Big Blow to 'Housewives' Son's Sex Crimes Case

- We have yet another new twist in the case of the son of reality TV stars Kim Zolciak and Kroy Bierman. KJ Bierman is facing serious sex crimes allegations. - Anything to say about the charges? - The 15-year-old may have celebrity parents and a well-funded defense, but it appears the judge is not giving in on certain requests to keep this case out of the public eye entirely, including disturbing allegations from KJ's past, as the teen is now accused of sexually assaulting a classmate in a sauna. What more we may learn about this teen and what the Real Housewives of Atlanta mom is saying about the claims that her son is an alleged sexual predator. We're on the case presented by Law and Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. - We just got court documents in out of Fulton County, Georgia on this. And the allegations facing 15-year-old KJ Bierman, which we've been talking about now for a couple of weeks, they're incredibly disturbing, to say the least. Authorities in Georgia say he sexually assaulted a girl in a sauna at a Lifetime Fitness north of Atlanta. And on top of that, prosecutors also say they have videos of Bierman allegedly having sex with a family member under the age of 12, going back to 2023. Now, KJ would have been around the same age as the video. As the victim in that case at that time. Now, Bierman's mom, Kim Zolciak, she is fired back at the allegations against her son. You might remember Kim from Real Housewives of Atlanta, if you're into reality TV. And she also started her own spinoff with her husband for several years. It was called "Don't Be Tardy." Ran for eight seasons and focused on her marriage to now former NFL linebacker, Atlanta Falcons player, Croy Bierman. Now, Kim had two daughters from a previous relationship, and then she and Croy get married, and they had four kids, including KJ. Now, Kim is a big deal in that world of the Real Housewives. She has more than 3 million followers on Instagram. And it was just back in June, she posted a collage of pictures of her son, wishing him a happy birthday, saying in part, "I had no idea what was missing from life until you arrived. "You changed me in ways I could never fully describe. "You taught me strength, compassion, patience, "and what the mother-son bond truly means. "You are my heart walking outside of my body, "and every day you amaze me. "You give the biggest, best hugs, "and I am so proud of the young man you have become." Now, this case has drawn a lot of attention because KJ Bierman does come from this world of celebrity fame and reality TV notoriety, and his defense appears to be trying to keep a lot of the information from his past, which has just come to light from the public. But a judge, reportedly has pushed back on that, which we're gonna talk about here in just a moment. But I do wanna lay out the allegations, if you're just joining us on this, that KJ Bierman is accused of. First, I wanna talk about why he is facing charges of aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, three counts of aggravated sexual battery against a child under 16 and false imprisonment. Now, prosecutors allege this all stems from an incident that happened at a Lifetime Fitness in Alpharetta, Georgia, back on April 21st. Alpharetta, if you don't know the area, it's a relatively wealthy suburb, I'd say, north of Atlanta. Kim, Croy, KJ, the five other Bierman kids, they actually once lived in that part of town in a 15,600 square foot mansion. It was called The Manor. Had an arcade, 500 bottle wine fridge. I wanna show you this here because Google Maps does not give us the ability to get a street view of this, but this is the neighborhood that, that The Manor was in, and I'll zoom in on it here. This is The Manor. They no longer live there. They actually sold it, and there's some drama related to that, which we'll talk about here in just a moment. But you can see, this is a really nice house, big plot of land, got a pool in the back. Look at that driveway you come and circle in on there. And so this was the kind of place that you would think celebrities would live at. Croy and Kim bought it in 2012 for less than $900,000, according to the New York Post. But again, this home became the center of a lot of drama. And this couple has had a lot of issues over the last couple of years. They apparently got behind on payments. The property ended up selling for 2.75 million because it was on the brink of foreclosure roughly around the beginning of 2025. Initially, Kim and Croy had listed the home for $6 million. And even after the sale though, the New York Post reports, the Biermans wouldn't leave. And it was actually the US Marshals in April of 2025 had to come in to remove them. Now, that situation, doesn't really have anything to do with the allegations that their son is now facing, but it is some context that this family has been at the center of some legal issues in recent years, including a brutal and contentious and well-documented divorce. But let's get back to KJ before we talk a little bit more about the divorce proceedings and some of the issues that this family has had. According to court records, authorities say on April 23rd, then 14-year-old KJ Bierman was hanging out at a Lifetime Fitness and he ran into her. She ran into a friend and that friend was 14 years old. She told police that her best friend was actually dating KJ. The girl said that she started chatting with KJ and then he asks her if she wants to go to the co-ed sauna and she said yes. Now, as far as visual evidence, there is reportedly video of KJ and this girl entering a family changing room. And this is where the story gets graphic. The girl claims that KJ started to rub her genitals over her biker shorts and then he allegedly went inside her pants. She allegedly told him to stop multiple times, tried to push KJ away. According to the affidavit, quote, "He then began to kiss her again, but she began to try to move her face away." He then told her, "You're fine, you're fine. It's not like I am forcing this." Victim then said, "But yes, you are." He then suggested that she do something to him and return. And she told him no. He told her to just give him oral sex. And she told him that she did not want to do that. He then stated to her, "You're lucky. I am not forcing you down there right now." She stated, "I am not doing this." He then kisses her again. Those are the words from law enforcement according to the court records that we have. Now, the girl claims that KJ would kiss her to keep her from talking. She also alleges that KJ grabbed her hand and tried to make her touch his genitals. She told police that she said no multiple times. She also says KJ begged for oral sex. And she says she finally, quote, "gave in for five seconds before giving up." Again, very disturbing stuff to talk about here. The affidavit goes on to say that KJ allegedly had the victim up against the wall of the sauna. The girl claims that as she continued to say no, KJ got mad and he left. Now, as a result of this incident, authorities say that the girl had injuries to her vaginal area. And the next day, a sexual assault kit was completed. Now, this is prosecutor Kaitlyn McGillicuddy from a court hearing for KJ. - The acts of the defendant involve forcible sexual acts. Two include touching her on her breasts and buttocks, kissing her, and then ultimately inserting his fingers into her vagina, and then forcing his penis into her mouth, at which point she was unable to leave the room because he had locked the door behind him, and he, in terms of physical stature, he's between 6'2" and 6'3" and about 200 pounds. She does have an injury to her vaginal area as a result of this incident, because he also pretty aggressively rubbed her on the outside of her sort of bike shorts on the vaginal area. And there was-- there's documented physical injury that will be part of the medical records in this case. - The results-- the results of the sexual assault test showed the victim's injuries were, quote, "concurrent" with her statements indicating a sexual assault, according to prosecutors. And at the same time, and this is important to note, no male DNA was found. On August 17th, KJ Bierman was arrested. A grand jury indicted him on September 3rd on the seven charges that we talked about. Now, the max sentence in this case is life in prison, and the minimum is 25 years. So clearly, this is a very serious situation. And it is in the public eye, not just because of how disturbing it is and where it allegedly took place, but because of who KJ Bierman's parents are. Now, Kim Zolciak, she is standing by her son. Here she is, leaving court in Atlanta after his bond hearing. - Do you have anything to say about the charges? Do you think that your son's innocent? - Do you think your supervision would be able to keep him out of trouble, even though he was charged with sexual battery before? - Now, Kim said this in a statement, saying that the allegations are lies. She said this in response to the charges, and she released this before we learned more about KJ's apparent past, which we'll talk about here in just a moment. But this is what Kim said in a statement, quote, "The allegations being made against my son are nothing short of reckless, and deeply troubling." He categorically denies ever being involved with this woman or engaging in the conduct of this woman. she has alleged. My son voluntarily took a polygraph examination regarding these allegations and passed. Additionally, an examination was conducted and no DNA belonging to my son was found. False accusations can have devastating consequences, not only for the person being accused, but also for genuine survivors of sexual assault and abuse. Every legitimate allegation deserves to be taken seriously and investigated based on the facts and evidence. At the same time, no one should be publicly condemned based on solely an accusation. We remain confident that the facts and evidence will establish the truth, and we ask that people allow the proper process to take its course rather than spreading unproven allegations. Now, initially, KJ was held without bond at a juvenile facility after his arrest. Then, on September 11th, he was in court for a bond hearing, and that's when prosecutors dropped a bombshell. He is under supervision with a court. We do not court for 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 the defendant's juvenile probation officer. He was provided six special conditions that included a psychosocial evaluation, a sex offender treatment program, a sex offender treatment program, and a sex offender treatment program. attend individual counseling and follow direct directives to complete one juvenile class and a two-page handwritten essay to complete a vision board and to complete a risk needs assessment my understanding is the defendant completed all of those conditions by july 23rd of this year so we were limited with what we could show in that courtroom but based on reporting from outlets like page six and wsb television in atlanta the deputy district attorney caitlin mcgillicuddy told the court that authorities found videos on kj's phone showing him allegedly having sex with a family member under the age of 12 allegedly multiple encounters and describing quote predatory derogatory language toward the victim in that case the incident was reported in 2023 and kj bierman was on probation starting in october 2025 and we didn't know about it because he was a juvenile and this was in juvenile court but mcgillicuddy revealed that bierman was previously charged with sexual battery of a victim under the age of 16 now that may change the way that you look at kj bierman and his defense is trying to move this case from adult court where it is now to juvenile court and if that happens we would not be able to see anything related to the court proceedings but that part of the story is still being determined now at this september 11th bond hearing the alleged victim from the sauna said that she has been receiving death threats and prosecutors read a letter that she wrote to the judge i'm writing this because i'm asking you to please consider my safety when deciding whether to let the defendant fall on bond ever since what happened to me i have been living in fear this situation has affected my life in more ways than i can explain i am only 15. i should be worrying about school my friends and normal things people my age worry about instead i have had to deal with the fear stress and the consequences of something that i never thought i would have to face the backlash that we're already facing has been unbearable i have lost friends my peers think that i'm disgusting and people may making an already difficult situation even harder but what scares me the most is that this has gone beyond people just talking i have already received threats from mutuals saying that if he is released he will come after me dms messages to my friends and family and posts threatening me because of me coming forward if he is released i am afraid the threats calls emails and backlash will become even worse i do not want to wake up every day wondering if someone is going through to follow through on a threat i do not want to be scared every time my phone goes off every time someone calls my family or every time i leave my house i should not have to constantly live over my shoulder because i am afraid for myself for someone i love this has already changed the way i feel about my safety if he is released i am scared that the little sense of security i have left will disappear completely so kj was granted a two on hundred thousand dollar bond it's unclear if he's posted that bond but now there are some questions about kj's juvenile record and how these alleged disturbing videos of sex with a family member were discovered now as i said kim and croy they filed for divorce in 2023 that reconciled for a bit but they have been in the middle of a dispute over custody and money since at least roughly 2024. on february 18th 2025 kim claimed in a motion for an emergency hearing in fulton county that her estranged husband croy had taken their children's cell phones and limited her access to the four kids including kj after he made some sort of quote discovery now we don't know specifically what that discovery is it has been redacted in the filing but according to page six kim also filed a motion for an in-camera inspection which means a judge would look at material in private that was first reported by page six now a later filing in the divorce proceedings referenced an order about the review of their quote eldest child's cellular telephone and the data thereon which had been the subject of an in-camera inspection motion now in a motion for an emergency hearing kim zolciak claimed her estranged husband told a court-appointed mental health professional about finding something so this is what the motion reads quote in protecting the best interests of the children mother will not put into this public pleading what is alleged to be on and it's redacted now the motion according to page six goes on to allege that croy beerman quote began battening down the hatches that he unilateral 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 quote 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 now the parents ended up moving to dismiss the divorce proceedings and said that their attorneys would work on an order from the court about eldest child's cellular telephone and the data they're on so again this case has drawn a lot of attention kj's defense though is really trying to limit what the public will be able to see as this case moves through the courts now prior to the bond hearing the defense requested the courtroom be closed to the public but the judge denied that the judge said there was no clear and convincing proof that would be necessary and it's a high bar when you're talking about adult court the judge already denied live streaming of proceedings and the media cannot film kj or family members when they're in court now even though kj is being tried in adult court for that sodomy and sexual assault case his juvenile court records related to those disturbing videos allegedly found on his phone will remain under seal but the judge will allow prosecutors to present information in court related to that case according to the filings that we now have we also previously told you about how prosecutors filed a motion to do forensic interviews with minor children but it is unclear who those minors may be prosecutors wrote in their motion quote the state will proffer a good faith basis for concern regarding additional minors who require forensic interviews related to this case join us now to talk more about this criminal defense attorney eric faddis always great to have you here um on law and crime so there's a lot to break down here clearly a ton of attention on this because of who kj behrman's parents are do you see any sort of the celebrity part of this the fact that there is a lot of public attention impacting some of the decisions that the judge is making in this case well chris it surely should right i mean every accused is entitled to the same rights there shouldn't be any kind of preferential treatment uh and then you have reality and so reality can be a little different than that you know there is a magnifying glass on this case that the uh the national press is is looking at the court's every move and so could that cause a court to um you know be more meticulous in in the way that it's it's looking at things um could the court feel swayed one way or the other by public pressure it shouldn't uh it should be a neutral and impartial uh a court for these legal proceedings but those human factors can sometimes play a role uh and and that's you know a fair question to ask in a case like this no absolutely and and i think we also see in some cases where someone has a privately hired attorney can get you a little bit more than maybe what you might get um with an attorney that either doesn't cost as much or you know a public defender even though there are very good um public defenders who are out there kj biermann he's 15 years old um i look at some of these charges they're very serious and if he did it it's it's you know incredibly um disturbing but also the victim is 15 years old, yet he is facing charges of like sodomy of a minor and all of this, though he's charged in adult court. Typically, I feel like when you see those charges, you're talking about someone who may be over the age of 18 and the victim being under the age of 18, depending on what the consent laws are in that state. Why is he facing the charges that he's facing? Sure. So, you know, in the state where this is pending, the Georgia court does have original jurisdiction to handle in adult court extremely serious charges, even if the defendant is a minor. And so that's what's happened so far. Now, my understanding is that K.J. Bierman's attorneys have filed a motion to try to transfer this to juvenile court, which could change the game entirely. It can change potential consequences for it and as well as how the case is handled procedurally. So the fact that it's an adult court right now has to be extremely alarming to the Bierman camp. But that's not the final say on that. That could change. Well, and with that, what would be the bar to get this move to juvenile court? Because we've seen in a lot of cases, I mean, there's cases where like a 12-year-old is charged in adult court based on whatever, you know, the allegations are. In this case, he's 15 years old and he's going to be tried as an adult. Faces, I mean, the maximum on this would be life in prison, which is, you know, clearly very serious. What would it take to get this pulled back down to juvenile court? So what you're talking about, Chris, is often referred to as a transition. It's not a transfer hearing. So it's where the defense in this case has said, hey, we think this case should actually be tried in juvenile court. The court then assesses a number of factors at a hearing. The court's going to look at K.J. Bierman's maturity during these alleged events. My understanding is that they took place when he was allegedly 14, even though he's 15 now. So that's on the young side. They look at the seriousness of charges as well. Does this appear to be consistent with adult conduct that should warrant adult consequences? No. Was this something more akin to, you know, some young adolescents who were engaging in amorous conduct? One of them says it's not consensual. The other one challenges that. And so the court's got to look at that. The court's going to look at the weight of the evidence as well. It's going to look as well as what the victim's family wants here. And so a lot of factors for the court to weigh and a very big determination, because like I said, it can really have ripple effects throughout the case, including limiting the potential prison by decades. And I know they also want, I mean, look, what he's accused of, you know, and apparently had been in juvenile court sentenced to probation for, you know, these very disturbing videos, allegedly sexually abusing a family member who was 12 at the time. He was roughly the same age, you know, around the time that that all happened. But you're also seeing some motions from the defense trying to keep that information sealed. And so the public doesn't get a lot more information than already what's out there. The fact that he's tried an adult court, though, and that certainly is a piece of the puzzle when like the context of his criminal history, like why shouldn't the public be able to see all the information related to that juvenile case? Because right now he is in adult court. Yeah, that's a fair assessment. And you know, in looking at the case, the judge is probably going to weigh heavily that prior criminal history because it is similar in nature, allegedly, to the allegations in the instant case. Well, the judge, especially when looking at whether to transfer this to juvenile court, might say, gosh, it looks like we've got an ongoing problem. It looks like we might have a pattern of conduct that is inappropriate and criminal. And so that could militate in favor of keeping the judge or keeping the case in adult court. And if it is, you know, this is a public trial. This is a public case. And so the judge has to weigh the public's interest in learning information about the case against the privacy interests of the accused. And so the judge has to weigh the public's interest in learning information about the case against the rights of the accused to ensure a fair trial. And when we're talking about a 15 year old, that's a very delicate balance. Yeah, it certainly is. So he's been granted a $200,000 bond. I don't know if he's posted it. But what do you make of that part of it? Because, you know, in some ways, a $20,000 bond, I don't know how much money the family has. I know they've been going through a ton of ton of legal issues, but he's also facing charges like he could spend the rest of his life in prison if found guilty. What do you make of kind of that? What do you make of that determination? What do you read into bond decisions like this? And how, you know, is it a forecast for how this case could be handled going forward as we're still waiting to hear whether or not it could be pushed down to juvenile court? When we're looking at bond, you know, one thing that we are looking at is what is the least restrictive conditions that could serve the interests of making sure that KJ appears a court, number one, and number two, that he's not a danger to the community. You know, we have a 15-year-old. Do we need to keep him in a box while this case is pending, while he is presumed innocent? The judge determined that that was not necessary. However, the judge, according to reports, has indicated that there would be substantial restrictive conditions on that bond, not only the $200,000 monetary piece of it, but also electronic monitoring, no contact with anyone under 16, limitations regarding social media use, Internet use, cell phone usage. It sounds like the judge is really trying to ensure that this person is presumed innocent, but impose conditions that are likely to protect the community while the case is pending. You know, he was released on his prior 2023 case, and he's back again. That's something the judge has to think about, too, when we're talking about bond. According to the court documents we have, you have the sexual assault kit that prosecutors say came back as concurrent to the injuries. You know, I won't get too graphic with it, because it's incredibly disturbing, and we're talking about minors. But at the same time, there was no male DNA that was found. How does that factor into kind of how strong a case the prosecutors may have? Well, that medical evaluation could be critically important, because without that, what do you have? Right. You know, one person, one adult. You know, one person's word against another adolescent's word in what appears to be an environment in which I'm not aware that there are any witnesses. And truthfully, these crimes and actions often take place behind closed doors. It's not in sort of a public setting. And so you have one person's word against another. When you have the medical evaluation, that can corroborate or refute one side's word or the other. And so folks are going to look at how does this evaluation square with what the adolescent's word is. Right. And so those corroborative pieces of evidence that are presumed to be kind of objective and devoid of bias can be really important in a he said, she said case like this. Yeah, and because that's the part of it where I guess there's video of them going into the family like changing area, and then you know you get to the sauna apparently after that part but like there's nothing in the sauna, because they obviously don't put cameras in a sauna, and so you kind of have, you know, hands on deck. Yeah, and because that's the part of it where I guess they obviously don't put cameras in a sauna, because they obviously don't put cameras in a sauna. multiple motions coming in and the attempt that, you know, an attorney is making to restrict certain pieces of information from the public eye and I do wonder like, if this is, it's not KJ Bierman it's John Smith, and he's, you know, John Smith, Jr. and his dad is a local plumber and the family is more middle class and, and doesn't have the notoriety that this family does like what does the defense look like then like what are some of the things that you're seeing, at least KJ Bierman with a private attorney like what he may be getting that you might not be getting, if you're someone who doesn't have the kind of means that this family appears to have. Well, you know, with private counsel like KJ Bierman has as opposed to like a public defender. There are, there can be some significant benefits to that you know those private folks do not necessarily have the oppressive caseloads that a public defender might have. And so they have more time more resources, oftentimes to diligently investigate the case to interact with the press that's something that likely wouldn't happen if this was not KJ, and to sort of shape the narrative in the public eye that's kind of above and beyond advocacy measures of just a standard attorney for a standard defendant. And so yeah, this is, you know, kind of a different case in that sense, and, and his attorneys have been very aggressive they've made allegations against the alleged victims in terms of what they say are prior false accusations the alleged victim has made. So, it seems like. He is getting effective representation from his side. Will it be enough to overcome these inflammatory accusations in this highly publicized case that remains to be seen. Yeah, and we'll see what happens next. Very disturbing. No doubt about that. Eric Faddis criminal defense attorney always great to have you on long crime thanks for being with us. Good to be with you. Again, KJ Bierman has been granted that $200,000 bond on September 11 that's unclear if he's posted that yet. or when he might post that, but we also have a filing on September 1st 17th where the state of Georgia has filed a motion to modify those conditions and they reference those explicit videos they say they have. KJ is next due in court for his arraignment on October 14th. That will do it for On the Case presented by Law and Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. We'll see you next time.