'Sesame Street,' Disney composer faces child porn charges

A Grammy award-winning composer who wrote songs for Sesame Street and the Disney Channel has been charged in South Carolina with making and sending child pornography, The Post and Courier reports.
Fernando Rivas, 59, has pleaded not guilty in Charleston to federal charges of production, transportation and possession of child pornography, the newspaper says.

The newspaper, quoting from the North Charleston police report, says the charges stem from the arrest of a person in New Jersey on charges of possession of child pornography.
Officers, using a search warrant at Rivas' home in Charleston, reportedly found photos of a 4-year-old girl naked and "restrained in handcuffs and other bondage-type devices," according to the police report.
Records from that search say investigators read Rivas his rights and that he admitted to taking the photographs and using handcuffs to restrain the girl, The Post and Courier says.
The Cuban-born Rivas wrote songs for Sesame Street and jingles for major corporations and composed the music for the Disney program Handy Manny. He won a Grammy award for Best Children's Album in 1998 for work on Elmopalooza, The New York Daily News reports.

By Douglas Stanglin, USA TODAY