A man reportedly known for portraying Santa Claus is facing child-sex charges instead of spreading holiday cheer.
Clarence V. Russell, 75, was arrested Sept. 5 after allegedly communicating online with people he believed were arranging sexual encounters with minors, according to the Ticonderoga Police Department in New York.
Russell is charged with attempted second-degree rape involving a child under 15 and attempted endangerment of a child’s welfare. Court records did not clarify whether he has entered a plea, and Oxygen was unable to determine whether he has an attorney.
Police arrested Russell in a Ticonderoga municipal parking lot after Eric Arthurs, a private citizen who uses the name “The Underagent” online, posed as a single mother offering access to her children—ages 13, 12 and 8—for sex.
Arthurs told CBS 6 News Albany that he exchanged online and text messages with Russell for about a week. Russell then drove to a meeting location, believing he was going to meet the woman and her family at a decoy home.
Videos of the confrontation were shared on Arthurs’ Facebook page and on the account of CBS 6 News anchor Anthony Krolikowski.
“I knew this was a set-up,” Russell said in the footage. “I thought it was a mom.”
Russell later characterized the exchanges as fantasy, telling Arthurs: “Most of us fantasize about life in general. We get to a point in our life where we don’t have much excitement, so we fantasize.”
During the encounter, Arthurs read aloud portions of the messages Russell had sent to the fictional mother.
“He stated in the messages that he was going to bring lubrication for a 13-year-old,” Arthurs said. “He does have lubrication and condoms. He admitted that he brought both—the condoms are in his pocket, and the lubrication is in his bag.”
Neither Arthurs nor a Ticonderoga Police Department spokesperson immediately responded to Oxygen’s requests for comment.
A relative told NBC 5 News that Russell had worked at Santa’s Workshop North Pole NY, a Christmas-themed children’s amusement park that has operated since opening in 1949.
The park, however, said Russell is no longer part of its staff.
“Clarence Russell has not been employed by Santa’s Workshop North Pole, NY, since 2025,” a company spokesperson told NBC 5 News. “He is no longer affiliated with our organization in any capacity.”
Russell’s daughter, Kourtney, said she wants her father held accountable, according to NNY360, which cited comments she made to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.
“None of this surprises me,” Kourtney said. “This has been public knowledge. This is what my family grew up knowing. This has been our truth. We’ve known him to be a creep.”
Kourtney did not immediately respond to Oxygen’s request for comment.
