'Quiet On Set' alleges sex offender joined Nickelodeon actors' Bible study, emailed cast members
A sex offender who worked as a production assistant for kids network Nickelodeon participated in Bible studies on set years before he was arrested, according to a new documentary series.
"Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV," an expose from Investigation Discovery on what some say was an abusive and toxic working environment at Nickelodeon during the 1990s and early 2000s, has stunned viewers with its firsthand accounts from cast and crew members.
In addition to showrunner Dan Schneider and dialogue coach Brian Peck, one of the more disturbing allegations involved Jason Handy, a production assistant and church volunteer who was arrested in 2003 after an LAPD investigation found he "was attempting to prey on children at his church, in his neighborhood and over the Internet."
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Police said Handy, then 28, used his connections in the entertainment industry to "contact children." Investigators later identified victims in several states, including California, Michigan and North Carolina.
According to The Los Angeles Times, Handy volunteered for a church in Malibu, about 20 miles northwest of Los Angeles, and worked with children as young as 6 years old.
During the investigation, police found Handy possessed more than 10,000 images of children — including seven video files with children engaged in sexually explicit conduct — as well as journals in which he identified as a "pedophile, full-blown" and other incriminating writings.
According to the Times, Handy worked as a production assistant, a role in which he frequently escorted children and interacted with their guardians. He was also a crew member on Nick's "All That" and "The Amanda Show."
In one part of "Quiet On Set," former "All That" star Giovonnie Samuels said Handy — whom she viewed as a "goofy white guy from Nebraska" — joined a Bible study she and others held on set.
"He appeared to be this really nice, genuine person," said Samuels.
That persona, however, turned out to be as fictional as any TV role.
The mother of one child, whom the series refers to only as "Brandi," said Handy began emailing her daughter after she landed a role on "The Amanda Show" when she was 11 years old.
The mother, identified as "MJ," told producers Handy became close with many of the families and children on set and even began to exchange emails with several of them, including Brandi.
While the email exchange began innocently enough, MJ said, a few months later, Brandi broke down crying after an email from Handy she received a few months later.
"It was a picture of him naked masturbating, and he said he had sent it to her because he wanted her to see that he was thinking of her," said MJ.
Investigators later searched Handy's home and contacted MJ after finding a bag labeled with Brandi's name filled with letters she wrote to Handy.
In 2004, Handy was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading no contest to two felony counts, one count of committing a lewd act on a child, one count of distributing sexually explicit material by email, and misdemeanor child sexual exploitation, The Times reported.
After his release from prison in 2009, Handy registered as a sex offender in northern California, where he was again arrested in 2014 on three counts of felony indecent liberties with a child and two counts of felony sex offender violations.
"Quiet On Set" alleges Schnieder, who helped launch some of Nickelodeon's biggest hits like "All That" and "iCarly" before parting ways with the network in 2018 amid allegations of inappropriate behavior, was behind the hiring of three known sex offenders, including Handy and Peck.
In an interview earlier this month with former "iCarly" actor Bobbie Bowman, Schneider denied hiring Peck, who was later arrested in 2003 and sentenced to 16 months in prison for abusing "Drake & Josh" actor Drake Bell.
Schneider also said he helped Bell's mother during Peck's trial, calling her "a lovely woman who I stay in contact with to this day."
"She came to me at the time, and she said, 'Dan, I'm not good with words like you are, would you help me with my speech for the judge?' and I said, 'Of course,'" he added.
Schneider also apologized for his on-set behavior and said if he could go back, there are "definitely things that I would do differently."
"The main thing that I would change is how I treat people and everyone," he explained. "I definitely, at times, didn't give people the best of me. I didn't show enough patience, I could be cocky and definitely overambitious and sometimes just straight up rude and obnoxious and I am so sorry that I ever was."
Ian M. Giatti is a reporter for The Christian Post and the author of BACKWARDS DAD: a children's book for grownups. He can be reached at: ian.giatti@christianpost.com.
