By Mondell Keck | The Brookings Register
ELKTON — An Elkton resident is facing allegations of manufacturing child pornography and sexual exploitation of a minor after law enforcers became aware of videos that had a juvenile female in them.
Clayton Thompson, 51, was arrested this week following an investigation by the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office of the videos, which, according to information from the sheriff’s office, were discovered on a Google account.
“Investigators obtained and reviewed the videos, determining they had been recorded using a concealed camera located inside the bathroom of a residence,” Assistant Sheriff Dave Biteler wrote in an April 10 news release. “Through a follow-up investigation and an interview with the victim, investigators were able to identify the location where the recordings occurred.”
Biteler told The Brookings Register that the bathroom in question was in Thompson’s home. Furthermore, he said the victim and Thompson know each other but are not related.
Thompson, who remained in the Brookings County Detention Center on a $50,000 cash bond as of the afternoon of April 10, faces five counts of manufacturing child pornography and five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. Under South Dakota law, the former is a Class 2 felony, while the latter is a Class 6 felony.
Class 2 felonies are punishable by up to 25 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $50,000, while Class 6 felonies are punishable by up to two years in prison and/or a fine of up to $4,000.
Biteler told the Register that Thompson has been assigned a court-appointed lawyer and that Magistrate Judge Bob Pesall will preside over his initial court date on April 20 at 1:30 p.m. at the Brookings County Courthouse in Brookings.
— Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].
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