BROOKINGS — An Elkton man appeared in Brookings County Circuit Court on Monday on charges of manufacturing and possessing of child pornography.
A preliminary hearing on Monday for Clayton Thompson, 51, was waived. A pre-trial conference has been set for June 2, and a jury trial has been scheduled for 9 a.m. June 10.
Thompson faces five counts manufacturing of child pornography, which is a Class 2 felony, and five counts of possession of child pornography, which is a Class 4 felony.
According to a probable cause statement from the Brookings County State’s Attorney’s Office, a woman reported that she found sexually explicit videos on her Google Photo account on April 7 and that she believed her former husband, Thompson, had taken the videos.
She turned her phone over to a deputy and, in her Google account, he found six videos of a girl in a shower.
The videos were time stamped beginning in November and ending in March.
According to the statement, the deputy visited Thompson’s residence, where he spoke with Thompson’s girlfriend. He went to residence’s bathroom and, in the shower, found an indentation containing a 6-inch rubber tube.
The probable cause statement alleges that Thompson placed an endoscopic camera in the tube to record the explicit videos. An endoscopic camera was recovered from the residence that had the same battery and time stamp as those on the video.
According to the statement, upon arrest Thompson admitted to installing the camera in the shower, but said he used it to watch his girlfriend.
The statement also said that Thompson was seen in one of the videos making adjustments to the camera.
In the probable cause statement, the deputy said an interview was conducted with the young woman in the presence of her mother. In the interview, the teenager alleged that Thompson had acted inappropriately with her using inappropriate language and touching her in inappropriate places.
A Class 2 felony is punishable by up to 25 years in prison and/or a fine of $50,000. The maximum sentence for a Class 4 felony is 10 years in prison and/or a $20,000 fine.
Thompson is being represented by attorney Manuel De Castro. Representing the state’s attorney’s office are Dan Nelson, Derrick Johnson and Austin Oxner.
— Contact Doug Kott at [email protected].
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