A California actor and producer who worked alongside recognizable Hollywood names now faces two dozen felony charges after investigators say he spent years using fake casting calls to gain access to underage victims.

Shane Ryan Gledhill, 46, of Lompoc, California, was arrested August 3 on what began as 15 felony sex abuse charges, a number that has since climbed to 24. The charges include child molestation, rape, forcible sexual assault, contacting a minor with intent to commit a sexual offense, possession of child sexual abuse material, and providing harmful material to a minor. Santa Barbara County sheriff's detectives say they have identified nine survivors, all minors at the time of the alleged offenses.

Gledhill sits in Northern Branch Jail on $500,000 bail, awaiting a preliminary hearing set for September 9 at the Superior Court of Santa Barbara's Lompoc Courthouse. The investigation that put him there took nearly five years.

A 17-year-old's report in 2021 opened the floodgates

The case began in November 2021, when a 17-year-old came forward to report suspicious and inappropriate conduct she said occurred when she was 15. Detectives opened an investigation and quickly identified two additional survivors. The probe widened from there.

On February 23, 2022, investigators searched Gledhill's home on the 3000 block of Courtney Drive in Lompoc and seized thousands of digital files. A forensic examination of that material helped build the case that now spans 24 felony counts and nine identified victims.

Authorities say the survivor count may not be final. Gledhill filmed across California's Central Coast, in Los Angeles County, and on the East Coast. Detectives believe additional victims may be located in any of those areas. The investigation remains open.

Casting calls and film projects allegedly served as the lure

Gledhill's alleged method was grimly efficient. Investigators say he used online casting calls and independent filmmaking projects to contact minors, building trust through the promise of screen work before allegedly abusing them. He operated under the professional names "Shane Ryan" and "Shane Ryan-Reid."

His biography reportedly claimed he had realized "he could have an impact with film-making in regards to issues like child abuse and sexual assault, in an effort to bring awareness and understanding to important topics through cinema." Investigators say that public-facing narrative masked predatory behavior.

The gap between the image Gledhill projected and the conduct investigators allege could hardly be wider. He presented himself as an artist raising awareness about the exploitation of children. Prosecutors now say he was exploiting children himself.

Gledhill's filmography stretched across 120 roles and 150 productions

Gledhill was not a household name, but he was prolific. His IMDb page lists roughly 120 film appearances and more than 150 projects he produced. Those projects featured recognizable Hollywood actors including Shelley Duvall, Richard Dreyfuss, Ed Harris, Tom Arnold, Bruce Dern, Peter Weller, Eric Roberts, Malcolm McDowell, Lance Henriksen, and Robert Englund.

None of those actors have been connected to the investigation in any way. Their involvement was limited to appearing in Gledhill's productions.

But the volume of Gledhill's output matters for a different reason. A résumé that long gave him a veneer of legitimacy, the kind that could make a casting call from an unknown indie filmmaker look credible to a teenager or a teenager's parents.

A 2006 film and a 2018 interview raise disturbing questions

One detail in the case file stands out. In 2006, Gledhill released a film described as following a male serial killer who kidnaps an underage girl, manipulates her into having sex with him, and then kills her. Gledhill played the rapist and killer. The film was shot from the serial killer's point of view.

He later made second and third versions of the same film. In a 2018 on-camera interview, Gledhill described the second version in his own words:

"More graphic and more explicit."

He went further, stating that he "decided to use real penetration" and that the film "showed real penetration." The interviewer and outlet that recorded those remarks are not identified in available reporting.

Those statements were made years before his arrest. They now read as something far more alarming than the boasts of a provocateur filmmaker. Whether prosecutors intend to introduce that interview at trial remains to be seen.

From 15 charges to 24, and the count may keep rising

Gledhill was initially booked on 15 felony charges. That number grew to 24 as detectives continued their work. With authorities publicly stating that more survivors may exist across multiple states, additional charges are possible.

Several basic questions remain unanswered. Gledhill has not publicly entered a plea. No defense attorney has been identified or quoted. The specific online platforms used for the alleged casting calls have not been named. And the breakdown of which charges correspond to which of the nine identified survivors has not been made public.

What is clear is the scope. Nine minors. Twenty-four felony counts. A five-year investigation. Thousands of seized digital files. And an accused predator who allegedly hid behind the machinery of Hollywood, however far from its center he operated, to reach children.

Industries that give adults easy, unsupervised access to minors attract predators. Hollywood has learned that lesson before. The question is whether anyone in a position to notice Gledhill's conduct over the course of 150 productions ever bothered to ask.