Sounds more like an evil villain.
A well-known owner of a Santa Cruz, Calif., surfing school — and noted “hometown hero” — was busted Friday night on suspicion of “lewd and lascivious acts” with children, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
Dylan Greiner, 38, is accused of making inappropriate sexual advances toward two girls, one 13 years old, the other 14. The blonde, long-haired Greiner was then arrested when investigators found more than 1,000 salacious videos and photos of young girls at his home and business.
The videos and photos, taken while the girls were changing into wetsuits at his business, allegedly “purposely focused on the breasts, buttocks and genitalia” of the victims, according to Santa Cruz police chief Steve Clark.
Greiner was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail on two felony charges and remained there Saturday on $500,000 bail. Additional charges are expected and judge John Gallagher agreed to increase bail at the request of police. There was a 14-year-old girl at Greiner’s home when the police arrested him.
Other videos part of Greiner’s collection secretly captured young girls on the beach, some as young as 8 to 10 years old, a preliminary search turned up. Greiner offered young teens free surf lessons and/or employment at his business.
“The scope of this could be very large,” Clark said. “We are trying to get as many victims identified as possible.”
Greiner admitted while being interviewed by detectives that he photographed and took videos of the girls and downloaded inappropriate images of teen girls online, Clark said. The surf instructor wrote a letter of apology to the victims and to the community, but that has not been made public.
Last year, Greiner’s videos of discarded drug needles at Cowell Beach in Santa Cruz galvanized cleanup efforts.
“Unfortunately, his video skills didn’t stop there,” Clark said.
On Facebook, Greiner belongs to groups like “Citizens for a Better Santa Cruz” and “Santz Cruz County Community Improvement.”
T.J. Magallanes, who once joined Greiner in raising awareness about needles on the beach, said it was “sickening” to learn about his arrest.
“It was quite a shocker considering he was the local hometown hero guy,” Magallanes said.