A 46-year-old Littleton theater director, who allegedly thought he was conversing on the Internet for more than six months with an underage girl, has been arrested on charges of Internet exploitation of a child.
Gerald Schell, 46, held the conversations on the Internet from March until September and was trying to set up a meeting with the “girl.”
Schell was actually talking to officers of the Parker Police Department, said Sara Walla, spokeswoman for the city of Parker.
Schell is a highly respected community-theater director who once owned his own theater company and has directed numerous Main Street Players productions, including the recent “Kiss Me Kate” production.
“I’m really in shock,” said Betty Lewis, a volunteer spokeswoman for Main Street Players. “He’s the last guy you’d suspect of something like that. He is a highly sought-after community theater director.”
In all the productions Lewis and Schell worked on together, the actors were adults, she said.
Schell was arrested Wednesday by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the Parker Police Department.
The Parker Police Department is a member of the national Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and is funded by a grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
The following is in response to today’s story concerning my client, Gerald Schell and his arrest on internet luring/sexual exploitation charges:
In a statement issued by email tonight, David Beller, Schell’s attorney complained that “the mention by the police that Jerry works in community theater implies something inappropriate about his former volunteer work.
“The accusations against him are limited to internet conversations in adult chat rooms only,” the statement said. “There has never been a suggestion that he has done anything inappropriate, let alone illegal, while a volunteer. To suggest otherwise is simply untrue.”
“Jerry is presumed innocent of the charges.” the statement continued. “He, like all individuals charged with a crime is entitled to his day in court without a rush to judgment. To comment further on the specific facts of the cases would undermine this important principle afforded to us all.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
