Disney Channel Actor Fired After Arrest for Attempted Sexual Liaison With a Minor

Disney Channel has severed ties with one of its stars after the actor was arrested for [...]

Disney Channel has severed ties with one of its stars after the actor was arrested for propositioning a minor he made contact with online.

According to ABC 4 News in Salt Lake City, Stoney Westmoreland was arrested on Friday. Westmoreland asked a 13-year-old he met through an online dating app to engage in sexual acts and send pornographic images. Disney fired the actor within a matter of hours.

Westmoreland was a star on the Disney Channel sitcom Andi Mack, where he played the title character's grandfather. A Disney Channel spokesperson confirmed that Westermoreland has been fired from the show.

Stoney Westmoreland
(Photo: Disney Channel)

Investigators say Westmoreland used the dating app for dating and meeting people for the "purpose of engaging sexual activity." Investigators in Utah, where Andi Mack films, say Westmoreland asked the minor to engage in sexual activity including oral sex. He also asked for the teenager to send over nude photographs and offered to reciprocate by sending his own.
The Salt Lake City police and the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force have taken Westmoreland into custody. He faces one count of enticing a minor and four counts of dealing in materials harmful to a minor.

"Stoney Westmoreland, an actor working on the series Andi Mack, was arrested in Salt Lake City today," a Disney Channel representative told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement on Friday night. "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."

Westmoreland played Henry "Ham" Mack, called "Pops" by the lead character. Pops often played peacekeeper in the Mack household.

Westmoreland has also appeared in ABC's Scandal and Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, Freeform's Huge, NBC's Providence, AMC's Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, CBS' NCIS, SWAT, and Medium, and the TV movies All the Way and The Strivers.

Westmoreland's film credits include War Dogs, Matchstick Men, and Godzilla. He also directed and produced the 2018 film Golden Boy.

Westmoreland was born in Tennessee, went to North Carolina School of the Arts, and now lives in Los Angeles.

Created and executive produced by Terri Minsky (Lizzie McGuire), Andi Mack is a coming-of-age story about a girl who's trying to determine where she fits in. Just before her 13th birthday, Andi learns that her older sister, Bex, is actually her mother. This revelation puts Andi on a path of self-discovery which she navigates with the help of her loving and complicated family.

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