REDMOND, Wash. — A Redmond man will spend 22 years in prison for placing cameras inside bathroom facilities at a Boy Scouts of America camp in Missouri in 2021, according to the United States Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Missouri.
David Lee Nelson, 41, was sentenced on Thursday by U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel and will also pay $55,000 to a victims’ fund and prevention programs. He will pay another $6,810 for counseling for the victims. Upon his release, Nelson will be supervised for life and forbidden from having any contact with minors without permission.
In July 2021, Nelson, a Boy Scouts volunteer, hid two cameras inside bathrooms at the S Bar F Scout Ranch in Missouri. He placed the cameras inside paper towel dispensers and angled the cameras to capture shower stall units and other bathroom areas.
While cleaning the bathroom stalls, scouts and leaders found the first camera and then discovered the second. The St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department responded, and Nelson lied to officials, claiming he was near the bathrooms looking for a phone charger.
Nelson pleaded guilty to two counts of production of child pornography and two counts of attempted production of child pornography in January.
At the sentencing hearing on May 2, the victims and their parents said Nelson’s actions left them unable to trust others and that they now have a fear of using public bathrooms.
The case was investigated by the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI. U.S. Attorney Matthew Drake prosecuted the case.
