Pretrial hearing for defendant gets postponed

CHRISTINA SOSA

Justin Erbacher, 22, accused of 23 felony counts of various sexual abuse charges against children, appeared in court Wednesday for a pretrial hearing, but the hearing was postponed until next month.

Erbacher is accused of molesting five young girls over a period of nearly five years, beginning in 2001. Erbacher, who has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, will appear in court again for a pretrial hearing May 10.

Erbacher was well-acquainted with all of his victims, and some of the girls even identified him as their brother in court records, though it is unclear whether Erbacher was the biological sibling of any of the victims.

It is The Californian's policy not to identify alleged victims of sexual assault whenever possible.

At least three of the victims, ages 5 to 13, resided in a foster home in Bakersfield where Erbacher also resided at one time, according to court records.

It was unclear whether Erbacher was a biological or adoptive child to the foster parents in that home.

A fourth victim lived in a second foster home. Erbacher also lived in the second foster home for a time after he graduated high school, and it was around that time that the abuse of at least one of his victims began, according to court records.

The foster parents in the second home have been foster parents for more than a decade and have helped care for more than 300 children, according to a Kern County Department of Human Services Web site.

The parents in the second home could not be reached for comment Tuesday but have previously said all of the children have been removed from their home.

Police were alerted to the sexual assault allegations earlier this month when they responded to a home where one of the victims was threatening suicide out of fear she would be punished for her role in the abuse.

Barbara Zimmermann, spokeswoman for the county Department of Human Services, said she could not comment on the department's actions in this case, except to say it is cooperating with the criminal investigation.

"There are very strict confidentiality laws that apply to the information that we can or cannot release to the public. That is primarily to protect the children," Zimmermann said.

A 13-year-old girl was arrested on April 7 on suspicion of 15 felony counts of sexual abuse in connection with this case. She is also one of Erbacher's alleged victims, police confirmed Tuesday.

Police refused to release the exact crimes the girl has been charged with.