Ex-US teacher pleads guilty to child porn charges

A former private school teacher who was once featured on the FBI's list of most wanted fugitives pleaded guilty to child pornography charges and faces decades in prison.
Eric Justin Toth, 31, was captured in Nicaragua in April, ending a five-year period on the run that began after images of child pornography were found on a school camera that had been in his possession. His arrest came one year after the FBI publicised his disappearance by adding him to its Most Wanted list, where he filled a vacancy created by Osama bin Laden's death, and offered a reward for information leading to his capture.

He pleaded guilty to producing child pornography, identity theft and misusing a Social Security number. The recommended sentencing range is between 22 and 30 years in prison, according to the terms of his plea agreement. Toth's only remarks in court were "yes" and "no" answers to standard questions from a judge, and at one point he corrected the age of one of the child victims to whom prosecutors had referred.
The ex-teacher admitted in court to crimes of child pornography that prosecutors say spanned years and multiple states and involved secret videos and hidden cameras.
"The guy was on the run for five years. It's hard to say he accepted responsibility, but he did acknowledge his conduct early on, and obviously that's something we look at when we are crafting a plea agreement," US Attorney Ron Machen said in an interview.

Prosecutors revealed new details about the scope of the abuse in court yesterday. They say the college-educated and computer savvy Toth took photographs and videos of a sleeping male camper while working as a counsellor at a Wisconsin summer camp and, over the next two years, filmed himself undressing or sexually fondling a student of his.
He also installed hidden cameras disguised as air fresheners in a bathroom at the Beauvoir School, a private elementary school where he worked as a third-grade teacher.
The recordings captured 15 children under the age of 10. Toth was escorted off campus after school administrators found images of child pornography on a school camera that had been in his possession. He took off before police could arrest him, using aliases and stolen identities to evade capture over the next five years as he lived in places including Texas, Arizona and, finally, Nicaragua.