FARMINGTON – A 19-year-old dance instructor is facing additional charges of exposing himself to a 13-year-old boy at a dance camp in Winthrop while he was out on bail for a felony charge after allegedly showing pornographic material of children to another University of Maine at Farmington student in December 2007.
Keith R. Nadeau of Biddeford, was a student at UMF when he was arrested and charged with possession of sexually explicit material, a Class C crime, on Dec. 17, 2007. The charge is a Class C felony, said Chief Ted Blais of UMF’s Department of Safety at the time, because the material reportedly involved pornographic pictures of a child under the age of 12.
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Keith Nadeau |
“He showed another student the material and the student was very uncomfortable with it,” Blais explained as to how his office became involved. Nadeau lived on campus in student housing. Nadeau’s bail was set at $3,000 unsecured before his release on the same day.
As part of his bail conditions, Nadeau was ordered to have no contact – direct or indirect – with children under the age of 17.
In the months following his arrest, Nadeau’s condition of release was amended to allow him the use of a computer to complete his college course work online, said Assistant District Attorney James Andrews.
In another bail amendment, Nadeau was allowed supervised incidental contact with children under the age of 17 so he could work at the dance camp.
He had worked at the summer camp for years and the director, Debra Lombard, was aware of the pending charge, Andrews said. Lombard had written a letter assuring prosecutors and the judge that she would be supervising Nadeau on a “one-to-one basis.” Lombard, runs the four-day camp at Winthrop High School called, “It’s Showtime Folks,” for children six years old and up.
While the camp was in session, a 13-year-old Augusta boy said that on July 24 Nadeau asked him to come into a locker room with him and then allegedly exposed himself to him and masturbated in front of him. The boy said he ran out of the locker room.
The boy’s mother called the Winthrop Police Department on Aug. 11 after she said her son told her what had happened at the camp. After interviewing the boy, his parents and Nadeau, Officer Paul Ferland arrested Nadeau and charged him with visual sexual aggression against a child. He also charged him with violating conditions of his release. Nadeau posted the $5,000 cash bail.
Prosecutor Andrews is asking that his pre-conviction bail be revoked following the new allegation that he exposed himself to a child. A hearing on that motion will be held on Sept. 11 in Franklin County Superior Court.
“You try to put all the safe guards in place with the conditions of bail,” Andrews said of Nadeau’s new charges, adding that the focus of all this should be that Nadeau was not being directly supervised as per the agreement. “We want to honor the presumption of innocence, and, at the same time, protect the vulnerable people. And you hope it’s successful.”
I am shocked, to say the least. Keith was a student teacher in my daughter’s nursery school program from 2006-2007 at Kennedy School in Biddeford. This program was offered to area high school students interested in working with child development after high school graduation through the Biddeford Regional Center of Technology, the vocational school affiliated with Biddeford High School. He also danced at Steppin’ Out in Saco at the time and taught as a teachers assistant. Keith is such a talented dancer and a just amazing to watch dance. Let’s hope that this time he can learn his lesson and get the treatment he needs to stop this lewd behavior. He really is a good person and comes from a decent family. Keith, I sincerely wish you the best of luck.
I, as a mother, do NOT understand how Lombard could hire him, and not tell the parents. I would be absolutely furious with her-to say the least! Shame on you Lombard!!!!!
How dare you people…you all jump to the conclusion that he is guilty no matter what. He has a side of the story too….he deserve his chance to speak out n tell it….you all need to shut up n get over this n wait for the real verdict…think about it this way…what if you were in his shoes?? what would you want people to say about you???