Shane Sparks, a judge on the MTV show “America’s Best Dance Crew” and choreographer on “So You Think You Can Dance” was arrested last week and charged with 8 counts of child molestation. Los Angeles officials took Sparks into custody on December 18th on a felony warrant regarding molestation charges stemming from Shane’s alleged involvement with an under aged girl.

The lewd acts Sparks is charged with include oral copulation and other acts “with the intent of arousing, appealing to, and gratifying the lust, passions, and sexual desires of the defendant, who was at least 10 years older than [the victim]. The child noted in the case is said to be “under the age of 13 years old” and the alleged incidents began occurring in 1994 and continued for several years.

According to the criminal complaint Shane allegedly committed the crimes of lewd acts upon a child and there is only one alleged victim noted in the court documents. CLICK HERE to view docs (.pdf file)

Sparks has since been released on a $590,000 bond and his attorney, Steve Meister, is preparing to fight the allegations, stating Sparks is the innocent victim of an extortion plot:

I’m very confident that we will prevail in our attempt to clear his name. We are going to forcefully and aggressively defend him against what we believe to be completely spurious and bogus allegations.

We live in a time when a lot of people see a celebrity as a target. If people smell an opportunity, they will abandon their morality and conscience for a quick buck. Shane has no reason to suspect that any decent person would do that, but I would warn any Shane opportunists to think twice before they come after him, because they’ll be playing a game that they will very badly lose.

[Sparks] is a person of strong character and has a clear conscience. He knows he’s going to weather this, fight through it. He’s going to keep his feet on the ground like he always has and he’s going to win.”

Sparks, 40, is scheduled for arraignment Jan. 13. His attorney plans to plead not guilty to all charges. Wowwwzers! I’m shocked and amazed but definitely not surprised. Let’s pray for all the artists out there with secrets cause apparently a lot of skeletons are falling out the closet in ’09. It ain’t over yet guys…

(source 1 and 2)