Who is Stephen Spiese?

Person after person stood Wednesday before a Lebanon County judge to testify that Spiese is a good man, a caring man.

He is an accomplished actor. He is a talented teacher, who has introduced children to Shakespeare, applied their makeup for theater productions and worked beside them on the stage.

"He is a gifted teacher who inspires kids," said Barry Kornhauser, the director of the Theatre for Young Audiences at the Fulton Opera House.

Assistant District Attorney Megan Ryland-Tanner had a different view.

Spiese, 57, of Columbia, was arrested a year ago on child pornography charges.

The man who chose to surround himself with children also is a man who was caught at his workplace watching a video that showed an 8-year-old girl being raped, she noted. In all, the video depicts more than 75 girls and boys, some as young as about 1, being raped or forced to perform sexual acts with adults.

"I consider him to be dangerous," the prosecutor said.

After Judge Bradford Charles heard about both Spiese's good works and his child pornography habit dating back to the '70s, he sentenced Spiese to a month in Lebanon County Prison on the charges.

He also directed that state probation officers monitor Spiese for 11 years. During that time, Spiese may not: have unsupervised contact with any girls under the age of 18, own a computer or access the Internet, or teach or participate in any children's theater production, the judge ruled.

While Spiese was considered "a quintessential good citizen" before he was charged and while there is no evidence to suggest he has had inappropriate contact with children, the judge said, "There is another side to this, a side I keep coming back to, a side I cannot ignore, a side I cannot forget."

"You help make it possible for an 8-year-old girl to be raped," Charles said.

People like Spiese, who seek out child pornography, lead to its creation and to the abuse of children, the judge said.

"This is not a victimless crime," he said.

Spiese was arrested after a student at Lebanon Valley College witnessed him watching a child pornography video in a computer lab at LVC, where Spiese was employed as a teacher.

Locally, Spiese has been active as an actor since the 1980s and has performed at the Fulton Opera House, Mount Gretna Playhouse and the Theater of the Seventh Sister.

After the student reported Spiese, investigators seized a computer hard drive from a computer Spiese used and found another video, also depicting dozens of children being raped and sexually abused.

At times, the children in the videos are screaming and crying, the prosecutor noted.

Investigators also found photos of nude and semi-nude girls in makeup and costumes, Ryland-Tanner said.

After the incident, Spiese agreed to go to counseling. He later spoke to prosecutors, admitting he had been collecting child pornography since the '70s. After an earlier collection was burned, he started a new collection, downloading materials at LVC because of the fast Internet connection there, Ryland-Tanner said.

During a discussion with Spiese, he expressed concern that the charges against him would result in him having no contact with children, the prosecutor said.

"That was extremely troubling to him," she said, adding, "That is extremely troubling to me."

However, numerous character witnesses testified Wednesday that they and their own children have known Spiese for years, and that they never saw him acting inappropriately around kids. In all, about 20 supporters filed into the courtroom for Spiese's sentencing.

Kornhauser's three children knew Spiese as they were growing up, he said, and he added, "I would suggest they've been enriched as humans because of their contact with Steve."

Cynthia Charles, a local actress, also has seen Spiese in contact with children in productions over the years, including with her own daughters, both now teens.

"He's a kindly teacher, a gifted teacher, a wonderful person and a wonderful human being," she said.

Ryland-Tanner asked Charles if her opinion about leaving her children alone with Spiese would change, knowing what she has learned about Spiese's child pornography issues and the types of videos he watched.

"Not in any way," Charles said.

Others spoke about Spiese's devotion to Margaret Spiese, his wife of 33 years, who has health problems.

"He's a very caring person," said Christine Longenecker.

Both Longenecker and Charles noted that they work for the YWCA's Sexual Assault Prevention and Counseling Center and that their supervisors knew they were coming to the Lebanon County Court proceeding to support Spiese.

Joanna Underhill, an actress who has hired Spiese to teach children, said, "As an educator who makes my living working with children, I still believe in Steve. I still respect him very much."

His defense attorney, Robert Beyer, noted that after Spiese was charged, the actor lost everything: his job, his vocation and his passion for life.

"He lost his freedom," Beyer said. "He's essentially imprisoned in his own disgrace."

Spiese immediately enrolled in counseling for his sexual behavior, his attorney noted.

"He's a good man," Beyer said. "He's got a problem, and he's addressing it every way he can."

 Before he was sentenced, a tearful Spiese apologized for his actions, saying they have destroyed his life.

He is fighting depression and thoughts of suicide, he said. He worried about who would care for his wife if he were sentenced to a jail term.

Spiese noted that, before his arrest, a local theater director took him aside and said, "Do you realize how much you have done for this community?"

"Now, in the blink of an eye, I am looked on as a pariah in the community," he said, his voice breaking.

The judge agreed that Spiese had been a good citizen. But his actions, and the actions of others who seek out child pornography, create a market that hurts children.

"A person who creates that market should lose his liberty," Judge Charles said.

But he said the real focus of the sentence was to ensure that someone was watching over Spiese.

"I don't want to give you a temptation to act on these impulses," Judge Charles said.

CONTACT US: cstauffer@LNPnews.com or 481-6024