Eric Justin Toth, a former Washington private school teacher who was once featured on the FBI's list of most wanted fugitives, pleaded guilty to child pornography charges after five years on the run.
Toth, who was arrested in April in Nicaragua entered the plea on Thursday morning in a federal court in Washington.
The plea ended a "five year period on the run that began after images of child pornography were found on a school camera that been in his possession... 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," The AP also reported.
Toth "admitted in court to crimes of child pornography that prosecutors say spanned years and multiple states and involved secret videos and hidden cameras," The AP also reported.
Toth had taken photographs and videos of a " sleeping camper while working as a counselor at a Wisconsin summer camp in 2005 and, two years later, filmed himself sexually molesting a prepubescent boy... He also installed hidden cameras inside 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," The AP also reported.
"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," The AP added.
Clues in the past five years led to his capture in Nicaragua, according to news reports. " A citizen's tip led authorities to Nicaragua, where was arrested last spring while living under an alias," according to The AP.
"Eric Toth is every parent's worst nightmare: a serial predator who took advantage of his position as a camp counselor and a teacher to sexually exploit children in his care," said U.S. Attorney Ron Machen in a statement.
