( Post Millennial )
On Thursday, former Boy Scout volunteer David Lee Nelson, 41, was sentenced to 22 years in prison after he was charged with hiding two cameras in the bathrooms at a scout camp in St. Francois County, Missouri, in July of 2021.
According to a press release, the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said that US District Judge Rodney W. Sippel also ordered Nelson to pay "$55,000 in special assessments that will go to a fund for victims and prevention programs and $6,810 to pay for counseling for the victims in this case."
The case was brought after a scout leader found two cameras in the restroom stalls as they were cleaning them out. They reported it to the St. Francois County Sheriff's Department who questioned Nelson when they spotted him near the bathrooms.
Nelson told the police he was looking for a cell phone charger when questioned but later pleaded guilty to two counts of child pornography and two counts of attempted child pornography.
Parents of the victims said at Thursday's hearing that the incident has left their children unable to trust others, and experience discomfort when they use public restrooms.
In the defense sentencing memo obtained by Law and Crime, Nelson's attorney Adam Fein claimed that his client had been molested at a Boy Scout summer camp as a boy, but that he didn't know why that incident would "move him to act as he did."
"Almost three years of reflection haven't helped him understand the connection between his offense and its apparent mainspring: his molestation decades ago in a Boy Scout summer camp shower room," the letter said.
"Whatever the explanation, David hopes to get mental health treatment while in prison to grasp what he still can't fully comprehend, better understand himself, and discover the motives and connections underlying his behavior," he added.
Upon release from prison, Nelson will be on supervised release and prohibited from having any contact with minors without permission.