding that he had a magnetic personality at an early age
Stewart said he was an abuse victim in the Boy Scouts, so he didn’t take the allegations lightly.
“But he lived with my family, including my teenage daughter,” he said. “My experience with him was consistently positive. I would welcome him back home in my family.”
The defendant’s mother, Kristin Kristianson, told the judge she has “prayed for everyone in this court.” She said she hoped the accusers can find “closure for the rest of your life,” adding, “I know my son is not perfect. None of us are. We all do things that are wrong. We all do things that are right.”
The defendant’s mother said his crimes were when he was in his 20s and that she believes in “second chances. … He is a caring, loving person,” who shouldn’t be judged on “twenty-some years ago.”
Deputy District Attorney Juliet Oliver noted the “very emotional, impactful” victim impact statements.
“Despite the amount of time passed, the trauma these victims have experienced is real,” she said.
The length of time that has passed since the crimes has “no bearing” on his punishment, she argued.
Haskins said he was “sympathetic” to the defendant’s mother, but he added, the victims were “very credible” and Kristianson used his popularity as a cheerleading coach to “access these children.” Kristianson was “cultivating these kids.” .
“To him, they were just sex objects,” the judge said. “And when he was done he discarded them.”
Haskins noted how the crimes have haunted the victims.
The length of time since the crimes were committed means the defendant “had all those years free of consequences … while those women were suffering.”
Kristianson testified that he never molested any of the girls and that when he worked with some of the accusers in gyms, there were security cameras in place. He also said he didn’t lose his virginity until he was 27.
The accusers from Orange County were “living their lives until 2022,” when Kristianson was arrested in a case out of Florida, Oliver said in her closing argument of the trial.
“It became apparent the man who did it to them did it again in Florida,” Oliver said.
One of the alleged victims saw the news in Florida and came forward to Orange County sheriff’s investigators, Oliver said.
A statement issued by the District Attorney’s Office in May 2023 spurred a handful of victims to come forward, Oliver said. One victim told her mother she was molested in November 2005, and another told a therapist at the end of 2006. Another accuser told a friend in 2018.
Kristianson was detained in November 2005 and questioned by deputies but wasn’t charged, Oliver said.
One accuser was 14 when she met him in 1999 through a YMCA summer camp, Oliver said, adding the defendant was 21. “Flirtatious” messages eventually graduated to him taking her to a Trabuco Hills High School dance, Oliver said.
Kristianson would engage in sex acts with her in a local community center and in his car, Oliver said.
Another accuser met him in 1998 when she was 11 years old as the friend of Kristianson’s younger brother, Oliver said, adding the defendant sexually assaulted her as they watched a movie together.
Another accuser said she met him when she was 11 in 2002 and he was a cheerleading coach at Magic All Star. The defendant also coached cheerleading at Trabuco Hills High School in 2005.
One accuser said he started molesting her when she was 9 years old, in 2002 through 2004, Oliver said. In one instance, during a cheerleading session, “He puts her on his lap at an extremely opportune time — he had an erection,” Oliver said.
Another victim was 15 when the defendant sexually assaulted her as her cheerleading coach, Oliver said. He would pick her up at Dana Hills High School and assault her in her home jacuzzi and in her bedroom.
Another victim was 16 when she met him through cheerleading in 2004, and another victim was 13 around the same time, Oliver said.
Another victim said she was 12 when he “touched my pee pee in a movie theater,” Oliver said.