SALT LAKE CITY — A former Disney Channel actor facing federal charges of enticing a 13-year-old boy for sex will spend the weekend in jail for violating terms of his probation.
“I hope you use this time to understand this is a serious situation that you’re in,” Magistrate Judge Cecilia Romero told Stoney Westmoreland after ordering him into the custody of U.S. marshals Friday in Salt Lake City.
Westmoreland, 49, was not handcuffed immediately. Romero allowed him an hour to call his boyfriend and move his car outside the federal courthouse after his attorney promised to stay with him before he reports to serve two days in jail.
Federal prosecutors said the former “Andi Mack” actor violated two terms of his supervised release. Pretrial officers could not access his roommate’s room in their Los Angeles home in October and November, they said, and he missed a September deadline to provide the court an inventory of his digital media.
Karin Fojtik, an assistant U.S. attorney, argued Westmoreland had failed to comply for months.
“If this was the first go-round, I think I would be taking a different position, but we’ve been here before,” Fojtik said.
Westmoreland’s lawyer, Wendy Lewis, said her client tried to tell the man renting a room in his home that it was important to give probation officers access, but the roommate failed to realize that until he received a court summons. She said Westmoreland and his boyfriend considered getting rid of the roommate but needed the payments.
Her client is also accustomed to having other people handle paperwork for him, she continued, so he had trouble completing and sending the digital list on time.
“He always is asking what to do and trying to do the very best he can,” Lewis said. She noted her client is wearing an ankle monitor and said his violations are technical, with no bearing on public safety.
Romero disagreed.
“The court finds his behavior has implicated safety to the community, because we’re not able to get into that room,” she said, adding that the missed deadline also shows a “lackadaisicalness” on Westmoreland’s part.
The actor was released from jail under certain conditions in February following his arrest on one count of coercion and enticement. Westmoreland tried to meet with a 13-year-old boy and take him back to his room at the Little America Hotel, according to court documents. The “boy” was actually an undercover police officer who Westmoreland allegedly communicated with on the app Grindr.
Romero added new conditions in September, and warned Westmoreland that she would would put him in jail if he didn’t meet them.
Westmoreland wore a gray suit, glasses and hiking shoes. He declined comment except to say, “Thank you. Happy New Year,” outside the courthouse.
Westmoreland was fired from his grandfather role on the made-in-Utah Disney Channel series “Andi Mack” after his arrest last December. His film credits include “Godzilla” and “Matchstick Men.” He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Lewis said she has spoken with his agent, who acknowledged he normally would drop a client facing such allegations but hoped to work with him in the future, a plan she said points to her client’s good reputation. She emphasized that no images of child pornography have been found on any of his devices in what she called “highly unusual” occurrence in such cases.
The hearing follows a different federal judge’s denial last week to recuse himself from the case after Westmoreland alleged that the judge was biased against gay people.
Lewis contended in court documents that Judge Howard Nielson Jr. can’t be impartial in the case of her client, who is bisexual, because he represented the proponents of California’s Prop 8 as a private attorney. He argued at the time that homosexuality is a choice and gay people can become heterosexual via conversion therapy, she wrote.
In rejecting the motion to remove himself, Nielson said assumptions Westmoreland made about him from past legal work don’t reflect his personal views.
Westmoreland is scheduled to be released from jail Sunday morning. His trial is set to begin March 30.