A Hollywood actor and producer who labored on initiatives involving stars together with Shelley Duvall, Richard Dreyfuss, Ed Harris and Tom Arnold is now dealing with 24 felony costs after investigators say he used on-line casting calls and filmmaking initiatives to realize entry to underage victims.
Shane Ryan Gledhill, 46, of Lompoc, was arrested Aug. 3 after Santa Barbara County sheriff’s detectives spent practically 5 years investigating allegations of kid sexual abuse and exploitation.
He was initially booked on 15 felony costs. That quantity has since risen to 24.
Gledhill is being held on $500,000 bail, with a preliminary listening to set for Sept. 9 on the Superior Court docket of Santa Barbara’s Lompoc Courthouse.
The investigation started in November 2021, when a 17-year-old survivor got here ahead to report suspicious and inappropriate conduct involving Gledhill that allegedly occurred when she was 15.
Detectives recognized two extra survivors in the course of the preliminary investigation.
By the point the probe progressed, authorities had recognized 9 survivors, all of whom have been minors when the alleged offenses occurred.
Investigators searched Gledhill’s house on the 3000 block of Courtney Drive in Lompoc on Feb. 23, 2022, seizing hundreds of digital information that have been later examined throughout an in depth forensic investigation.
Authorities say Gledhill contacted lots of the survivors by means of on-line casting calls and filmmaking initiatives, utilizing the skilled names “Shane Ryan” and “Shane Ryan-Reid.”
Investigators imagine these casting calls and initiatives could have been used to draw younger aspiring actors and filmmakers.
Gledhill had a prolonged Hollywood resume.
Based on his IMDb web page, he appeared in roughly 120 movies and produced greater than 150 initiatives that includes big-name actors, together with Shelley Duvall, Richard Dreyfuss, Ed Harris and Tom Arnold.
His initiatives additionally concerned different recognizable Hollywood names, together with Bruce Dern, Peter Weller, Eric Roberts, Malcolm McDowell, Lance Henriksen and Robert Englund.
Now investigators imagine the alleged conduct could prolong past Santa Barbara County.
Based mostly on filming places, authorities mentioned there may very well be extra survivors on California’s Central Coast, in Los Angeles County and doubtlessly on the East Coast.
One in every of Gledhill’s movies, launched in 2006, adopted a male serial killer who kidnaps an underage woman, manipulates her into having intercourse with him after which kills her.
Gledhill performed the rapist killer within the film, which was shot from the serial killer’s viewpoint. He later made second and third variations of the movie.
Throughout an on-camera interview in 2018, Gledhill mentioned the second model was “extra graphic and extra express” and that he “determined to make use of actual penetration.”
In the identical interview, he mentioned the movie “confirmed actual penetration” on display.
The 24 felony costs embrace allegations involving baby molestation, rape, forcible sexual assault, contacting a minor with the intent to commit a sexual offense, possession of kid sexual abuse materials and offering dangerous matter to a minor.
Authorities say the investigation is ongoing and that extra potential survivors could also be on the market.
Gledhill was arrested at his Lompoc residence on Aug. 3 and booked into the Northern Department Jail, the place he stays held on $500,000 bail
