MAINE
Portland Press Herald
BY MATT BYRNE STAFF WRITER
mbyrne@pressherald.com | @mattbyrnePPH | 207-791-6303
WEST BATH — A longtime leader of a youth theater program sexually abused three girls under the age of 13 whom he met when he was a director of the group’s community musicals, according to an affidavit released in court Monday.
Henry A. Eichman, 56, of Topsham, made his first appearance in West Bath District Court Monday afternoon on two counts each of sexual exploitation of a minor under 12, unlawful sexual contact and violation of privacy. He was arrested Friday after Topsham police executed a search warrant at his home.
The affidavit described pool parties and sleepovers that Eichman had with children who participated in the theater program.
The allegations against Eichman have devastated the community of parents and children who participate in the Midcoast Youth Theater program, said Julie Meyer, president of the program’s board of directors. The all-volunteer organization put on six productions in 2015 that involved about 300 children and parents. Eichman helped found the group in 2003. …
Eichman has been a part-time drama teacher at St. John’s Catholic School in Brunswick since 2008, according to Dave Guthro, communications director for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. Guthro said in an email that Eichman also assisted with the afterschool program in spring 2016 and had returned to assist that program this academic year, but was suspended and barred from the campus after his arrest Friday.
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