Casting director posts bail on child-sex charges

The owner and casting director of a Twin Cities film company turned himself in Tuesday on charges that he allegedly used his position to lure and sexually assault two Minnesota boys at his Cottage Grove home.

Matthew David Feeney, 43, then posted $100,000 bail at the Washington County jail and was released with several conditions, including that he have no contact with minors. He also is out on bail for similar allegations in Massachusetts.

The charges in Washington County allege that the local victims were aspiring actors who met Feeney in 2007 and that he provided them with casting opportunities, acting classes and entertainment.

He's charged with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct from May 2009 through December 2011 with victims between ages 13 and 15.

Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said the sexual assaults in Minnesota were believed to have happened before the incident alleged in the sexual assault case in Massachusetts.

In that case, Feeney is charged in connection with the sexual assault of a 14-year-old boy in December 2010. Feeney pleaded not guilty and was released on $25,000 cash bail in February.

It's unclear whether the new charges will lead to his bail being revoked in Massachusetts, Orput said.

In Cottage Grove, Feeney had befriended the boys' mother and would often spend time alone with the boys on camping trips, at film festivals, entertainment parks and in his home, according to the criminal complaint.

By 2009, the mother saw Feeney as a "close family friend" whom she trusted with her children.

On March 2, the boys' mom was on her home computer, posting pictures of her kids on Facebook when one son asked her to not post pictures of him "because he did not like people looking at his body," the complaint states.

When the mother asked why he was so uncomfortable, he broke down crying, saying that Feeney, who was his acting coach, had been touching him inappropriately. Soon, her other son broke down crying and confessed that Feeney had been touching him inappropriately, too. Neither knew the other was being victimized until that moment, the complaint says.

After news of the charges out of Attleboro, Mass., Feeney resigned as CEO of Walden Entertainment, a Bloomington-based organization that he founded.

He was convicted in 1993 for molesting boys while he was a counselor for a church camp in Aitkin County.

Joy Powell • 651-925-5038