Reubens: “I got a phone call from somebody saying, ‘The police are at your house, with a search warrant.’”
Phillips: “What were they looking for?”
Reubens: “Child pornography.”
Acting on a tip from a witness in another pornography case, police searched Reubens' Hollywood home. Inside, among the boxes of fake food and other kitschy memorabilia, they found what the city attorney's office would later characterize as a collection of child pornography.
Reubens: “The moment that I realized my name was going to be said in the same sentence as children and sex, that's really intense. That's something I knew from that very moment, whatever happens past that point, something's out there in the air that is really bad.”
Reubens acknowledges possessing a massive collection of what he calls "vintage erotica,” films and muscle magazines with titles like: "Boy Nudist" and "Shame Dame," as well as some photographic studies of teen nudes. But he says that what the city attorney's office views as pornography, he considers art.
Reubens: “Magazines. photographs. films. Incredible, beautiful stuff that I stand behind.”
Phillips: “Did you ever stop and think while you were massing this collection, maybe it's not such a good idea, especially given what had happened back in 1991?”
Reubens: “I didn't. I never did. I wasn't really thinking to myself, wow this is my creepy, weird stuff that I shouldn't be collecting. It's not titillating. It's not something that I use for any kind of sexual purpose.”
Phillips: “Is it sensual, erotic to you, you acknowledge that?”
Reubens: “I think some of it is erotic. Some of it is sensual. Most of it I don't view like that. It seems so innocent to me. You would immediately look at that collection and to tell very, very, very quickly this is not a collection of child pornography.”
Phillips: “It wasn't obvious to the city attorney's office. They have characterized it quite differently. I mean, they say that in and amongst these magazines were photographs that depict people underage engaged in masturbation, oral copulation, in short, pornographic images.”
Reubens: “I know what they say. It depends upon whether it's you or the city attorney looking at them. It depends upon what one sees in those images for example.”
Phillips: “Well, it's pretty clear and pretty specific. I mean, were there photographs of young men, boys, underage people, performing, masturbating?”
Reubens: “No. Absolutely not. One hundred percent not.”
Phillips: “So what are they referring to when they describe it that way?”
Reubens: “One photograph for example has a young man with his hand on his thigh. It is close to his genitals, but not even that close. That's what they're calling somebody getting ready to perform a sex act.”
The city attorneys office told us the images involved are more graphic that what Reubens describes. Even so, last month the child pornography charges were dropped. Reubens agreed to plead guilty to possessing obscene images of minors.
Phillips: “If you're secure in your belief that this was art, nothing illegal, why not let a jury look at the evidence? Why settle?”
Reubens: “Personally, I think we're living in a very scary time. Do we let the legal system decide in a courtroom what's obscene and what's not obscene? I didn't want be in a situation where there was a possibility I could got to jail for something that's that material. I mean, that just seemed insane to me.”
Early on in the investigation, word leaked out that Reubens had possessed home video of teenage boys engaging in sexual acts, but late last year, his attorneys proved that the tape was never part of collection -- the product they believe of a mix-up in the LAPD evidence room.
The plea is not without penalty. For the next three years, Reubens must register his address with the sheriff's office and he cannot be in the company of minors without their parents' permission.
Reubens: “You know is that a hard pill to swallow? Yeah. That's pretty intense. I mean for someone who loves kids, that's just sad. Ironic is probably too mild a word, you know?”
Phillips: “Are you someone who needs to be supervised with children?”
Reubens: “No. I don't think so. I don't think I've ever led my life in that way, ever. One thing I want to make very, very clear, I don't want anyone for one second to think that I am titillated by images of children. It's not me. You can say lots of things about me. And you might. The public may think I'm weird. They may think I'm crazy or anything that anyone wants to think about me. That's all fine. As long as one of the things you're not thinking about me is that I'm a pedophile. Because that's not true.”
Phillips: “You know some people will say, one questionable event, we can forgive. Two, it's a little harder. Especially when the allegation involves minors and sex.”
Reubens: “And I would agree. I'm as guilty as the next person at looking at like, where there's smoke there's fire. Until you've been in a situation where the police come in your house, and look at things that you view as 100 percent innocent, and view them in a completely different way, I don't think you necessarily understand everything to this story.
Today, at age 51, Reubens is pondering his next moves, putting the finishing touches on a script for a new Pee-Wee movie, and wondering just how forgiving or forgetful the American public will be this time around.
Reubens: “I spent an awful long time 12 years ago thinking to myself, you know, this can't be my final thing. I'm a big believer in the happy ending. I want a Pee-Wee movie to have a happy ending. Pee-Wee gets his bicycle back. I don't know what the ending is to my story. But I think it's going to be a happy one.”
The terms of Paul Reubens' plea agreement allow him to appeal his conviction. And his lawyer has already filed the paperwork declaring his intent to do just that. As for the Los Angeles city attorney's office, a spokesman told Dateline that it was pleased with the resolution of the case, and that pending the outcome of any appeal, it plans to destroy any images in Reubens collection that it considers contraband.
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