Former Disney Channel child star Kyle Massey and his camp have clapped back against "extortive" immoral contact charges filed against him after being accused of sending pornographic messages to a 13-year-old girl in 2018 and 2019.
Massey, 29, is facing one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes after sending explicit messages, images, as well as videos to the underage victim via Snapchat from December 2018 to January 2019, according to King County prosecutors. The Disney alum may serve up to 10 years in federal prison after being charged with a felony on June 14 in Washington State.
Massey has been vehemently denying the allegations since 2019. The former star is best known for his role as Raven-Symoné’s little brother, Cory Baxter, on the American sitcom “That’s So Raven.” In 2007, he starred in a spinoff series titled “Cory in the House.”
"It is unfortunate that Kyle Massey had to learn through the media yesterday that the 2019 allegations have resurfaced in the State of Washington a year after their dismissal," Massey's lawyer, Lee Hutton, told Fox News.
"[Our client] claims that the allegations then and now are extortive. The statements made to the police regarding the accuser’s own counsel’s advice seem peculiar tearing away the veracity from the stale allegations. The accusers in no hidden agenda attempt to use the Washington courts as a platform for revenge after losing the civil matter," he continued.
The former "Dancing with the Stars" contestant's felony charge stems from accusations detailed in a lawsuit lodged against him in 2019 where the alleged victim's mother is seeking $1.5 million in damages, the New York Times noted. She approached the King County Sheriff’s Office in February 2019, accusing Massey of sending explicit material to her daughter despite knowing that she was underage.
According to prosecutors, Massey first met the alleged victim when she was 4 years old after meeting her family in Universal City, California. In their exchange of messages via Snapchat during 2018 and 2019, the girl had told the 27-year-old suspect that she would be in the eighth grade once she returned to school. The minor is now 16 years old.
The mother submitted pieces of evidence to Detective Daniel W. Arvidson of the King County Sheriff’s Office, handing him a thumb drive that allegedly contained all the explicit videos and photos sent by Massey to her daughter.
One of the videos reveals a man who looks like Massey holding his genitalia while taking a picture of himself in the mirror, according to a statement released by Arvidson. Another video allegedly shows a shirtless Massey with the film later cutting to “a fully erect penis,” Law&Crime noted.
The mother also told law enforcement that around the time Massey began sending the explicit content through Snapchat, he offered the girl to live with him and his girlfriend in Los Angeles. At the time, the minor had expressed interest in auditioning for a possible reboot of Massey’s show "Cory in the House" in November 2018.
Massey failed to show up to his arraignment slated on Monday, prompting the court to set a new arraignment date for July 12, King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office confirmed.
Hutton said that the allegations against his client came to light in 2019. The victim's camp later quashed their legal action after failing to provide evidence of their claims, according to TMZ.
He claims that the actor was not properly notified of his court hearing on Monday, noting Massey "intends to aggressively defend these accusations again and will seek civil damages from those that refuse to hear the facts."
Massey's camp is intending to seek an early dismissal to finally put the allegations to rest.
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