Broadway Producer Arrested On Child Porn Charges: Feds

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, NY — The produced behind a number of Broadway plays and musicals was arrested Tuesday during a raid at his Morningside Heights home, federal prosecutors said.

Ben Sprecher is facing charges for the distribution and receipt of child pornography and the possession of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced. The producer is accused of using a peer-to-peer file sharing network to download and make available more than 100 videos and photos containing child pornography, federal prosecutors said.

Federal agents also recovered an external hard drive that contained "numerous" files of child pornography while searching Sprecher's apartment on Tuesday, prosecutors said. Sprecher is accused of downloading and sharing the images and videos between at least October 2018 until his arrest.

Sprecher's charges carry a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.

"It is alleged that Sprecher made available for downloading more than one hundred files of children who were demoralized as their innocence was taken away," Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent-in Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh said in a statement.

During his career on Broadway, Sprecher produced plays and musicals such as 2002's Tony-nominated "Fortune's Fool," 2008's "American Buffalo" and the scandal-plagued 2012 production of the musical "Rebecca," which never saw the stage after financing fell through.