Dance instructor pleads guilty to indecent conduct in Kennebec County

AUGUSTA – A 19-year-old UMF student accused of possessing pornographic material of children while in Franklin County, pleaded guilty to indecent conduct today in Kennebec County District Court.

Sentence on Keith Nadeau, 19, of Biddeford, will be deferred until the Franklin County charge is dealt with. A hearing on that case is scheduled for February 2009.

Nadeau pleaded guilty to indecent conduct, a Class E misdemeanor, which is slightly less serious than the original charge of visual sexual aggression, a Class D misdemeanor. The charges stem from a July 2008 incident, which occurred at a dance camp.

Nadeau was a student at the University of Maine at Farmington in December 2007 when, according to the chief of UMF’s Department of Safety, he showed another student material, involving a child younger than 12, which was pornographic in nature. He was charged with possessing sexually explicit material of a minor, a Class C felony. Nadeau was released on an unsecured $3,000 bail bond, which included a provision that he have no contact, either direct or indirect, with children under the age of 17.

In the months following the Dec. 17 arrest, Nadeau’s bail was amended to have supervised incidental contact with children. This was to allow Nadeau to help out at a children’s summer dance camp.

Nadeau had worked at the four-day summer camp, called “It’s Showtime Folks,” for years. The camp is held at the Winthrop High School and is for children of six years and up. The director of the camp submitted a letter to the District Attorney’s Office and court stating that she wanted Nadeau to be able to work at the camp.

On July 24, when the camp was in session, a 13-year-old Augusta boy said that Nadeau asked him to come into the locker room and allegedly masturbated in front of him. The boy then said he fled the room and told his parents. His mother then alerted the Winthrop Police Department.

After interviewing the child, parents and suspect, Nadeau was placed under arrest. Franklin County Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy ordered his bail revoked on the pornography charge and he has remained at the Franklin County Jail ever since.

Kennebec County District Attorney Evert Fowle said that the decision to let Nadeau plead guilty to the lesser charge was made to respect the wishes of the victim’s family, who sought a way to avoid further trauma.

“I wish we could have accomplished more,” Fowle said, “but in the end, with the cost to the victim, that was not a bargain I was willing to make.”

Until sentencing, Nadeau is under bail conditions to have no contact with the victim or be with anyone under the age of 18. These conditions are largely irrelevant, as Nadeau is unlikely to get out of jail until the pornography charge is dealt with.

Fowle noted that the plea agreement includes a promise from his office to not seek more than a 90-day jail sentence. Nadeau, between the time spent in both counties’ jails, has been in custody longer than that.