{"id":44730,"date":"2017-12-10T00:55:31","date_gmt":"2017-12-10T00:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theaegisalliance.com\/home2\/theaegis\/WP\/?p=44730"},"modified":"2026-08-26T05:47:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:47:39","slug":"jon-disney-executive-arrested-charged-three-counts-child-sex-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/2017\/12\/10\/jon-disney-esecutivo-arrestato-accusato-tre-conteggi-abuso-sessuale-bambino\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney Music Executive Jon Heely Charged With Child Sex Abuse: The Case, Two Mistrials And A Dismissal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\">\n<div  style=\"display: block; margin: 0px auto;\"  id=\"_ytid_43024\"  width=\"480\" height=\"270\"  data-origwidth=\"480\" data-origheight=\"270\" data-facadesrc=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oohd3aVyRkU?enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;rel=0&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__ epyt-facade epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" data-epautoplay=\"1\" ><img decoding=\"async\" data-spai-excluded=\"true\" class=\"epyt-facade-poster skip-lazy\" loading=\"lazy\"  alt=\"Disney music exec arrested, charged with sexually abusing underage girl\"  src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/oohd3aVyRkU\/maxresdefault.jpg\"  \/><button class=\"epyt-facade-play\" aria-label=\"Play\"><svg data-no-lazy=\"1\" height=\"100%\" version=\"1.1\" viewBox=\"0 0 68 48\" width=\"100%\"><path class=\"ytp-large-play-button-bg\" d=\"M66.52,7.74c-0.78-2.93-2.49-5.41-5.42-6.19C55.79,.13,34,0,34,0S12.21,.13,6.9,1.55 C3.97,2.33,2.27,4.81,1.48,7.74C0.06,13.05,0,24,0,24s0.06,10.95,1.48,16.26c0.78,2.93,2.49,5.41,5.42,6.19 C12.21,47.87,34,48,34,48s21.79-0.13,27.1-1.55c2.93-0.78,4.64-3.26,5.42-6.19C67.94,34.95,68,24,68,24S67.94,13.05,66.52,7.74z\" fill=\"#f00\"><\/path><path d=\"M 45,24 27,14 27,34\" fill=\"#fff\"><\/path><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2017\/biz\/news\/jon-heely-disney-music-group-child-sex-abuse-1202634502\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a dramatic turn of events<\/a> that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aol.com\/entertainment\/disney-executive-58-charged-three-154619595.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shook the entertainment world<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/2021\/08\/04\/florida-undercover-sting\/\">Disney<\/a> music publishing director Jon Heely was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/losangeles\/news\/disney-music-exec-suspended-for-child-sex-abuse-charges\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">charged with three felony counts<\/a> of child sex abuse in December 2017. This article analyzes the case, its effect on Disney, and the larger context of sexual abuse charges in the entertainment industry.<\/p>\n<h2>The Charges and Arrest<\/h2>\n<p>A longtime Disney music publishing director, Jon Heely, <a href=\"https:\/\/signalscv.com\/2017\/12\/report-disney-exec-arrested-child-sex-abuse-charges\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was arrested<\/a> on November 16, 2017, by the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff&#8217;s Station authorities. The charges leveled against Heely were serious, accusing him of the sexual abuse of two minors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc10.com\/article\/news\/disney-exec-suspended-after-child-sex-abuse-charges-filed\/103-499023793\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">roughly a decade before his arrest<\/a>. According to evidence later presented at a preliminary hearing, the two alleged victims were female family members who were between the ages of 11 and 16 at the time of the claimed offenses.<\/p>\n<p>Heely was charged with abusing one of the victims between June 2006 and June 2010, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aol.com\/entertainment\/disney-executive-58-charged-three-154619595.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the charges stated<\/a>. The second victim was allegedly abused beginning around age 11 and continuing until she was 15. Prosecutors filed three felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child.<\/p>\n<h2>Disney&#8217;s Response<\/h2>\n<p>When Disney learned of the charges against Heely, the company moved quickly. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/losangeles\/news\/disney-music-exec-suspended-for-child-sex-abuse-charges\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Disney suspended Heely<\/a> on December 8, 2017, the same day they said they learned of the charges. <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2017\/12\/disney-music-exec-suspended-child-sex-abuse-charges-filed-1202225647\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">According to a Disney spokesperson<\/a>, &#8220;Immediately upon learning of this situation tonight, he has been suspended without pay until the matter is resolved by the courts.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The suspension came at a fraught moment for the company. It landed in the same window as misconduct allegations against Pixar co-founder John Lasseter, who took a leave of absence, and abuse charges against former Disney concert conductor James Levine, drawing fresh scrutiny to how much Disney knew about troubling conduct in its ranks.<\/p>\n<h2>Legal Proceedings<\/h2>\n<p>Heely was released after his arrest on $150,000 bail. He entered not guilty pleas at his arraignment in the San Fernando courthouse. Heely&#8217;s attorney, <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2017\/biz\/news\/jon-heely-disney-music-group-child-sex-abuse-1202634502\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Robert Helfend, said<\/a>, &#8220;He vehemently denies these allegations and we will be fighting until the end to clear his name. It&#8217;s a shame, that&#8217;s all I&#8217;ve got to say.&#8221; In February 2018, a judge held Heely to answer on the felony counts following a preliminary hearing, sending the case toward trial.<\/p>\n<h2>Two Mistrials and a Dismissal<\/h2>\n<p>The case did not resolve cleanly. In July 2018, after a four-day trial, the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict and the judge declared a mistrial, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney&#8217;s Office. Prosecutors opted to try Heely again. That second trial ended the same way: on August 30, 2019, jurors told the court they were deadlocked, and a <a href=\"https:\/\/signalscv.com\/2019\/09\/2nd-trial-of-scv-man-on-child-sex-charges-ends-in-hung-jury\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">second mistrial was declared<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>With two hung juries on the record, prosecutors set the matter for a third trial. Before that could proceed, on October 29, 2019, the defense asked the court to dismiss the case. Prosecutors opposed the motion, but the judge granted it. &#8220;The defense asked the court to dismiss the case. People opposed the motion. The court dismissed it,&#8221; D.A.&#8217;s Office spokesperson Ricardo Santiago said. Heely was never convicted of any of the charges, and under the principle of &#8220;innocent until proven guilty,&#8221; the dismissal closed the criminal case against him.<\/p>\n<h2>Impact on the Entertainment Industry<\/h2>\n<p>Heely&#8217;s allegations were part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2017\/11\/10\/us\/men-accused-sexual-misconduct-weinstein.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a wave of sexual misconduct reckonings across the entertainment industry<\/a> that gained momentum with the Harvey Weinstein revelations in late 2017. During that period, a striking number of powerful figures across Hollywood and other industries faced accusations, fueling a broader cultural reckoning.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/a\/sexual-harassment-assault-allegations-list\/jon-heely\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Heely&#8217;s case<\/a> appeared on a Vox list cataloging hundreds of high-profile figures accused of sexual misconduct since 2017. His prosecution also drew attention to Disney&#8217;s broader record: as CNN reported following a six-month investigation, dozens of Disney employees in Florida were arrested on child-sex-related charges over roughly a decade, with most of those cases ending in convictions. That pattern kept questions about child safety at major media companies in the public eye.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>The accusations brought against Jon Heely, and the eventual dismissal after two deadlocked juries, serve as a sober reminder of how difficult historic child-abuse allegations can be to resolve in court, and of why protection and vigilance matter so much in industries that <a href=\"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/2024\/05\/08\/california-bill-may-get-rid-of-self-checkout-lanes\/\">create work for and around children<\/a>. The case kept concerns over child security and exploitation within the show <a href=\"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/2024\/08\/22\/the-biggest-diamond-in-more-than-a-century-is-discovered-in-botswana\/\">business<\/a> community squarely in focus.<\/p>\n<p><em>This is a sensitive subject. If you or someone you know has been affected by child sexual abuse, support is available through organizations such as RAINN.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Disney music publishing director Jon Heely was charged with three felony counts of child sex abuse. Two juries hung. A judge dismissed the case in October 2019. He was never convicted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44776,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,196370,23,204522,24,204504],"tags":[195845,197013,198537,193545,193557],"class_list":["post-44730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-crime-news","category-international-news","category-other-videos","category-us-news","category-videos","tag-crime-news","tag-crimes-against-children","tag-disney","tag-pedogate","tag-pedogatenews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/disney-jon-heely.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44730"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1198232,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44730\/revisions\/1198232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaegisalliance.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}