7th Heaven Dad Allegedly Confessed to Molesting Kids

Stephen Collins now reportedly under investigation
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 7, 2014 9:48 AM CDT
7th Heaven Dad Allegedly Confessed to Molesting Kids
Actor Stephen Collins poses for a picture outside of the Shubert Theatre in New York, Tuesday, July 1, 2008.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Well, this is disturbing: Stephen Collins, who played the patriarch—not to mention the pastor—on 7th Heaven, has allegedly confessed to molesting underage girls. Collins is going through a contentious divorce, and back in 2012 he told wife Faye Grant—in the presence of a therapist—about the incidents, which included Collins allegedly making an 11-year-old girl touch his penis and also exposing himself to her. He also mentioned incidents with other young girls, including one between the ages of 12 and 13, and Grant recorded the whole session.

TMZ has the tape, as does the New York Police Department, which has launched a criminal investigation. Though the therapy session took place in California, where it's apparently legal to secretly record conversations if you're gathering evidence of a violent felony, the incidents in question took place in New York. But Collins did mention one LA girl, and an NYPD official tells TMZ there are "at least three victims." The alleged incidents took place decades ago, but officials believe they can still be prosecuted. The New York Daily News reports that Collins, 67, was the subject of another sex abuse investigation years ago, but in that case the statute of limitations had run out. (More child molestation stories.)

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