An actor in the Broadway play “Beauty and the Beast” has plead guilty to sexually abusing a 15 year-old girl over six years ago, but not before he tried to smear her for reporting his disgusting misconduct. The then 15 year-old came to actor James Barbour, now 41, in 2001 when he was working on the play “Jane Eyre.” She was interested in a theater career and was introduced to Barbour by her drama coach. He soon abused the girl, fondling her backstage, under a table while dining with her family, and again at his house. Barbour claims she was the aggressor and his lawyer has another case requesting to take out an advertisement with the victim’s name asking other men to come forward if she accused them of sexual abuse! The judge has barred that request.

Barbour will receive 60 days in jail and three years probation and will be sentenced February 29. He will not have to register as a sex offender, but will have to tell all his co-workers in film, television or theater of the case for the next three years.

Barbour, who played the beast in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” was starring on Broadway in “Jane Eyre” in June 2001 when a high school drama teacher arranged for the girl — an aspiring actress — and her parents to see the musical.

The actor admitted that when the girl came backstage alone to see him after the show on the last weekend of its run, he began touching her sexually.

The next month, the teen visited Barbour at his Upper West Side apartment where another instance of sexual touching occurred, the actor told the court. He said he knew the girl was 15.

Barbour’s lawyer, Ronald P. Fischetti, said his client pleaded guilty so he could put this case behind him and get on with his career.

“By pleading guilty to misdemeanors, he doesn’t have to register (as a sex offender), and that’s important,” the lawyer said. “He wouldn’t have been able to travel without reporting, and he wouldn’t have been able to work with children.”

Fischetti blamed the girl for Barbour’s troubles and questioned her motives, saying, “She initiated both of these sexual encounters and then waited five years before filing a complaint against him.”

Meanwhile, Fischetti has a case before the state Court of Appeals, New York’s highest tribunal, seeking permission to publish the victim’s name in ads that ask men to report whether she ever filed false sex abuse charges against them.

The judge had barred Fischetti from running such ads or setting up a telephone hot line to receive calls about her.

[From AP.google.com]

Barbour says he just plead guilty to a misdemeanor in order to ensure that he was kept off the sex offenders list, but prosecutors have a bombshell - another woman has come forward to say he abused her too when she was just 13. The statute of limitations has passed in that older case, but it can still be used against him in this case and may explain why he decided to take a plea instead of face more jail time.

The last time Barbour was on Broadway was in the musical “Assassins” in 2004. He is not likely to return. When he gets out of jail this creep will have to find a position in another field so he doesn’t have to disclose his past. Hopefully he will stay far away from children.