Man charged with raping girl he met while working at Spokane Children’s Theater

Prosecutors have accused a former Spokane Children’s Theater employee of kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old actress after a show in December 2019.

Theater leadership had known of concerns that former lighting technician, 24-year-old Galen Myers, was “too friendly” with young actresses and observed him making at least one girl uncomfortable, according to court documents. But Myers was allowed to continue working for the nonprofit theater company.

Myers is now serving a four-year prison sentence in Idaho for an unrelated conviction for possessing child pornography and injuring a child, according court documents.

The Spokane case stems from when Myers ran lighting for a Spokane Children’s Theater production of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” in December 2019.

After one show, Myers, then 22, asked a 15-year-old cast member to help him carry a few things to his car, according to court documents. Myers had been friendly with the girl for the previous year, often offering to pop her back or giving her hugs.

The girl helped Myers carry the box to his sedan when he pushed her into the back seat, according to court documents.

He locked the young girl, still wearing her costume, in the car. He then climbed into the backseat and raped her, the girl told police.

Eventually a woman left the theater, which scared Myers, the girl told police. He climbed out of the car and told the girl not to tell anyone what had happened because “it would be much worse next time” and “no one would believe her,” according to court documents.

The girl went back into the theater and pretended it didn’t happen because of Myers’ threat, she told police. There was a performance the next day but Myers wasn’t there.

Shortly after the assault, Myers drove to Coeur d’Alene where he was arrested by officers who were investigating him for inappropriately touching a 12-year-old girl at Skate Plaza.

Officers searched Myers’ phone after the arrest and found numerous inappropriate photos of young girls, according to court documents. In April 2020, he pleaded guilty to two felony charges related to the photos and the assault, according to court documents.

The 12-year-old victim in that case wrote in a statement to the court about the effect Myers’ actions had on her.

“When this happened to me, it felt like a secret I had to keep and that was a heavy burden. When I told my friends about what happened, it made it worse for me because I had to meet with police officers and a detective,” she wrote. “That was really scary. It made it worse for me because it was scary and I felt ashamed for what happened but I’m glad that others can’t get hurt now because he was arrested.”

While Myers was in jail, the victim of the assault at the Spokane Children’s Theater was living in fear, according to court documents.

The 15-year-old actress struggled in the weeks following the assault, according to court documents. She feared no one would believe her if she told them what happened, she told police.

When the girl’s parents, who were heavily involved in the children’s theater, learned of Myers arrest, they asked their daughter if he had hurt her, according to court documents. The girl didn’t feel ready to tell them what had happened and avoided the question, she later told police.

Her father had acted in a previous performance and noticed Myers was overly affectionate with some of the younger girls, according to court documents. The father worried he was being overprotective and didn’t share his concerns, according to court documents.

In June 2020, the girl overheard her parents talking about how Myers had recently been sentenced for the Idaho assault and told her parents how Myers had attacked her, according to court documents.

The girl later reported the assault to police, who interviewed witnesses and searched Myers’ vehicle, according to court documents.

Doug Beschta, managing director for the Spokane Children’s Theater, told police that in October 2019 a parent approached him with concerns of Myers being “too friendly” with some of the young actresses at the theater, according to court documents.

Beschta talked to Myers about the allegations and asked him to stay in the lighting booth and be aware of his actions involving the children.

Police records show other allegations against Myers. In February 2019, a 13-year-old girl reported to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office in that Myers had inappropriately touched her over the holidays a few months earlier.

Myers had met the girl at Spokane Children’s Theater and befriended her, according to investigative records. The girl thought of Myers as an older brother and invited him over to her house on Christmas, records show. While there, Myers sexually assaulted the 13-year-old, she told a deputy.

When questioned about the incident, Myers denied going to the girl’s house but changed his story after investigators mentioned specific details about that night, according to investigative documents. It’s unclear in court documents if the theater was notified about the allegations or why prosecutors did not charge Myers.

The Spokane Children’s Theater did not return phone calls requests for comment.

Myers admitted going to her house but denied assaulting the girl. Myers’ mother told investigators that her son experienced a traumatic brain injury and is on the Asperger’s spectrum, making it difficult for him to get sensory clues from other people but that her son should know better than to be around a girl so young, according to investigative records. The mother said she had talked to Myers in the past about hanging out with underage girls.

He was never charged with any crimes related to the reported 2018 assault, according to court documents.

Myers pleaded not guilty Tuesday to second-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping, and third-degree child rape based on the allegations from December 2019.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct the actresses age at the time of the assault, she was 14.