Man accused of molesting five foster children to go on trial this week
STEVEN MAYER
After spending more than two years in jail, 24-year-old Justin James Erbacher, of Bakersfield, is set to stand trial in Kern County Superior Court.
As he sat in court Monday, days before a jury is expected to be assembled, Erbacher quietly read through a sheaf of papers, a pair of eyeglasses perched on his nose.
Erbacher faces nearly two dozen felony counts in connection with the continuous sexual abuse of as many as five girls who appear to have been under the foster care of Erbacher’s parents in 2006 when the alleged abuse came to light.
According to police interviews of the girls, Justin’s natural father, Stephan Erbacher, was also molesting the girls.
But he will not stand trial. The elder Erbacher shot himself in the head the same day police were set to descend on his home.
According to search warrants filed in Kern County Superior Court, the girls told investigators they were molested repeatedly for years by their foster father, Stephan Erbacher, and his then 22-year-old son, Justin.
The elder Erbacher committed suicide April 20, 2006, the day Bakersfield police went to his home to search for molestation evidence, records show. He was 44.
Justin, the natural son of Stephan and Melody Erbacher, had been arrested earlier that month on charges of molesting two girls, ages 10 and 13,.
He has pleaded not guilty.
The case began on April 3, 2006, when a 13-year-old girl told police the younger Erbacher had engaged in sex acts with her since she was 9, according to a sworn affidavit by Bakersfield police detective William Darbee.
The girl described lewd touches and sexual intercourse at Justin Erbacher’s southwest Bakersfield apartment, the affidavit said.
A 10-year-old girl told police that she had been molested the same way by her “adopted brother” since she was 6 years old.
She also said she saw pictures on Justin’s cell phone of the 13-year-old without her clothes on and engaging in sex acts with him.
At that time, Justin Erbacher was described as standing 5 feet 11 inches and weighing 200 pounds.
A subsequent search warrant served April 20, 2006 — the day Stephan Erbacher shot himself to death — says a 10-year-old girl told a Child Protective Services worker that the elder Erbacher molested her.
The 10-year-old told police and Mary Little, a forensic interviewer working for CPS, that her adopted father molested her for three years. Her report came after five girls in the Erbacher home, ages 5, 9, 10, 11 and 13 were put into protective custody.
The 10-year-old said an 11-year-old foster girl in the home was present when Stephan Erbacher molested her.
The 11-year-old girl confirmed that statement in a separate interview and said both girls were forced to watch pornographic movies during the molestation, the affidavit says.
The 11-year-old described acts of lewd touching, sexual intercourse, sodomy and ejaculation by her foster father, the affidavit said.
Both girls said they were molested in the master bedroom of a Rosedale home in the 2900 block of Redwood Hills Court. It was in the backyard of that home where Stephan Erbacher was found dead by his own hand.
“It is my belief that a possible suicide by Stephan Erbacher would be motivated by an allegation against him of child molestation,” Darbee wrote in the affidavit.
Darbee said he believed there would be evidence at the home important to the investigation of Justin Erbacher.
Officers reported seizing digital cameras, videos, disposable cameras, computers, numerous compact discs and a 14-inch adult toy during the searches.
The Kern County Human Services Department has seen a significant number of problems coming from local foster homes.
Less than four months ago, Bakersfield foster mother Kathy Jean Scott was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for killing an infant who had been placed under her care.
The baby, Eduardo Calzada, suffered four skull fractures when his head was slammed against the tile floor.
One year earlier, Kern County foster mother Mary Ann Ronk was convicted of misdemeanor child endangerment and contributing to the delinquency of a minor for allegedly withholding food and encouraging her foster children to beat each other — as forms of discipline.