On Monday, former Sesame Street puppeteer Kevin Clash, aka Elmo, scored a victory in his legal dilemmas which involved several cases accusing him of child molestation.The judge ruled that three accusers had waited too long to file their lawsuits. A plaintiff has six years after the cause of action or three years after they turn 21 to file claims, and none of the three were filed within those time frames, reports NBC News. The three men alleged that when they were minors Clash “induced them to engage in sexual activity.”
The first suit was filed by Cecil Singleton of New York, 25, in November 2012, who said that he and Clash engaged in an on-and-off sexual relationship that began nine years ago.
Others suits that followed included an unnamed 34-year-old Florida man who claimed Clash befriended him on a trip to Miami in the mid-’90s (when the man must’ve been around 15), and later arranged for the teenager to visit him in New York, where they engaged in sex for four days in Clash’s home; and Kevin Kiadii, 26, of New York who said Clash initiated contact with him on a gay chat line when he was 16 and invited him to his apartment where they engaged in sex.
Clash resigned from his job with Sesame Street after these men came forward with allegations of inappropriate sexual relationships, and has denied any wrongdoing.
“Kevin is pleased by the judge’s decision,” his attorney Michael G. Berger said in a statement. “As we have maintained all along, our goal has been to put these spurious claims behind him, so that Kevin can go about the business of re-claiming his personal life and his professional standing, which was recently recognized once again by the three Emmys he won last month. The judge’s decision to dismiss and close the three lawsuits is an important step in that direction. Kevin is looking forward to a time in the near future when he can tell his story free of innuendo and false claims.”
There is still one more hurdle, however. A lawsuit filed by 25-year-old Sheldon Stephens, of Harrisburg, Pa. is still pending,
yaoming
“re-claiming his personal life and his professional standing” with 3 child sex cases dismissed on a technicality?
Caleb in SC
@yaoming: The statute of limitations exists for a reason — to prevent people from bringing civil claims that are impossible to defend in court. That said, the plaintiffs in those cases have not filed criminal charges, which is telling. In most jurisdictions there are longer statutes of limitation for criminal cases, or none at all. If the cases truly had merit, the alleged victims should have pursued criminal actions.
2eo
There’s a smug sense of self satisfaction that comes with being one of the only people on this site that called these cases bulls*it right from the start.
Glad he’s free, he has literally done nothing wrong. He doesn’t deserve his name tarnished because of some money grubbing opportunist losers.
Tackle
So one of the plaintiffs is a 16 yr old who was on a chat line and supposedly meetup with Kevin for sex? If that did take place, I wonder if the 16yr old told Kevin his true age? And damn Kevin, stay out of trouble now.
Kieran
Why is this news? He isn’t a Catholic priest. If he were a Catholic priest than it would be a big scandal, but he’s not so lets all move on and forget about the kids he
diddled.
dwndckd
@Kieran, wow– “lets all move on and forget about the kids he
diddled.” I’m just a str8 guy, but that statement says a lot!
Thomathy
What I find interesting about all of these cases, a part from how they’re all spurious, is that outside of the USA, in any other Western nation, all of those people would have been above the age of consent at the time the events took place.
It’s interesting, because it shows how prudish and backwards American law is surrounding age of consent and how people who knowingly and willingly may have had consensual sex with someone can try to use the inequity of the law against them when it suits them.
dwndckd
@Thomathy— “outside of the USA, in any other Western nation, all of those people would have been above the age of consent at the time the events took place.” hummm, 15 and 16 year olds… Really, and you consider this justifiable? See, to me it sound more like pedophilia than anything else…
Charles175
@dwndckd: Pedophilia is an incorrect term for this case. Its ephebophilia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephebophilia
dwndckd
@Charles175—although the currently situation hasn’t changed- you are correct with regard to terminology—“Ephebophilia is the primary or exclusive adult sexual interest in mid-to-late adolescents, generally ages 15 to 19,” whereas, “Pedophilia is used for individuals with a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children aged 13 or younger.”
Hairspray_Harry
@dwndckd
maybe you do not realise that in the 1950’s and 1960’s in several western nations there is millions of men who in their twenties had STRAIGHT FUCKING SEX with girls in their early teens 13 and 14 who than became pregant mothers and married their twenty something husbands I DO NOT SEE ANY FUCKING POLICE INVESTIGATING STRAIGHTS OR PADEPHILES FROM THE 1950S OR 1960S WHEN IT WAS EXCEPTABLE TO MARRY AND HAVE SEX WITH YOUNG GIRLS IN THEIR TEENS
Hairspray_Harry
today you are a “padeophile” if you have consentual sex with a 14,15,16 yr old in the 1950-1960’s you were considered in love an a “normal couple” who wanted to start a life together or have children…..than there is millions of men in the western world who now in their 60’s and 70’s should be considered paedophiles and charged or is that a label solely for gay men by bigots!!!!
i know of a women who was pregnant at 14yrs old from her 20 something husband i do not see ANYONE INVESTIGATING HIM AND CHARGING HIM WITH EXCUSE ME “Ephebophilia” UNDERAGE SEX !!!!
Hairspray_Harry
@dwndckd (dick-head)
Ask any red blooded gay man about his “sex fantasies” when “he was” a pre-pubescent boy
or teen boy experiencing puberty and 9 times out of ten these “gay male teens” would of had sex with a man or boy his own age if given a remote chance…..i was a 11yr old boy and a 13 yr old male teenager and i was having sexual fantasies every 10 minutes and walking around with a 7 inch hard on and trust me i did not give a remote fucking care about Ms big tits i was looking for Mr big dick/tight arse and masturbating several times a day thinking of sex with men and older teen males i seen at the mall or on the television…….
2eo
So after the first 5 posts did they just hand out a series of increasingly brutal lobotomies or something?
Hairspray_Harry
@2eo:
No not really, just after no 13……and it seems your surgery was not a success !
2eo
Zing!!!1
Hairspray_Harry
@dwndckd
no one is saying under age sex is “justifiable” nor is it right,people are shocked how people are being accused by teen aged males ,when teen aged males are the ones looking for the sex and lying to have it !!!!! gay men are being tried and accused more often today and society seems to think in every case its true and the gospel……
@dwndckd
people like timothy are confused and wonder why around the world their is so many different laws please don’t be any bigger an idiot than you already are and assume someone is a “paedophile” because they asked a question…..its people like you that love to assume everyone is a Ephebophile/Pedophile and guilty until proven inncocent
2eo
@Hairspray_Harry: You’re not even aware of the logical error in your attempted insult are you?
I left the door so far open and you still had an aneurysm glaring at the hinges.
Bob LaBlah
I am so glad Kevin won. These “little boys” whom he met online had to know what was going to be asked for or expected in exchange. Not one of them grabbed their panties and ran for the door when it came time to deliver nor scream rape afterward. They laid, hung around looking for more sugar in exchange for their “candy”.
*
The one whose lawsuit that was not thrown out sounds like an Andrew Cunannan waiting to happen. That was the guy who hustled well to do guys until he lost his looks, got hooked on meth, went on a cross country murder spree of friends and older gay men who’s mistake was trying to befriend him. He ended up killing Versace in Miami before killing himself. These little boys who hustle on the net KNOW what they are doing. I do not take ANY of their “I was raped” b/s seriously.
dwndckd
@Hairspray… Wow!!! I personally believe that it is important for one to understand how others think and comprehend their behavior…Likewise, from your previous verse, logic and thought-provoking sense of decency – I can honestly say that you scare me! Under the law, a minor is a minor- period, no questions asked. Moreover, regardless if the person happens to be str8, or gay– if an individual (man or woman) who is at or above the legal age engages in sexual intercourse with someone that is underage– he/she SHOULD be held accountable for his/her actions— this is what the LAW considers being a responsible adult (man or woman). In our current climate (i.e. political) everyone wants EQUAL rights and privileges, but not everyone wants to be held accountable to those rights and privileges… Again, i say, “WoW.” I truly appreciate the insight you provided.
Vegas Tearoom
As with most civil lawsuits, this was all about the cash. Men over the age of consent make bad choices. They should own up to them and not sue on technicalities. Dismissing on a technicality was fitting justice.
Hairspray_Harry
@dwndckd:
Your quite welcome……i’m sooo glad we had this time together and i enlightened you
you are the type of idiot that scares the hell into that of innocent people….you truly are the type of person that would believe if “a man was seen with a male teenager” he must be fucking him……your response is nothing truly more “than american republican, tripe bullshit,……basically gibberish,what a fucking drama queen you are
Hairspray_Harry
@dwndckd:
let me explain this again so your thick fucking skull can absorb it
>why is it today you are a “paedophile” if you have consensual sex with a 14,15,16 yr old
but in “the 1950’s,1960?s or 1970’s” you were considered in “love/dating” if you had under-age sex and a “normal male and female couple”and who wanted to start a life together,marry or have children……..millions of straight men in the western world who are now 50,60 years old?s and 70 years old should be considered “paedophiles” and “charged”,why is not the police services investigating millions of men from the western world that had under aged sex with female girls and are not being charged with sex crimes against children for the sex acts/crimes of the 1950’s,1960’s…..if you are consider a Ephebophile/Paedophile now because of under-age sex so than you should also be considered a child molester/child rapist than and so should you be charged as a criminal rapist of children
if men where doing the same act to boys in the 1950’s,1960’s,1970’s it would be investigated or is that solely directed towards gay men by bigots who think gay men and paedophiles are the same!!!!<
again why is it people assume the worst of gay men and are investigating every little whim or whisper/accusation of men having illegal sex with teenage boys when millions of men who fucked under aged girls for decades in the 1950's or 1960's which is a fact are "not being investigated"… maybe because it's oppose gender sex/straight sex…..priests are investigated back centuries for having sex with male children/boys
35,55 and 60 year old men in the "middle fucking east" are marrying little girls "9 years old",fucking these little girls and having sex with these children under the cloak of marriage and basically getting away with rape,but people are turning a blind eye to it..basically a marriage for perverts to "legally fuck" little helpless female children……talk about a sick society and people like you look the other way because it's male on female sex
if this was "same gender sex" society around the world would not hear the end of it,maybe its different or even respectable because its "straight sex"….those poor little girls
Hairspray_Harry
gay men are being tried and accused more often THAN MEN WHO LOOK FOR OR SOLICIT SEX FROM LITTLE FEMALE CHILDREN OR UNDERAGE TEENAGE GIRLS basically straight men
gay men are being tried and accused more often than ever before and the scary fact society seems to think in every case its true and the gospel……teenage males now have a loaded weapon called “accusations” and they know quite well who they can use it against
dwndckd
@ Hairspray_Harry, I truly want you to understand the words that are being typed… “You are truly the dumbest motherfucker” that I have made contact with on his site. Not only have you managed to misconstrue everything that I stated (which is in writing), you are intent on moving forward to prove a “bullshyt” case. This brings me to this point… Who is more stupid—the “fool,” or the person who argues with the “Fool.” From this point forward—I choose not to argue with the “Fool.”