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ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. – An Orange County<\/a> cheerleading coach will spend the rest of his life behind bars following a sentencing that addressed decades of systemic child abuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n Erick Joseph Kristianson was convicted in December on 23 felony counts of child sexual assault.\u00a0<\/p>\n The evidence presented in court showed a pattern of grooming and manipulation dating back to 1998.\u00a0<\/p>\n PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Former OC cheerleading coach convicted of molesting 10 girls<\/a><\/p>\n Kristianson utilized his position as a coach at institutions such as Magic All Star, Trabuco Hills High School, and various YMCA camps to gain access to his victims, officials said.<\/p>\n Orange County Superior Court Judge Kevin Haskins noted that Kristianson viewed the children as “sex objects” to be discarded once he was finished with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n The investigation gained momentum in 2022 following Kristianson’s arrest in a separate Florida <\/a>case, which prompted a wave of victims in California<\/a> to come forward.<\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n The courtroom was filled with emotional impact statements from the survivors.\u00a0<\/p>\n One victim, who was 14 at the time of the abuse, told the judge, “One minute I was the happiest I’ve ever been in love and the next moment, I was discarded… Because of the rejection and stonewalling I spiraled.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Another survivor characterized Kristianson as a “monster” and a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” asserting that her “resiliency should not lead to leniency.”<\/p>\n The other side:<\/p>\n In contrast, the defendant\u2019s mother, Kristin Kristianson, asked for a second chance, describing her son as a “caring, loving person.”\u00a0<\/p>\n A family friend, John Stewart, testified that Kristianson had lived with his family in Indiana after his arrest without any problems.<\/p>\n However, Deputy District Attorney Juliet Oliver countered these pleas, stating, “Despite the amount of time passed, the trauma these victims have experienced is real.”<\/p>\n What we don’t know:<\/p>\n While the sentencing provides a legal resolution for the 10 victims involved in this case, it remains unclear if there are additional victims who have not yet come forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n The full extent of Kristianson’s activities during his time in Indiana and Florida is also not fully detailed in the current judicial record for the Orange County proceedings.<\/p>\n Timeline:<\/p>\n 1998\u20131999: The earliest reported assaults begin involving victims as young as 11.2002\u20132005: Kristianson continues to target victims through cheerleading coaching and summer camps.November 2005: Kristianson is questioned by deputies but released without charges.2022: Kristianson is arrested in Florida, sparking a new investigation in California.May 2023: A statement from the DA’s office leads more victims to come forward.December 2023: Kristianson is convicted on 23 felony counts.Thursday: Kristianson is sentenced to 174 years and four months to life. <\/p>\n The Source: This report is based on courtroom proceedings from Orange County Superior Court and information from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and Orange County Sheriff’s Department.<\/p>\n Crime and Public Safety<\/a>Orange County<\/a>Santa Ana<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. – An Orange County cheerleading coach will spend the rest of his life behind bars…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,1184,2042,100,611,338,1181],"class_list":{"0":"post-284843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-crime-publicsafety","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-orange-county","15":"tag-santa-ana","16":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}