Ex-New Found Glory guitarist convicted of indecent exposure in SLO County child porn case
A founding member of the pop-punk band New Found Glory was convicted of felony indecent exposure in San Luis Obispo Superior Court last month after accepting a plea agreement in a case that had idled for more than six years.
Stephen Lee “Steve” Klein, who lived in Atascadero, was charged in 2014 with five felony counts of lewd acts on a child, as well as a count each of contact with intent to commit a sex offense and possession of child pornography, stemming from sexual two-way chat room videos involving underage girls found on an external hard drive at Klein’s home.
At a trial-setting conference Feb. 9, Klein agreed to plead no contest to an added felony charge of indecent exposure, and the remaining charges were dismissed.
Under the terms of his plea, Klein will serve no jail time and will be sentenced to two years of formal probation, according to court records.
His attorney, Ilan Funke-Bilu, said Monday that if his client successfully complies with the terms of his probation for one year, his felony conviction will be reduced to a misdemeanor and his probation terminated.
The 41-year-old will be required to register as a sex offender for at least 10 years, however, Funke-Bilu said.
A spokesman for the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office could not immediately be reached for comment Monday morning.
Klein is scheduled to be sentenced March 9.
Arrest led to departure from band
Klein, who court records say now lives in the North Hills area of Los Angeles, played guitar and wrote lyrics for the popular band from the late 1990s until his arrest.
Prosecutors allege the online incidents occurred between 2010 and 2012 with victims who were 14 and 15 years old. No physical contact occurred, and the supposedly underage girls have never been identified by investigators.
The case came to the attention of authorities when Klein’s now-ex-wife found evidence of Klein’s online activity and called police.
Klein’s attorney, Debra White, said in a statement released to Alternative Press that Klein was “devastated by these accusations.”
“He has lost his band, and his ex-wife continues to push for full custody of his children using this case as her pawn while he literally fights for his life,” she said told the publication.
According to court records, Klein’s divorce proceedings concluded in San Luis Obispo County in 2014.
The band issued a statement after the announcement of criminal charges confirming the split had been related to the criminal allegations.
“Upon our return from Warped Tour Australia, Steve made us aware of possible allegations that might be made against him,” the band wrote. “At that point, not knowing all the details, we made the decision to part ways in order for him to deal with these personal issues.”
New Found Glory is considered a pioneering group of pop-punk and compared to acts such as Blink-182 and Simple Plan. Formed in Coral Springs, Florida, the band headlined the Vans Warped Tour, and it has produced three gold albums (million selling or more).
Its songs, which typically appealed to teen audiences during the band’s heyday, often dealt with relationships and identity.
The band continues to produce records without Klein, who Wikipedia says remains “involved in mixing and producing music bands.”
Ex-wife testified that she found videos
In an April 2014 court hearing, Klein’s then-attorney unsuccessfully argued to a Superior Court judge that the evidence was collected by police without probable cause and should be thrown out.
Klein’s ex-wife, Amanda McCullough Klein, testified at the hearing that in September 2012, while her husband was out of town and days after she had filed for divorce, she opened an external hard drive found at their Atascadero home on a desk in her husband’s office — a drive she said the couple shared and used to store downloaded feature films.
She testified that she discovered at least 100 videos of two-way chats between Steve Klein and unidentified females who appeared to be underage. At least one of the videos showed Steve Klein masturbating while two females — who were clothed — watched, she testified.
Under cross-examination, she admitted that she was looking for evidence that Steve Klein was having an affair at the time and that she didn’t see any undressed underage girls in the videos.
At a preliminary hearing in September 2014, Deputy District Attorney Julie Antos played five videos in the courtroom for a Superior Court judge that allegedly showed audio-less, screen-captured video of Klein carrying on sexually explicit activity with girls on the stranger-based chat website Omegle.
The videos showed Klein masturbating and encouraging the females to remove clothes and touch themselves, according to the prosecutor. The videos were not shown to the rest of the courtroom because of the estimated ages of the females.
Dr. Nisha Abdul Cader, a pediatrician with San Luis Obispo County and the prosecution’s expert witness on sexual maturity, said she estimated their ages between 9 and 16 years old based on their physical development.
Attorney says Klein has a future in music
On Monday, Funke-Bilu said the plea agreement was a fair resolution to the case, which he acknowledged has taken a long time to conclude.
“It’s been a long haul,” he said. “It’s a compromise.”
Funke-Bilu said that his client continues to be involved in the music industry and is hoping to move forward with his life.
“He’s still writing great songs. He’s still writing great music,” he said. “I think the future will be even better now that he can put this case behind him.”
Reporting by former Tribune staff writer Patrick S. Pemberton contributed to this article.
This story was originally published March 1, 2021 at 1:42 PM.
