The San Mateo County District Attorney's Office has filed charges against the president of the Belmont Chamber of Commerce for allegedly molesting his girlfriend's young daughter for years.
Michael Kazarian, 50, was arrested Monday. He has been charged with 17 counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14, and one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, Assistant District Attorney Karen Guidotti said.
He made his first court appearance Tuesday but delayed entering a plea, Guidotti said.
Commissioner Stephanie Garratt set his bail at $1.5 million and Kazarian remains in custody today. He is scheduled to return to court May 28 to enter a plea, Guidotti said.
Kazarian is suspected of molesting his girlfriend's daughter, who was 8 years old at the time the alleged abuse began, from November 1999 to February 2002, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
Wagstaffe said the girl did not report the alleged molestation for years because Kazarian allegedly threatened her, but that this year she decided to tell her mother. Her mother notified police and Kazarian was taken into custody on a $500,000 arrest warrant, Wagstaffe said.
