CHERRYTREE TWP., Pa. (EYT) — Multiple charges have been filed against a local man who allegedly put a baby monitor with a video camera under a girl’s bed on a night she was planning to have a sleepover with friends.

Court documents indicate the Franklin-based State Police filed criminal charges against 56-year-old Jeffrey Scott Nelson, of Titusville.

According to a criminal complaint, on February 16, a case was reported to Franklin-based State Police via ChildLine stating that on February 14, a known female victim caught Jeffrey Scott Nelson looking under her bed. Nelson allegedly made an excuse about what he was doing and then left the room. The victim then discovered a Summer In View 2.0 baby monitor camera under her bed with the LED portion covered with electrical tape and the camera exposed.

Police then received a call from a known woman who stated her daughter and several friends were supposed to be going to the victim’s home for a sleepover the night of the incident. The woman told police “the rumors” were the camera was placed in the victim’s room because Nelson suspected the possibility of drug use. However, the woman said she was also concerned because the girls often change in the bedroom. She also reported the sleepover was canceled when the victim found the camera.

According to the complaint, the woman told police after the incident, the victim went to her home for the night, and the following day she took the victim back to gather some belongings. She said the victim’s mother then approached her and told her she didn’t know about the camera, but it wasn’t “meant for any bad intentions,” it was just because a known individual had shown up earlier in the week appearing to be under the influence and unable to find their phone.

Police then interviewed the victim about the incident. The victim reported she had planned a sleepover with friends, and when she went to her bedroom after making snacks, she found Nelson looking under her bed. She told police, “he looked as if he got caught doing something,” and then asked her if she knew where his icepack was that she used earlier. He then left the room.

According to the complaint, the victim noted that Nelson appeared very flustered, and his face was red, which made her suspicious. She then looked under her bed and found the camera plugged into the wall under her bed. She noted it had electrical tape wrapped around the LED portion of it, so she took a piece of the electrical tape and put it over the camera lens. She also told police she had never seen the camera before. She then unplugged it and took a video of herself unwrapping the tape from it. She also took a photo of it.

The victim noted she was very upset when she found the camera and called a friend, who was already on her way over, to come to pick her up. She also called her father and told him about the camera, then took the camera upstairs and told Nelson to put it somewhere else other than under her bed.

The victim told police Nelson did not reply to her at that time.

The victim told police that the camera was placed under her bed, in the middle of the floor, which is up on blocks, so the camera would have been able to see “a lot” in her room from the placement, the complaint notes.

Police also interviewed three of the victim’s friends who were invited to her home on the day of the incident. All of them denied the known individual ever doing any drugs or being under the influence. They also all mentioned spending time on the victim’s bedroom floor in various stages of undress and noted that since there wasn’t enough room on the bed, they often sat on the floor, according to the complaint.

Nelson was then interviewed on March 9.

Nelson told police he and the victim’s mother had problems with the victim over the past few months, including issues with lying, finding vapes, and also alcohol in the residence coming up missing. He noted the victim has several close friends, including one he reportedly described as “especially bad,” the complaint states.

Nelson told police that the Monday prior to the incident when some of the victim’s friends came to the house to decorate her room as a surprise while she was away on an event, the one friend “appeared to be on something” and said she didn’t know where her phone was. However, he also admitted they never confronted the friend or her parents when they thought she was impaired, the complaint indicates.

He said that after they agreed to the sleepover, he wanted to find a way he could catch the friend talking about drug use if she showed up “impaired” again and remembered the baby monitor a family member had left at their house. He then got the camera, took it to the victim’s room, plugged it in, and “threw it toward the back wall,” according to the complaint.

Nelson told police that he had no intention of viewing the video and denied setting the camera up in a fashion where he could see out from under the bed. He also said he had no plans to turn the camera monitor on unless the friend showed up “impaired” again because they didn’t want to confront the friend without “proof,” the complaint states.

Police also interviewed the victim’s mother about the incident.

She reportedly agreed with Nelson that one of the victim’s friends had appeared to be “impaired” during the previous incident but said she decided not to call the friend’s parents because she didn’t want to upset the victim and didn’t have any proof the friend wasn’t just tired. She also reported they had some alcohol come up missing around Thanksgiving and noted she heard the friend talk about being an alcoholic during group trips together, according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, she told police she didn’t know about the baby monitor and had never seen it before. She said she was taking a nap on the couch before work when she was woken up to the sound of the monitor hitting the floor and the victim saying to Nelson, “baby minter, real nice.”

She said that when she asked Nelson what that was about, he told her he placed the camera under the victim’s bed in case the friend showed up impaired because he wanted proof before confronting anyone. He allegedly told her he only had intentions to listen and not to use the camera feature and also said he didn’t even know if the camera worked, the complaint indicates.

On March 30, a minor gave police the baby monitor used in the incident by Nelson, who explained she was the one who had placed the electrical tape on the LED portion to block the light for when her baby was sleeping. Police then plugged in the monitor and found that both the audio and visual portions were functioning properly, the complaint notes.

Police then did a follow-up interview with the victim. When asked, the victim stated she found the camera under the bed in the center pointing outward. She stated there was “no way” the camera was thrown and landed the way she found it. She also told police she felt the camera might have been under her bed for longer than just that day, and Nelson may have just been adjusting the angle of it, the complaint states.

The victim reported still feeling extremely violated over the incident, the complaint notes.

Nelson was arraigned in front of Magisterial District Judge Andrew F. Fish at 9:00 a.m.on April 9, on the following charges:

– Possess Device for Intercepting Communications, Felony 3 (six counts)
– Possess Instrument of Crime With Intent, Misdemeanor 1
– Invasion of Privacy — view, photograph, etc. person without consent, Misdemeanor 2 (six counts)

He is currently free on $5,000.00 unsecured bail.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on April 28 in Venango County Central Court with Judge Fish presiding.