A Hermosa Beach resident facing five counts of lewd conduct with a minor waived his right to a preliminary hearing last Thursday at the Torrance Superior Courthouse.

Torrance Superior Court Judge Laura Ellison set an arraignment date of Sept. 5 for Christen Kacher, 34, who is accused of engaging in sexual relations last March with a then-13-year-old boy whom he met via the Internet.

On Oct. 22, Kacher turned himself in at the Hermosa Beach Police station where officers had already obtained a warrant charging him with five counts of lewd conduct.

Kacher, a nuclear chemist and equity analyst, reportedly met the Orange County boy through a friend’s America Online e-mail account. He later met the teen-age boy in person after exchanging photographs over the Internet.

According to Hermosa Beach Police Press Information Officer Paul Wolcott, the boy told police he engaged in more than 20 sexual encounters, all in the city of Hermosa Beach, beginning last March and ending three months later. The boy turned 14 during that time.

Wolcott said the boy’s mother noticed that her son was depressed. He eventually told her about the relationship with Kacher who allegedly broke off all ties with him following their last encounter together. She immediately contacted the Orange County Police who consulted with the Hermosa Beach Police.

Kacher’s attorney, Robert Shapiro, former lead attorney in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, said the hearing would be a waste of time for his client because the boy would not testify. Officers will take the witness stand and talk about what the boy told them.

Deputy District Attorney Jodi Link said the hearing did not warrant pulling the child out of school and, under state law, police officers have the right to testify on behalf of victims during preliminary hearings.

Kacher was a former scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and later wrote a book on equity trading.