Interpol alert leads to arrest in porn case

Santa actor held after global search

Wayne Nelson Corliss was arrested on child pornography charges after a rare international bulletin. (US IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS VIA REUTERS)

NEWARK - A rare international alert seeking a man shown in dozens of graphic child pornography images quickly led to the arrest of a small-time actor, who painted faces at children's parties and performed as "the best Santa Claus anyone has ever seen."

Wayne Nelson Corliss told authorities he had sex with three boys in Thailand six years ago, an experience he described as "euphoria," a prosecutor said yesterday at Corliss's first court appearance.

The arrest of the bespectacled, gray-haired 58-year-old at his Union City apartment late Wednesday capped a two-day global manhunt, just the second time Interpol has sought the public's help in tracking down a suspected pedophile. He is believed to have sexually abused at least three boys thought to have been 6 to 10 years old, according to the international police agency.

Corliss is charged with producing child pornography and could face 10 to 20 years in federal prison if convicted, according to the US attorney's office in Newark.

At yesterday's hearing, Assistant US Attorney Lee Vartan said Corliss told the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who arrested him that he had sex with three boys over three nights in Thailand in 2002.

"He described it as 'euphoria' to the agents," Vartan said. Vartan said agents found about 1,000 images of child pornography on computer hard drives in the apartment, as well as several pairs of boys' underwear, including one that Corliss told authorities he brought back from Thailand as a souvenir.

Corliss, who spoke only twice during the court appearance, said he was a comedy writer and a member of the Screen Actors Guild. He asked for a lawyer to be appointed to him but was not asked to enter a plea. He was being held without bond pending a hearing Monday.

A SAG spokeswoman said the union does not confirm who is or is not a member.

Neighbors and colleagues know Corliss, who acted under the stage name Casey Wayne, as a witty man who liked to write and eschewed 9-to-5 jobs in favor of acting and entertainment gigs - including painting faces and playing Santa Claus at parties.

Judy Stone, a neighbor who worked with him as an entertainer at corporate parties, art fairs, and bar mitzvahs said he did a wonderful job. "He's the best Santa Claus anyone has ever seen," Stone said. "I've never seen him act in a way that was creepy or predatory toward children."

Corliss's arrest came two days after Interpol took the rare step of asking for the public's help. Two years of investigation had failed to determine the identity, whereabouts, or even the nationality of a man shown engaged in sex with children in images associated with a Canadian child pornography investigation in 2005.

Interpol's secretary general, Ronald Noble, said 460 leads flooded in within the first 24 hours after the agency launched its public appeal Tuesday. Three of those leads, e-mailed to Interpol from people in the United States who thought they recognized the man but who requested anonymity, were particularly strong, and all referred to the suspect by the name Casey Wayne, Noble said.