Korean-American girls molested by friend’s father during sleepover, discovered 10 years later

Korean-American girls at an elementary school in La Crescenta were molested by their friend’s father during a sleepover at the friend’s house, shocking the community that it was revealed a decade after the incident happened. The suspect is a Glendale man with a master’s degree in ministry from a seminary.

On August 27, the Glendale Police Department said they arrested Stephen Nathanial Risdon on August 21. Risdon is currently in custody for charges of committing lewd acts against three elementary school students.

According to police, Risdon allegedly molested three of his daughter’s friends who came to his home in 2015 and 2016. The girls are now in high school.

The police investigation began after 10 years last July after a Korean-American parent group chat revealed the molestation of one of the girls.

The girls were in the third and fourth grades of elementary school at the time when they were victimized during a sleepover at the home of Risdon’s daughter, who was in the same Korean bilingual class. Risdon is married to a Korean-American woman.

“I recently saw a group chat about the girl being victimized, so I asked my daughter, thinking, ‘What if,’ and I was shocked when she confessed that she was also abused,” the mother of one of the victims told the Korea Daily. ”I immediately called the police and was informed that the suspect was recently arrested, more than a month later. As it turns out, the children already knew each other because she had told other friends that she was in counseling after the molestation.”

The mother of the girl, who was the first known victim, said she learned of the incident while talking to her daughter a few months later and reported it to the police. However, she said the investigation was stalled because no additional victims were reported to police at the time.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Risdon earned his Master of Divinity (MDIV) from Fuller Theological Seminary (2004-2007) and his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Higher Education/Higher Education Administration from Azusa Pacific University (2014-2019), respectively. He currently serves as the director of operations and strategy at The Center for Restorative Justice, a Christian-based nonprofit focused on racial inequality.

The Glendale Police Department said it is “actively seeking additional victims” and urged the public to come forward.

Contact: Glendale Police Assaults Detectives at (818)548-3106

BY SUAH JANG, YOONJAE JUNG, JOONHO CHOI, HOONSIK WOO [jang.suah@koreadaily.com, jung.yoonjae@koreadaily.com, choi.joonho1@koreadaily.com]