'Secrets' on Housewive's Son's Cell Phone Center Stage in Sex Crimes Case

In the KJ Beerman alleged sex crimes. case, [music] the prosecution now seems. to want interviews with children to be. conducted. And the contents of Beerman's. cell phone appear to have been part of. his famous parents' divorce proceedings. over a year ago. Given that we just. learned about his alleged criminal past. and [music] what may have been on that. phone, these are major revelations and I. am curious whether a lawsuit is also on. the horizon. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. [music] I'm.

Jesse Weber. From court filings about [music] what. could be on KJ Beerman's cell phone to. potential forensic interviews with. children, we got a lot to talk about. with the latest developments involving. the 15-year-old son of reality TV star. Kim Zoliaak and Atlanta Falcons. linebacker Croy Beerman. Now, before we. get into it, before we get into these. updates, I got to give you context here, right? So Beerman, he was indicted by a. Georgia grand jury on charges of. aggravated child molestation, aggravated. sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, three.

counts of aggravated sexual battery. against a child under 16, and false. imprisonment. Prosecutors claim he. sexually assaulted a female classmate at. Lifetime Fitness in Alpharetta, Georgia. on April 23rd of this year. According to. page six, when this alleged victim was. examined at a hospital the next day, reportedly no male DNA was found in her. mouth or private area where she claimed. she was assaulted. Now, that is going to. be very significant for the prosecution. and the defense in this case. We've. talked about them before, but police.

conducted an investigation and in the. end they arrested KJ Beerman last month. Now, his lawyer, Jason Sheffield, claims. his client is completely innocent. Herman's mother, Kim Zoliaak, released a. statement saying in part, quote, "The. allegations being made against my son. are nothing short of reckless and deeply. troubling." Now, there has been no, as. far as we can tell, public statement. from KJ's father, Croy, but if we do get. a statement, we'll make sure to let you. know. But then we have what happened. last week, right? Prosecution told the. judge just a bombshell. This was.

something we didn't know about before. And this happened in a court hearing. They released this information, this. revelation about KJ's apparent criminal. history. >> Ron, as to the defendant's juvenile. history, he is un under supervision with. quote the juvenile court on one count of. sexual battery against a child under 16. felony. The defendant was placed on a. sentence for that. October 29th of 2025 is when that order.

was filed in. I have spoken to. defendants's juvenile probation officer. He was provided six special editions um. that included a psychosocial evaluation, a sex offender treatment program, attend. individual counseling following direct. directives, to complete one juvenile. class and a two-page home range, to. complete a vision board, and to complete. a risk lead assessment. My understanding.

of it is the defendant completed all of. those conditions um by July 23rd of this. year. >> So look, we were kind of limited in what. we could show you in that courtroom, but. I'll tell you based on reporting from. outlets like Page 6 and WSBTV, Deputy District Attorney Caitlyn. McGillicuy told the court that. authorities apparently found videos on. KJ Beerman's phone showing him allegedly. having sex with a family member under. the age of 12. allegedly multiple. encounters describing quote predatory.

derogatory language toward the victim in. that case. And this incident was. apparently reported in 2023. He was on. probation starting in October 2025. We. didn't know about this because it was in. juvenile court, but McGillicuy revealed. that Beerman was previously charged with. sexual battery of a victim under the age. of 16. Now, I want you to keep all that. in mind with what I'm about to get into, but Beerman's attorney, and this is. important to note, Sheffield, after the. hearing said this is being. mischaracterized, released a statement. saying, quote, "The matter arose from.

inappropriate, crude behavior involving. two middle schoolers. It did not result. in an adjudication for statutory rape, sexual intercourse, or any comparable. offense." Now, in the end, in the. current criminal case, Beerman was. granted by the judge a bond. It was set. at $200,000. There are conditions here. that he has to live at his mom's house, that he has to attend school virtually, he can't use his cell phone, he can't. use social media, he can't have direct. or indirect contact with the alleged. victim in this case. I actually did a. whole sidebar on how these conditions.

operate, how they work, what they mean. I did it with uh attorney Meg Strickler. It's up on Law and Crimes YouTube page. if you want to check that one out. But. that brings me now to today, the. updates. Okay, so according to the court. docket, this is per reporting from TMZ, the prosecution has filed a motion with. the court to allow forensic interviews. with quote minor children. Now, we don't. know who these people are, right? We. don't know the circumstances. It hasn't. been shown in this filing, but we may. have ideas. We'll get to that. At the.

same time, Page Six is reporting that KJ. Beerman's cell phone, you know, the one. that prosecutors claim had that material. on it, that it came up more than a year. ago during his parents' divorce. Now, we. don't know what his parents knew about. the contents of the phone. But according. to page six, on February 18th, 2025, Zoliaak claimed in a motion for an. emergency hearing in Falton County that. her aranged husband, Croy Beerman, had. taken their children's cell phones and. limited her access to these four kids,

including KJ. And this is after he made. some sort of quote discovery. Now, we. don't know what that is. It's redacted. in the filing, but according to page. six, she apparently filed a motion for. an in camera inspection, meaning a judge. would look at this material in private. Then there was this later filing in the. divorce proceedings, and it referenced. an order about the review of quote their. eldest child's cellular telephone and. the data thereon, which had been the.

subject of the inc camera inspection. motion. And in a motion for an emergency. hearing, Kim Zoliaak claimed that her. aranged husband told a court-appointed. mental health professional about finding. something. The motion reading, "In. protecting the best interests of the. children, mother will not put into this. public pleading what is alleged to be. unredacted." The motion, according to. page six, goes on to allege that the. father here, Cory Beerman, quote, began. battening down the hatches, that he.

unilaterally directed mother that she. would no longer have parenting time with. any of the children, took possession of. the children's phones, and prohibited. the children from communicating with. mother. Mother has had extremely limited. parenting time and mother has grave. concerns for the children's safety and. well-being as well as the preservation. of evidence which may or may have been. stored redacted. H again strange. Now. the parents according to this reporting. they ended up moving to dismiss the.

divorce proceeding said that their. attorneys would work on an order from. the court about how to inspect their. eldest child's cellular telephone and. the data there on. That's the quote. But. the rest we don't know. Court entered an. order sealing the documents. But could. this be significant? Does it tell us. something about these allegations? Does. it tell us something about the content. or the contents, the materials on KJ. Beerman's cell phone? I have a lot of. questions here. Let me bring in attorney. Chris Clattz to talk about this. Chris, thanks so much for coming back here on. Sidebar to talk about this. Um, I want.

to start with the forensic interviews. with these minor children. Who do you. think these minor children are? could be. anybody really. So, uh there's two. issues that are going on right now. It. appears that he's on some type of uh. supervised status or maybe, you know, probation for for juvenile. Uh it could. be related to that case, but more likely. it's related to any witnesses that may. have seen something alleged happening in. this dressing area at the at the gym. So, anytime there are minors that are.

involved that may have some knowledge. about any type of sexual misconduct, whether they're a survivor, uh whether. they're a victim, whether they're a. witness, there's a process that's in. place and it's done to protect the the. children. The goal of the system having. a heightened awareness of having minors. being interviewed is not to subject them. to multiple interviews because anytime. somebody's interviewed about what they. have witnessed or what they have. experienced as a as a sex assault. survivor or a sex assault witness, it.

can be very traumatic. And so there have. been designed methods for interviewing. minors to minimize the trauma while. hopefully maximizing the opportunity for. getting the full story out. For. instance, the the story may be done the. the story may be received in a. controlled environment where there's. maybe only one other adult. Quite. frequently, they're video recorded um. and there may only be one or two other. people in the room with the child. So, the child has a little bit more freedom. to speak openly. um they're usually not.

done with family members present because. sometimes if the family member is maybe. one of the perpetrators, a child might. be influenced not to speak about. something that they're in the room with. the person who may be a perpetrator. So. they're very controlled. The people who. give these types of interviews uh take. these type of interviews from young. people uh have been trained uh and. there's a protocol for doing it to. protect the children. >> So So let's just talk about this for a. second. I also have another idea about. who these who these minor children might. be. But in general, if if a if a minor.

child sits for this specialized forensic. interview, does that mean that they. would necessarily have to testify in a. criminal case or is this merely used for. investigative purposes? A defendant has. a right to confront their witnesses. against them. They have to testify at a. trial. How does it work? >> Yeah, there's a whole bunch of there's a. whole bunch of legal issues to unpack. there. First of all, as you probably, you know, you're probably aware that. probably 90 to 95% of criminal cases get. resolved without anybody ever going to. trial. Uh there's usually some type of.

resolution via plea bargain or some type. of resolution that involves a non-trial. scenario. So, the odds of any witness in. a particular case going to trial are. usually pretty small. But um this is. done at this point for investigative. purposes where the state attorney's. office and the police office um is. looking at these interviews for their. content as to whether there are other. interviews that they need to make or. whether there may be some other physical. evidence. They might be looking for um. that the questions they may be asking. these children will be do you have any.

content on your phone that is related to. this case? Is there anything that we. need to know about? So at this point. it's usually for investigative purposes. so they can build whatever the case is. that they're going to be proceeding. against the the perpetrator. The second. issue you talked about every state is a. little bit different about this. There. are instances where a state attorney or. a prosecutor can ask for a court to. allow maybe a remote testimony. [clears throat] of a witness so they. don't have to be in court where there's. you know courts are usually open to the. public and so there sometimes can be.

many many people in the courtroom. Sometimes the judges or sometimes the. state laws will set it up so a child can. appear remotely. Maybe they're in. another room in the courthouse where. there's not so many people there. Sometimes maybe they'll have a therapy. dog that'll be sitting there on the. floor um inside of the box where the the. jury can't see that there might be some. type of, you know, assistance there. So, every state's different about that. Um, some states have been some states have. been pretty um, uh, progressive about, you know, figuring out a way to protect.

a witness who might be intimidated. because of their age. Um, and in some. states very strict about having, you. know, to have a child appear or a like, as you said, to have the constitutional. right to confront your accuser, to have. that be in person. >> I also think this might be potential. friends, classmates. Remember one of I. remember reading the reporting that this. alleged victim had experienced a panic. attack at school. So, I also wonder if. there was anybody that observed. anything. But I also want to know aside. from friends or people who were around. them and maybe they heard something,

maybe the alleged victim or the. defendant here said something. What. about his siblings? Do you think it's. possible it could be his siblings? >> Could be. Yeah. Uh I can't remember how. old his siblings are, but if they're. minors and the police want to talk to. them, the best practice would be because. they could, you know, they could both be. witnesses and they could both be, you. know, survivors or victims. And so if. there's any chance that they have been. traumatized throughout either being a. witness or a survivor of abuse, um. they're going to affect this protocol.

for interviewing minors in a formal way. that causes the least amount of trauma. to them. >> Yeah, I think at least he has a few uh. younger siblings. Um I want to ask you. now um about the legal filings uh in. this uh divorce proceeding. What do you. think this is all about? this idea of, you know, you're seeing the tension. between the parents, but you're also. hearing this reference to a cell phone. or cell phones. I mentioned before how. that came up last week in a hearing. about the alleged contents of the cell.

phone, and then you see it a part of. these divorce proceedings. What do you. take away from it? So. divorce proceedings can be particularly. tricky because if there's a lot of. acrimony between the parents, the. parents can be trying to maximize. something that will throw shade on the. other parent. So when you're looking at. a divorce proceeding between two adults, are they sometimes or do they sometimes. use the child to try to get a leg up on.

the other parent in a divorce. proceeding? Yeah, certainly that's. possible, but you really can't approach. it that way because if there's some type. of allegation in the divorce proceeding. that might actually be legitimate and. and frequently they are, right? Um so. you can't automatically discount it just. because it is part of a divorce. proceeding. There needs to be an. investigation if the allegations seem. like there may be some uh merit to them. because, you know, you could either have. two adults that are just throwing shade. at each other because they're mad at. each other in divorce or there could be.

really an underlying problem with a. child involved in that proceeding uh. where legitimately the parent is maybe. allowing them to have access to things. they shouldn't have or a parent is. exposing them to things that they. shouldn't be exposed to. So, it really. all needs to be looked at. safest thing. to do, benefit benefit of the doubt, uh, goes to the child. >> But it seems to me, does it, and I don't. know if it seems to you, was there. something specifically on KJ's phone. that became an issue during these.

proceedings? I mean, does it seem like. there was a need to seal it? Does there. seem to not the the the the pleadings. the pleadings record that something was. discovered on the phone that was. problematic, or am I reading too much. into it? Are people reading too much. into it? No, I think that um probably. that the whoever the attorneys were that. drafted the pleadings are probably. prioritizing not causing any harm to the. children. Hopefully they're doing that. by not making the allegations of. whatever is there um public because we. already know from what's been reported.

that there was something on the phone. that was seen I think it was back in. 2023 uh where there was something on the. phone that was inappropriate uh that was. between u you know this child and. another family member that and I know. it's been characterized as um sometime I. think I've seen a couple of reports. where it said it was just crude behavior. >> that's what the uh his attorney attorney. heard. >> That's what his attorney said. Yeah. And. then, you know, some of the other, you. know, uh some of the other reporting. said it was more severe than that. So, I.

I think maybe hopefully the lawyers are. using some discretion in uh in revealing. some details about minor children. >> Let me ask you this. It came into my. mind as I was listening to this and I. said, "Do you think a lawsuit's on the. way? What do I mean by that?" There's. one thing. You have the criminal case. and then you have a totally different. standard of law for a civil case. And I. am wondering whether or not the alleged. victim in this case would file a lawsuit. potentially against uh KJ's parents. You.

knew or should have known, right? I. mean, there was this revelation about. whatever this past criminal action was. uh in juvenile court, the allegations. about what was on the phone. Now you're. hearing there's some sort of issue with. the phone and the divorce proceedings. Do you think that there's a lawsuit for. what she claims happened to her? Um, irregard, you know, regardless of what. happens in the criminal case. >> Yeah. And that's a I' I've actually, you. know, written a bit on this issue. It's.

it's a very it's a complicated issue. because you have two tracks. You have. your civil track where people are. seeking civil justice. You have your. criminal track where the state or the. people are seeking justice through the. criminal system. like you said, burden. of uh burden of proof is much higher. beyond reasonable doubt in a criminal. case. And usually in most states, it's. by a prepoundonderance of the evidence. for a civil case, which is essentially. 50% plus one. It's very important for. civil lawyers to be mindful and. respectful of the criminal process. Right? So you what you will see is that.

if there's a pending criminal case, many. times a civil lawyer will just try to. not do anything that might impact the. criminal justice uh case because that's. a really important case not only for the. person who is the survivor victim, but. it's really important for society as a. whole that there be an effective tool. for holding somebody criminally. responsible for some of the worst. conduct that humans can do. Right? Any. type of crime against a children child. is one of the worst possible crimes. So, it's important if you are a a civil.

lawyer to be mindful to not um interfere. with the criminal case. And so, there. may there may be a civil case coming in. in this one, but hopefully somebody will. kind of let the criminal process uh take. precedence uh and and not interfere. because you know what happens. Imagine. this. you know, your cross- examination, the the child or the the the survivor. victim is on the stand and the criminal. defense lawyer says, "Well, isn't it. true that you just made this up so you. could file um you know, file a civil. suit?" Um, and you know, I' I've seen.

that happen before. 99.9%. of the time that's not the case. Um, but. you don't want to give a false line of. questioning to derail the criminal. justice piece because that's really. important. And let me be clear, I'm not. saying that there is a lawsuit. There is. no lawsuit. I'm not saying they're. planning on filing a lawsuit, but I I. was wondering legally speaking, and yes, these are just allegations. Uh, at this. point, he is innocent unless proven. guilty, but is there a legal theory in. which the parents could be liable for.

the actions of the child given these. allegations? Can you impute liability. onto the parents? Because again, I guess. the argument would be you knew or should. have known about his propensities to do. X, Y, and Z. Maybe that's not the. argument. I don't know. You had a duty. of care to monitor him, to supervise. him. You tell me. >> Yeah. And and so I I understand your. question better now. So I there is there. is a legal theory um that you know a. parent sometimes can um be responsible.

for behavior of a children. Usually not. in this type of case. Um I'll give you. an example. um that there's something. called negligent entrustment of a. vehicle. If a parent knows that their. kid is a terrible driver, they've had a. thousand speeding tickets, they've been. in accidents, and the parent still gives. their 17-year-old um you know, a sports. car. and that child gets into a wreck and. somebody's severely injured, can the. parent who has given that child a sports. car or a car, knowing that they have a. terrible driving history? Yes, there is.

a there is a theory of civil liability. for instances like that, but in in a in. a case where the child is just kind of. out in the world um and it sounds like. this was, you know, at a at a public. facility where the parent probably, you. know, didn't drop him off there, didn't. have any control over what he was doing. there. It's very it's it's much less. likely. >> So So, so let me just be clear about. something. If there was a criminal case. in the past involving KJ Beerman and and. a minor, that doesn't put an active duty.

on the parents to say, "Well, you have a. duty to monitor him when he's around. children.". >> Morally, yes. Legally, probably not. >> Got it. Okay, that that was my question. >> Yeah, in most circumstances. Legally, probably not. Morally, of course. Yes. By the way, just to ask a separate. question, um I think it's still up in. the air about whether this is going to, you know, stay in adult court or go to. juvenile court. Um what do you think?

>> Those are always tough choices. It. really depends on the kids' background. Um you know, when um I believe that KJ. is 15 at this point, um that's pretty. close to the cusp of where judges have a. difficult time um making a decision. and. you know, judges who are in that. position of having to decide um am I. going to um you know, grant a motion to. move this from youth court to adult. court um or state attorneys who are. making charging decisions. A lot of. times it depends on the actual.

underlying facts of the of the alleged. crime. Uh in this case, we still don't. have complete certainty what was alleged. to have happened at the, you know, in. the dressing room. And if it's um you. know, if it's as bad as some of the. reports, you know, this may be one of. those cases where it's appropriate to. bring it in adult court, especially if. there's similar past conduct. Like we. know that there was some conduct in. 2023. We don't know exactly what it was, but we do know that within a few years, while he's still on supervision for. whatever the bad conduct was in 2023.

that had a sexual overtone at least to. it, having more alleged conduct like. this in 2026 while you're still on. supervision would suggest that there is. maybe a potential recidivism issue. And. that's something that a state attorney's. office or a judge will seriously. consider in in bumping [music] it up. from youth court to adult court. Chris Clutz, thanks for breaking it down. with us. Appreciate it. >> Always glad to be with you. Thanks for. having me. >> All right, everybody. That's all we have. for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank. you so much for joining us. Like and.

subscribe. I'm Jesse Weber. See you next. time.