Disney's 'Beast' Cast Member Arrested In Child-Porn Case (51 counts, ages 3 and up)

[The Straight Story]

Disney's 'Beast' Cast Member Arrested In Child-Porn Case
Officers Picked Up Wendland At Theme Park


A Walt Disney World cast member who plays Beast from "Beauty and the Beast" was arrested Thursday on 51 counts of child pornography, according to Local 6 News.

Orange County sheriff's deputies arrested Matthew Wendland, 20, after receiving a tip from one of his roommates at Camden World apartments near the Disney World property.

Authorities picked up Wendland at his work at Disney, where he was dressed as the Beast from Walt Disney World.

...

"(They) found explicit photos of children ages 3 and up," Local 6's Charnel Wright said. "It was shocking, even to investigators."

http://www.local6.com/news/10971159/detail.html

[bmbmd]

1. Tale as old as time.

nt

[The Straight Story]

4. maybe it should be renamed 'booty and the beast' (nt)

[Maine-ah]

5. oh, that's just bad....

:rofl:

but on a heavier note...

what a sick MF'er, I may just toss that one from the collection

[emulatorloo]

14. Robby Benson played the Beast in the movie -- don't toss your DVD because of an Orlando "cast member

EOM

[malaise]

19. Too good

:rofl: :rofl:

[HappyWeasel]

2. A bit disturbing to anyone....a sort of "pee wee herman" moment.

[tk2kewl]

6. but pee wee wasn't a pedophile, was he?

didn't he just get nailed doing nasty things to himself in a theater or something?

[cmkramer]

32. There was a second case a few years ago

The actor Jeffrey Jones was arrested on a child porn charge - not sure exactly what he was accused of - and told the police they should check out Paul Reubens. They got a search warrant and found what they said was child pornography among his collection of vintage porn. He said that he had no interest in child pornography and that what he had was basically muscle magazines from the 1930's featuring teen-aged boys which was not considered pornography back then.

Reubens pled guilty to a lesser offense.

I did see an interview he did before the resolution of the case where he observed that this is the kind of thing you have to expect when the Attorney General is covering up statues.

[porphyrian]

8. Pee Wee was caught masturbating in a porn theater, he isn't a pedophile.

There's a bit of a difference.

[Benhurst]

12. I agree. And what were the cops doing in a porn theater anyway?

[porphyrian]

17. They were targeting him.

They probably thought or hoped they were catching him at something bigger, like buying drugs or something. People masturbate in those places all the time, and I'm sure the cops know that (some first hand, probably), so I think this was either personal or an attempt to catch him at something bigger that failed, but had to have an arrest to justify the operation.

[Benhurst]

26. You are probably right. If he had been caught masturbating at a

Children's Saturday matinee, I could understand it. But in a porn theater? It never made sense to me.

[helderheid]

3. AAAAAAAAAACK!

:puke: :mad:

[GainesT1958]

7. Proving once again...

So often people who engage in child molestation are drawn to the very places where children--and their parents--feel safe. :scared:

B-)

[Cronus Protagonist]

9. What exactly IS an explicit photo of a 3 year old?

Doesn't say anything about the children being sexed over, just explicit pics. Don't most parents have explicit pics of their three year olds, and, *gulp*, even younger!?

I bet this turns out to be a storm in a teacup.

[MountainLaurel]

11. Naked does not equal explicit

I would guess that explicit in this sense probably involves other people and sex acts.

[Cronus Protagonist]

21. Oh, I see... it's not clear from the article

And I was thinking if it WAS of sex acts, they would have said that and made the story even more salacious. Something doesn't sound right here.

[myrna minx]

13. "It was shocking, even to investigators."

I bet many of these investigators are parents themselves that have the the cute occasional bathtub photo. I think investigators can tell the difference between the two. If it is considered shocking to investigators, I'll wager the images are rather disturbing.

[Cronus Protagonist]

23. I hope you're right because if not, this 20 year old's life is fucked

eom

[bmbmd]

15. Fifty-one counts

doesn't exactly sound like a tempest in a teapot.

[Cronus Protagonist]

24. They count every copy and don't care which are most /least legal

I'm sure of that.. they never leave anything out of a count like that. Wait a week and it might turn out to be his cousins in a bathtub, 25 pictures, etc... I'm holding out until the facts are known. At this juncture we know almost nothing. It does sound bad, though.

[rodeodance]

10. I am nieve about the law----is it criminal to download child porn?--says they

do not think he actually took the pics. Either way--they are exploiting children and are horrible.



.......The 20-year-old did not have a criminal background.

"This guy doesn't have a criminal history," Mankewich said. "You can do all of the check you want and it is not going to show anything. We just lucked out that somebody saw these images in his bedroom, which is locked, and was able to get to us."

Authorities believe Wendland downloaded the images and did not take them himself.

A Disney official said Wendland has been suspended without pay.

Wendland also plays the character Goofy at Walt Disney World.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

[verse18]

16. It's a crime to be in possession of child porn, period.

No matter if he took the pictures or not.

[Rosemary2205]

18. You'll get arrested for having naked pics of your own child

Walmart processing called the cops on my neighbor who allowed her husband to take pics of her changing the new baby's diapers for the first time. Bathing for the first time etc. The couple was arrested, the cops took the baby and child services kept the baby for 3 months until their lawyer managed to get the charges dropped.

They can never get those 3 months back.

[verse18]

22. That's very sad to hear.

But the law is strict. I work in child abuse and neglect and they take child porn seriously. Of course your friends weren't guilty of this, but photo processors are encouraged by the law to report the pictures.

[Cronus Protagonist]

25. Incidents like these are what causes me to temper my response

One just doesn't know enough at this point to know if it wasn't like your neighbor's case.

[Rosemary2205]

29. This one might be the real deal, but Disney does take a lot of hits on DU

They have something like 100,000 employees just in the Florida themeparks and they DO criminal background checks on everyone. They do try very hard to weed out criminals. But with that many employees a bad apple or three is bound to sneak through.

Not too long ago there was a big massive outrage on DU against Disney because "Tigger" molested a 13 yr old. -- Well the case was eventually dropped because all it was, was a mom looking for a nice fat payout from Disney because Tigger's paw was somewhere in the area of the daughter's chest when they posed for pics and Tigger hugged the kid.

A different guy in Tigger supposedly cold cocked a kid and we had 10 or 12 anti-Disney threads then too. That lawsuit is still in the works.

[rodeodance]

30. ok. thanks.

[MamaBear]

20. I was a grand jury member in the recent past.

A couple of the cases brought before us were in the child porn/child solicitation area. Where pictures were used, we (the grand jurors) were not allowed to be in the room with the evidence without an agent present, or we would have been open to charges, as would he.

Federal law is evidently very tight in this area. You are not allowed any access whatsoever to images (including drawings) of minors involved in sex acts.

The photos? :puke:

[Cruzan]

28. How did you evaluate the evidence? How did that work?

I'm also a little unclear on the nature of possession or viewing being the crime. Because if, as the argument goes, when you just view the material you're molesting the child all over again, how can the crime, as defined, not be repeatedly recommitted in the courtroom and by those in custody of the evidence?

[rodeodance]

31. thanks, that is helpful

[valerief]

27. In 15 years he'll be a Republican Congressman. nt