Elk River man sentenced for hiding camera in MOA fitting room

An Elk River man has been sentenced in a case where he hid cameras at multiple locations, including in a Mall of America fitting room and a high school.

Court records state 42-year-old Trevor Nielson has been given a presumptive guidelines sentence of a stay of imposition for three years with 90 days in jail after entering a guilty plea to one count of felony interference with a minor on May 20.

As part of the plea agreement, in addition to jail time, Nielson must also attend sex offender treatment.

According to the criminal complaint, a manager at Forever 21 in Mall of America called the Bloomington police on Sept. 28, 2019, to report that a man had been in a dressing room for an unusually long period of time. The manager told police that she thought the same man had done the same thing two months earlier and after he left she found a hidden camera in one of the fitting rooms.

Nielson eventually stepped out of the fitting room and was stopped and searched by police. Police found a cellphone, a roll of double-sided tape and strips of the backing from the tape.

Police were able to use a search warrant to confiscate Nielson’s electronic devices, which produced a large amount of information, including a number of nude and semi-nude images from fitting rooms. Many of the images were of girls likely under the age of 18.

Also in their findings, officers recovered secretly recorded videos of students at Elk River High School as well as videos of girls at swimming pools, parks and other areas, according to the complaint.