LOS ANGELES (AP) - Police are trying to identify the victims of a 19-year-old Los Angeles roller rink employee who they say admitted indulging a self-described “foot fetish” with up to 200 young boys.
Julian Christopher Flores is charged with one count each of false imprisonment and attempted lewd act on a child, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday (https://lat.ms/OGsSMI ). He has pleaded not guilty.
The newspaper cited court documents that show Flores admitted taking up to 200 young boys into a maintenance room over the course of a year at Northridge Skateland, having them remove their socks and rub their feet on his hands or face to sexually arouse himself.
Flores’ statement to police came after one boy told his grandmother about a December encounter in the maintenance room, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The grandmother found the alleged victim wandering around at the rink without his socks and skates after she let the boy go to the men’s room by himself.
Following the interview with Flores, police seized his cellphone and laptop and found videos in which he instructed several “unknown minors” to remove their socks, the court documents allege. In one video, a boy asks, “Why would you let a 9-year-old who you hardly know, put their feet on your face?”
Investigators served a search warrant on Northridge Skateland in January and are attempting to identify victims who were patrons from May 1 through Dec. 21 of last year, the Times reported.
Skateland general manager Courtney Bourdas Henn told the newspaper she has not notified customers on her own because Los Angeles Police Department officials asked that she not do so while their investigation is ongoing.
Henn said Skateland “deeply regrets” the incident and “we are fully cooperating with the LAPD.”
Flores, who no longer works at the rink, is free on $150,000 bail. He faces a maximum of eight years and four months in prison if convicted.
Flores’ defense attorney, Valerie Lopez, and the prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Elena Abramson, each declined comment.
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Information from: Los Angeles Times, https://www.latimes.com
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