On Thursday, Bill Acorn, 83, was charged with four counts of sexual assault and six other sex-related offenses as well as one count of uttering a death threat and one count of unlawful storage of a firearm. Crown attorney John Diamond says that the plaintiff was 14 in 2009 when the first offense took place, and that more charges remain possible.
According to Charlottetown Deputy Chief Sean Coombs the complaint, which was investigated by the Major Crimes Unit, was filed “several months ago.”
Acorn is expected to have his next court appearance in one week; he was released on the promise to appear in court.
Bill Acorn was known for his public access cable show, which lifted him to a level of local celebrity and made him a public figure around Prince Edward Island. Taking place in a simple one-room set and featuring local musical acts and dancers, many of them children, the show had a cult following since its inception.
Many celebrities visited the set of Acorn’s show during its decades-long run, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He was such a local institution that Acorn was given the Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. The honor is given for contributions of significant merit achieved by Canadians.
Acorn was also known for hosting the annual local Christmas Stars Concert for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which featured over 50 performers, some of them children, and ran for over seven years.
Acorn isn’t the only local cable talk show host who has been accused of unsavory matters in regard to minors. Ronald William Brown, a Largo, Florida puppeteer who was a regular on the Christian Television Network show Joy Junction, was accused of charges of conspiring to kidnap a child and possession of child pornography in July 2012.
It was later revealed that Brown allegedly harbored fantasies of murdering and cannibalizing children, including specifically of dismembering and eating a boy who attended Gulf Coast Church.
There were online records of Brown sharing his fantasies with alleged fellow child murder/cannibalism enthusiast Michael Arnett, but balked when Arnett traveled to Florida to try to meet with him.
Randy Morris, pastor of the Gulf Coast Church where Brown attended and where his fantasies of murder and dismemberment played out, said was “shocked and perplexed” by what federal authorities say Brown wanted to do to their son. “They’re just reeling. It’s very difficult for them to hear,” Morris said.
Brown insisted that, “it was just a fantasy and he could never and would never hurt anyone.”
