Sheldon Stephens recants accusations against Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash

It looks like puppeteer Kevin Clash can take a deep sigh of relief this week as his accuser has recanted his accusations of an underage sexual relationship.

The Smoking Gun was able to identify the accuser as 24-year old Sheldon Stephens, an aspiring model and actor. The site confirmed his role in the affair “with two sources, a family member and a friend.” The Smoking Gun also uncovered a 2009 arrest for Stephens, who was picked up at a Pennsylvania airport wearing $250,000 worth of jewelry allegedly stolen from a music manager from Los Angeles. Stephens had originally claimed that Clash had carried on a sexual relationship with him when he was only 16 but in a statement released to the New York Times through his lawyer Stephens says he “wants it to be known that his sexual relationship with Clash was an adult consensual relationship.”

Clash, who has taken a leave of absence from Sesame Street since the scandal broke, has been claiming all along that Stephens was 18 when the affair took place.