Man arrested for sexually assaulting children on three separate occasions in Irvine
A man accused of sexually assaulting three minors on separate occasions was faces sentencing for a wide array of charges after appearing in court on Thursday.
Christopher Eduard, 53, was charged with:
- two counts of false imprisonment,
- two counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14,
- one count of forcible lewd acts on a child,
- contacting a minor with intent to commit a sex offense,
- possession or control of child pornography.
All of the charges are felonies.
He was also charged with misdemeanor counts of:
- sexual exploitation of a child,
- using a minor in the sale of child pornography,
- indecent exposure.
Eduard pleaded not guilty to the charges on Thursday and now has a pretrial hearing set for April 10.
He faces 25 years to life in California state prison, plus an additional three years at Orange County jail.
All of the charges stem from a series of different allegations facing Eduard that have occurred since 2021.
He is accused of sexually assaulting a girl at a library in Irvine, located on Yale Avenue, on March 21, where he convinced the nine-year-old to help him film a video in which he held up various cue cards for her to read before he exposed himself and assaulted her, "masturbating in front of the girl and forcing her to touch him," Irvine Police Department officials said.
He was initially arrested and held on a statutory bail of $100,000, but "police requested no bail given the egregiousness of the brazen sexual assault of a child in a public place."
Despite the request, Eduard's bail was set at $500,000, which he posted before his initial court appearance.
On March 28, the Orange County District Attorney's Office approved the no bail warrant after being presented with information on two other instances that investigators believe to be connected to the suspect.
"High-risk sex offenders are the most dangerous kind of criminal and the most likely to re-offend. The kind of person who would prey on innocent children looking at library books or toys and sexually assault them should not be allowed to be out on bail to be able to prey on more children," said OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer. "
They also noted a pair of allegations from two years earlier, where he is said to have groped an 11-year-old girl on May 24, 2021 while at a Target department store in the 13200 block of Jamboree Road. In this instance, "Eduard is accused of grabbing the girl who was alone in a toy aisle of the store, rubbing the girl's vagina over her clothes and asking her if it felt good," the Irvine Police Department statement said.
In the second instance, Eduard is accused of grabbing a 9-year-old girl's buttocks while she was alone in a toy aisle of a Target store on Barranca Parkway in Irvine. He is also accused of taking pictures of the girl.
He was arrested near his Los Angeles home on March 24, but bailed out before he was arrested again on Tuesday for the other cases.
As they continue to prepare a case, authorities are asking anyone who believes that they were also victimized by Eduard to contact them at (949) 724-7168.
Eduard is described as standing 5-feet 7-inches tall with a thin build. He is between 35 and 45 years of age. Detectives believe he drives a 2014-2018 green Kia Soul.
