EL CAJON, Calif.—
At a readiness conference hearing, accused child molestor and former La Mesa karate instructor Eric Protas faced new evidence."Mr. Protas has compared himself to Jesus, and talked about having in his accuser, his own Judas," said Deputy District Attorney John Philpott.
Protas stands accused of molesting a now 14-year-old teenager. The accuser was a former student, and prosecutors claim the alleged sexual abuse happened hundreds of times for more than a year.
Since his arraignment, prosecutors said Protas has campaigned his own innocence on the social networking site Facebook. Philpott said that he posted his accuser should tell the truth, even referring to him as Judas.
"Now he's entitled to his opinions, but at the same time, this court has made an order that he not have any contact with the victim," said Philpott.
Protas has been out of custody since he posted his $800,000 bail. Prosecutors on Thursday were hoping to raise that amount to $1-million-dollars. According to prosecutors, new DNA evidence was discovered on a bedsheet, and snippets of journal entries were discovered on his computer, said prosecutors.
"We also cannot tell the age of the source of the person of that DNA, which gives the people pause," said Philpott.
Protas' attorney Albert Arena said he just received the new evidence on Thursday.
"It wasn't the type of evidence that would make a substantial change in this case that would warrant the changing of the bail," said Arena, speaking to reporters after the hearing.
The judge decided not to raise Protas' bail amount. However, he prohibited Protas from using the internet, especially Facebook. He only allowed Protas to use e-mail to communicate with his attorney.
Protas' trial is scheduled for March 22.
