'Sesame Street,' Disney music composer charged with making and distributing child pornography

'Sesame Street,' Disney music composer charged with making and distributing child pornography of 4-year-old girl in handcuffs
Emmy and Grammy-award winning composer pleaded not-guilty to all charges

BY Amanda Mikelberg
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, November 22 2011, 1:27 AM



An Emmy and Grammy-award winning composer who wrote music for “Sesame Street” was arraigned on charges of coercing a child "to engage in sexually explicit conduct" in South Carolina on Monday, court documents showed.

Fernando Rivas, 59, a Cuban-born musician educated at New York's Julliard School, was arrested on April 19 after an investigation led police to his Charleston home. Police discovered photographs of a 4-year-old girl naked and "restrained in handcuffs and other bondage-type devices," according to Charleston's Post and Courier.

Rivas admitted to handcuffing the child, taking the photos and emailing them to two other individuals, the newspaper said, citing police documents.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges, which also included production and distribution of child pornography and is currently under house arrest, according to the Post and Courier.

Rivas wrote the music for the Disney program “Handy Manny” and won a Grammy award for Best Children's Album in 1998 for work on “Elmopalooza.”

He composed the musical “Selena, Forever” about the tragic life of singer Selena. Over his career he composed 14 musicals and scored six full-length feature films.

He taught music at the Porter-Gaud School in Charleston from 2002 to 2009 to grades 9 through 12.

"We are unaware of any connection between the charges against him and Porter-Guad, but we are cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation," the statement from the school said.