Former Chester teacher gets 10 years for possessing child sexual abuse material

CHESTER ––Norman Merrill II, a 46-year-old former teacher from Chester, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for possessing child sexual abuse material.

Merrill pleaded guilty to the charge and was found to have placed hidden cameras in bathrooms of two residences, including one hidden camera placed underneath a bathroom sink, to capture the genitalia of a particular female minor.

The investigation found that Merrill also possessed screen-captures created from the videos of the minor female, which were intentionally created to focus solely on her genitalia.

Additionally, he had numerous voyeuristic videos taken in residential bathrooms, some of which depicted nude minor children.

The HSI investigation also revealed that Merrill had a file depicting the sexual abuse of a child, as well as a number of photographs of female children whose faces were clipped and digitally overlaid onto images of adult pornography.

Merrill was also found to be in possession of videos that appear to have been covertly taken at a school, depicting females in revealing clothing.

In addition to serving 10 years in prison, Merrill must also serve a ten-year term of supervised release, pay $3,750 in restitution, a $5,000 fine, and a $3,000 special assessment to be paid to the Child Pornography Victims Reserve Fund.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.