Actor on CT Sex Offender Registry Cut From New Movie

NEWTOWN, CT — Studio executives at 21st Century Fox have just pulled a scene from the upcoming feature "The Predator" when they learned one of the actors is on Connecticut's sex offender registry, The L.A. Times is reporting.

The actor, Steven Wilder Striegel, 47, made his way onto the registry after Newtown police charged him with engaging in an inappropriate internet relationship with a 14-year-old girl in August 2009.

Striegel was arrested and later charged with risk of injury to a minor and enticing a minor by computer, in May 2010. Both felony charges added up to 10 years prison time, but the actor's sentenece eas suspended after just six months and three years of probation.

The Times obtained a copy of the warrant which alleged physical contact on several occasions, including rubbing the 14-year-old's legs, stroking her neck, kissing, and touching her breast over her clothing. Striegel told The Times those allegations were false.

According to The Times, Striegel was outed by actress Olivia Munn, with whom he shared the now-purged scene. She learned of Streigel's entry on the sex offender registry and reported him to the studio executives, who said they were unaware of Striegel's past.

21st Century Fox may have not known, but the director did. Shane Black told The Times that Striegel was a friend that "he chose to help," and understood that "others might disapprove."

California law does not restrict the employment of a sex offender, nor does it require an employer to disclose the employment of a sex offender.

The film, a re-boot of the 1987 space alien franchise that debuted in 1987, opens in theaters nationwide Sept. 14.

For more on this story, see The Los Angeles Times.

Photo of Steven Wilder Striegel obtained from the Connecticut Sex Offender Registry.