Surf School Owner to Face Trial for Allegedly Molesting and Photographing Two Underage Girls

Despite his attorney's claims that Santa Cruz Surf School owner Dylan Greiner didn't touch or photograph two young girls in sexual ways, a Santa Cruz Superior Court judge Friday said there was enough evidence to bring the 38-year-old to trial for allegedly molesting two girls under 14 and taking pornographic pictures of them.

Greiner was arrested by Santa Cruz Police in August after a 17-year-old girl showed police 600 pictures on a hard drive the instructor had taken of her and then gave to her.
 
She said Greiner had given her massages and put sunscreen on her -- although she was clothed and he never had contact with sexual organs--and that was enough for police to serve a search warrant on Greiner's home at 721 Modesto Ave., where they found thousands of pornographic images of underage girls on a dozen or so computers, hard drives, cameras and cell phones.

Prosecutor Steve Moore alleged that Greiner gave the hard drive collection of pictures to the girl to try to seduce her. Santa Cruz Police investigators told Judge Timothy Volkmann that Greiner had told the girl he had a crush on her and wished they could have a relationship after she was in college.

Defense attorney Kellin Cooper argued that the pictures weren't pornographic, but artistic, and only six of the 600 had any nudity. Some of that was when a bikini top accidentally fell off when the two were at the swimming hole known as the Garden of Eden. The same day, she said, he pulled burrs out of her bare feet and licked her toes, telling her he wanted to make out with her.

The girl, identified as Jane Doe 1, was 14 when they met and 17 when he last saw her. She's 18 now. She met Greiner when her mother signed her up for surf lessons for her 14th birthday.

She told police she reported Greiner three years later because he told her he had a new girlfriend who was living with him and she had three kids, including a daughter, 13.  The girl said she worried for the daughter, so she went to police.

The only witnesses called were police and district attorney investigators. This was a preliminary hearing, in which prosecutors show some of their evidence and the judge determines whether there is enough to show probable cause that the defendant should go to trial for his alleged crimes. 

The next step is a hearing in front of a jury, although attorneys will hold one in front of Volkmann Jan. 15 to iron out four of the pornography charges. Prosecutor Moore was charging Greiner for each pornographic picture on each device he had. Defense attorney Kellin Cooper argued that he should only be prosecuted one time for each picture.

Volkmann's decision will affect how much prison time Greiner does, if convicted. He faces as many as eight years for each felony charge. 

The definition of pornography will come into play in a jury trial. Cooper argued that Greiner is an art photographer and that 99 percent of the images of girls he shot were "normal," that is, in swimsuits or clothed.

Moore, however, argued that many of the pictures focused on "breasts, butts and genitilia."

Judge Volkmann viewed some of the pictures out of sight of the audience. Some of the pictures he is charged with taking included stills of videos shot from secret cameras in the dressing room his surf schools, in which girls could be seen naked.

Outside the courtroom Greiner's father, Carl, said his son installed cameras to try and catch an employee who was apparently stealing wetsuits. He said his son was an artist who photographed and drew images of women. 

Police said Greiner wrote two letters of apology for his actions. In one, he apologized to the two girls for violating their trust and said he was glad to have been caught because he could be public about his addiction.
 
"I, Dylan Greiner, want to say how horrible I feel," he wrote in a letter read the the judge by Santa Cruz Police Detective Damon Williams. "I  have made huge mistakes that will change my life forever and the people around me...I'm somewhat relieved this happened. I no longer have to live a lie. I pray for your forgiveness as well as God's forgiveness."

Outside the courtroom, Greiner's father said he thought his son was coerced into writing the letters and was under the influence of beer and marijuana when he was arrested. 

The judge bumped one misdemeanor charge to a felony because the girl was under 14 at the time the incidents occurred. He reduced two felony charges of distributing child pornography to misdemeanors. The only person he distributed the pictures to was the person he took them of, his attorney said.