52-year-old Stoney Westmoreland, the actor best known for playing the title character’s grandfather on the Disney Channel series “Andi Mack,” communicated with an undercover officer on the app Grindr and was arrested after trying to meet with the investigator posing as a 13-year-old teenager.
Disney Channel actor Stoney Westmoreland gets 2 years in federal prison for allegedly enticing a minor for sex. https://t.co/lgLGrWeqAB
— TMZ (@TMZ) June 5, 2022
Stoney’s lawyer, Wendy Lewis, tells TMZ … Westmoreland was originally charged with enticement of a minor over the Internet, which carried a potential 10-year prison sentence.
As we reported … Stoney was busted in Utah back in 2018 after authorities say he arranged online to have sex with someone who was only 13 years old, allegedly communicating via an app used for dating and setting up sexual encounters.
toney’s lawyer tells TMZ … he was using Grindr and was actually communicating with an undercover officer posing as someone else, and the lawyer says a doctor who evaluated Stoney concluded Westmoreland thought the exchange was roleplay with an adult online and that Stoney didn’t actually believe he was communicating with a 13-year-old.
As part of the plea deal, obtained by TMZ, Stoney must cooperate with DNA collection and register as a sex offender.
Daily Mail added a few details of the incident:
After taking the deal, he was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of using interstate facilities to transmit information about a minor.
Westmoreland’s lawyers had argued that the actor believed he was communicating with an adult roleplaying as a 13-year-old and had no real intention of meeting with a minor.
In addition to the sentence, Westmoreland will not be allowed to interact with minors without adult supervision.
His electronic devices and social media accounts will also be subject to random inspections upon his release, according to TMZ.
A Disney Channel spokesperson said at the time of Westmoreland’s arrest:
“Given the nature of the charges and our responsibility for the welfare of employed minors, we have released him from his recurring role and he will not be returning to work on the series which wraps production on its third season next week.”
A $100,000 warrant was issued for Westmoreland, who had previously been bailed out of jail. He is considered a low risk to the public.
Sources: WLT, TMZ, Daily Mail