La Mesan Sentenced to 26-Year Prison Term in Molest Case Involving Boy

Eric Dylan Protas, a karate instructor from La Mesa, was sentenced Thursday to 26 years in state prison in the wake of his conviction on molestation charges involving a former male student.

Judge Peter Deddeh told a packed courtroom in El Cajon that there is supposed to be a special bond between teacher and student.

The victim, who had been taking martial arts from Protas since kindergarten, looked up to the defendant, the judge said.

“[Protas] betrayed that trust,'' Deddeh said of the 10-month sexual relationship.

Deputy District Attorney John Philpott said the defendant groomed the boy and molested him from August 2009 to May 2010, when he was 13 and 14.

Once Protas was charged, he mounted a smear campaign against the victim, calling him a liar and re-victimizing him and his family, the prosecutor said.

Protas pleaded guilty in February to 29 felony charges, including committing lewd acts on a child.

The victim’s grandfather, Kenneth Krebs, told the judge that Prota systematically plotted to take advantage of his grandson.

“He [Protas] really had everyone convinced he was special,'' Krebs said. “We were all duped.”

Protas will be registered as a sex offender.

The victim—now 15—testified last October that he had oral and anal sex about 300 times with Protas, owner-operator of the Allied Gardens School of Martial Arts on Waring Road in San Diego.

The boy testified that Protas became his instructor in an after-school martial arts program when he was in kindergarten, and he began taking classes at the studio when he was older.

At one point, when he was having trouble at home and school, he confided in Protas, who made him feel better, the boy said. He said that launched a relationship in which they got together nearly every day.

The two began having sex at Protas’ house and, if he refused, the defendant would “shut down” emotionally and cry, according to the boy.

Police were called when the teen told his mother what was happening, after he was arrested for shoplifting.

City News Service contributed to this report.