A 30-year-old Petersburg musician, music teacher and former volunteer in Springfield-area theater productions could go to federal prison for at least 15 years after pleading guilty May 3 to 34 counts of producing, receiving and possessing child pornography.
Federal prosecutors said in a news release that Power used online chatting applications such as Snapchat and Kik to portray himself as an underage female to convince adolescent boys to produce pornographic images of themselves. The charges said the unlawful activity took place between July 2022 and March 2023.
Prosecutors wouldn’t comment beyond the news release, but court documents indicated at least some of the victims were from the Springfield area.
It’s unclear whether any of the victims were youth involved in area theater productions and programs and were part of a 2018 investigation conducted by Springfield police in coordination with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Power was the focus of parents’ complaints to the Springfield Theatre Centre Board that year. Community theater supporters Johnny Molson and Kari Bedford told the board that their daughter was among those who received inappropriate text messages from Power when she was a minor and acting in local productions.
Power was vocal director of an STC musical, Annie Get Your Gun, in late 2019. Illinois Times reported in April 2023 that complaints from parents prompted the STC board to remove Power from the show, and the Hoogland Center for the Arts banned Power from the building.
Power never faced criminal charges in connection with that investigation into his alleged inappropriate online comments and text messages to minors he met as both a volunteer and paid staff member in STC programs and productions. A DCFS spokesperson told Illinois Times the state agency determined the 2018 allegations to be “unfounded.”
After learning of Power’s guilty plea, Molson, a marketing consultant, told Illinois Times: “It’s been a long time coming, and I’m certainly grateful that federal authorities came in. This is something that could have been nipped in the bud earlier if people had listened to the victims.”
Bill Bauser Jr., also of Petersburg, a former volunteer member of the STC executive board, was the person who asked Power to be vocal director of Annie Get Your Gun when Bauser, 57, was the STC board’s volunteer executive director and treasurer.
The STC board later asked for, and received, Bauser’s resignation from the board in December 2019.
Bauser, who has not been criminally charged, resigned from the board of Springfield Municipal Opera in early April 2023 after being appointed in December 2022. The resignation came after youth and parents involved in area community theater groups complained on public websites that Bauser hadn’t done enough to protect children from Power.
Before Bauser resigned, the Muni hired former federal prosecutor John Milhiser – prior to his reappointment as Sangamon County state’s attorney – to conduct an investigation that would help Muni officials decide whether Bauser should remain on the board and continue to volunteer running concessions and performing other tasks at the outdoor venue at 815 E. Lake Shore Drive.
Milhiser completed his investigation into Muni internal policies, according to Dennis O’Brien, chairperson of the Muni Trustees. O’Brien wouldn’t disclose the results of the investigation to Illinois Times.
Bauser was fired from his $43,860-a-year job as Rochester Community Unit School District 3A’s auditorium and fine arts director on April 19, 2023. The School Board’s resolution to fire Bauser, which passed unanimously, said Bauer allegedly made “sexually suggestive” comments to Rochester High School students and violated the district’s code of professional conduct by bullying, intimidation and harassment.
Power, who had no prior convictions, initially was indicted by a federal grand jury on 10 counts in July 2023. The number increased to 34 in an updated indictment in January.
Menard County State’s Attorney Gabe Grosboll said he agreed to drop the local charges because of the federal government’s expertise in investigating and prosecuting a case such as Power’s.
Power pleaded guilty to the seven most serious counts – production of child pornography, also known as sexual exploitation of a child – as well as eight counts of distribution, 18 counts of receipt and one count of possession of child pornography. Each count of production of child porn carries a penalty of at least 15 and up to 30 years in prison.
Power’s attorney, Daniel Fultz of Springfield, declined comment.
Court documents indicated Power used various “internet protocol” addresses and various cellphones and other computer devices to pose as various females with different chat account user names.
One of the boys targeted by Power was 14 when he began chats with Power, according to the documents. Authorities said they learned that the boy and his brother, also a minor, attended church with Power, and the boy’s brother received music lessons from Power.
Another victim, who was 15 when the chats with Power’s aliases began, attended an area high school, according to court documents.
The documents recounted a chat with one of the boys in which Power relentlessly asked to be sent nude photos and called the boy “chicken” and a “wimp” when he refused. Among the videos that Power obtained was a sexually explicit video of the same boy.
Power was first arrested in March 2023 while living with his grandmother in Petersburg,
Power previously was employed at Our Savior Catholic School and Routt Catholic School, both in Jacksonville, and he worked as a substitute teacher at Petersburg PORTA High School, from which he graduated in 2012.
Court documents said he formerly was a choir director at Central Christian Church in Jacksonville and worked at Nelson Oil.
In the wake of the controversies involving Power and Bauser, representatives of area performing arts groups gathered at the Hoogland on May 13, 2023, to hear a presentation of how child abusers groom their victims, according to Hoogland Executive Director Gus Gordon.
The meeting “started that dialogue” to prevent future incidents, he said.
Many arts groups have improved their screening and monitoring procedures to protect children and other volunteers and staff from abuse, Gordon said.
“There’s no good reason for any adult to contact a child privately,” he said.
Former Muni Opera president Mac Warren, who remains on the Muni board, said the meeting last May was a “good start,” but more needs to be done to protect children throughout the arts community.
Molson said he was disappointed with the relative lack of follow-up work by the arts community to prevent more abuse.
“Without a concerted effort, the door is open for it to happen again,” he said.
