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BY MATTHEW STONE
Staff Writer 08/30/2008

The director of Winthrop's summer recreation program this week vowed to now perform criminal background checks on employees from outside organizations working with the town's recreation programs.

The pledge by recreation director Lonney Steeves followed news that a Biddeford man employed as an instructor at a dance camp held at Winthrop High School in July had been charged with exposing himself to a 13-year-old Augusta boy while the camp was in session.

Steeves said he was unaware of charges pending against the instructor, 19-year-old Keith R. Nadeau, of Biddeford, that alleged the former University of Maine at Farmington student had child pornography on his computer.

"Since I've known about it, I've been pretty physically ill about the whole thing," Steeves said Thursday. "It's really upset me a great, great deal."

While serving as a dance camp instructor this summer in Winthrop, Nadeau was out on bail after his December arrest in Farmington on the pornography charge. He is now being held without bail at Franklin County Jail, said Andrew Robinson, a Franklin County Assistant District Attorney.

Winthrop's summer recreation program sponsored the dance camp, Steeves said.

He said he hired the Saco-based dance company, "It's Showtime, Folks," to run the camp after receiving "a glowing reference." The camp's director and choreographer, Debra J. Lombard, of Saco, did not inform him about Nadeau's pending charges, Steeves said.

"We would have never agreed to have them there if I had known that," he said.

Lombard could not be reached this week at her Saco residence after repeated attempts. Her voice mail system was turned off and her dance company's Web site has been removed.

Nadeau's lawyer, Kevin Joyce, said this week his client pleaded not guilty to the charges stemming from the alleged dance camp incident.

Robinson, the assistant district attorney, said Nadeau's original bail conditions prohibited him from having contact with children under the age of 18. In May, Robinson said, the District Attorney's office amended the bail conditions to allow Nadeau adult-supervised contact with children after Lombard approached the Franklin County District Attorney and said she wanted Nadeau's assistance with the dance camp.

"The program wanted him to be able to work this summer and that he would never have unsupervised contact with children," Robinson said.

He said the district attorney's office required a letter from Lombard indicating that she was aware of the charges and that she wanted Nadeau's assistance at the dance camp. In the letter, Robinson said, Lombard did not have to state she would be responsible for supervising Nadeau. The bail conditions required supervision by any adult whenever Nadeau had contact with children.

"I guess I walked away feeling, like, OK, everything's out in the open, everyone knows what's going on," Robinson said.

Steeves said he would take the necessary precautions to prevent similar incidents from taking place in the future.

"The recreation department always tries to provide quality opportunities to children in the community," he said. "Obviously, this is something that is going to reflect badly on our programming."

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, Ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com

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