Temecula dance instructor who pleaded guilty to lewd acts with students to be sentenced

A former dance instructor at a Temecula studio is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday after pleading responsible late final month to lewd acts with college students, officers mentioned.

Eric Eustacio Saradpon, 43, entered responsible pleas on three counts involving minor victims related together with his work at a dance instructor from 2007 to 2019 at Temecula Dance Firm, the Riverside County District Lawyer’s Workplace mentioned in a information launch Wednesday.

He pleaded responsible to collaborating in an act of oral copulation with an individual below the age of 18, and to 2 counts of committing a lewd and lascivious act upon and with the physique and sure elements of a kid who’s 14 and 15 years outdated, in line with the legal grievance.

There have been 5 minor victims within the case, the DA’s workplace mentioned.

“As one of many dance lecturers, Saradpon was entrusted with the heath, security, and emotional effectively being of the minors on the studio and when in dance competitions throughout the nation,” the DA’s Workplace mentioned. “As a substitute, he engaged in a sample of grooming, seducing, and molesting his victims.”

Saradpon is scheduled to be sentenced at 9 a.m. Thursday in Murrieta.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Division served a search warrant on Oct. 12 at Saradpon’s residence on the 39000 block of Sundance Circle, in connection to a lewd acts with minors investigation. The division mentioned they seized a number of “proof gadgets” on the location.

In November 2020, Saradpon was arrested whereas on the dance studio, positioned at 28404 Felix Valdez Ave., on suspicion of felony crimes together with sodomy by pressure and lewd acts with youngsters, in line with the division.

Ed Morel, who owns Temecula Dance Firm together with his spouse, advised KTLA on the time of the arrest that Saradpon labored on the studio for about 15 years and even handed a background verify.

“My spouse and I’ve owned this enterprise for 30 years. We’ve had 1000’s of children come by right here,” he mentioned. “Anyone who places any of our youngsters at risk shouldn’t be welcome right here.”

Morel mentioned he minimize ties with Saradpon instantly after detectives knowledgeable him concerning the allegations. He went on to say, “Possibly it occurred. Possibly it didn’t. However that has nothing to do with us.”

A 13-year-old former pupil of Saradpon mentioned following the 2020 arrest that the teacher would have college students spend the night time at his dwelling.

“The truth that he has boys sleepover at his home, that are like 13 years outdated … It was simply was bizarre to me,” the coed, recognized solely as Brendan, mentioned.

Brendan’s mother pulled him out of the dance faculty after the allegations surfaced.

“You see the behaviors of him with the scholars and you recognize it’s not regular. However no person questions it,” his mother mentioned on the time.