Elmo puppeteer sued over alleged sexual abuse

A man who initially recanted sex abuse allegations against the former puppeteer of the Sesame Street character Elmo has sued him, alleging the entertainer lured him into drug-fuelled sex when he was 16.

“I was taken advantage of by someone a lot older, and manipulated,” Sheldon Stephens, who’s now 24, told a Manhattan news conference.

He said he met Kevin Clash at a networking event for models and actors, and was later brought by limousine from his Pennsylvania home to a New York apartment.