By Seth Boyes,
Kelly Jon Bachelder
The defense for a Decorah man accused of sexually exploiting two minors has asked that the pending trial be moved outside Winneshiek County.
Kelly Jon Bachelder was charged in May with two counts of possession of depictions of minors in a sex act – both aggravated misdemeanors. Trial information in the case lists two specific victims — both were identified in the trial information only by their initials, and both resided at the same address as the 47-year-old Bachelder at that time, according to court records. Criminal complaints filed in the case accuse Bachelder of using “multiple hidden wall outlet cameras” to record the victims between January of 2020 and June of 2022.
A trial in the case was most recently scheduled for January of 2025. Bachelder’s defense attorney Mark Brown filed an Aug. 12 motion for a change of venue. Brown argued the individuals involved in the case are “entrenched in the local community,” “possess strong feelings” about the allegations and “shall know many prospective jurors” — Brown also cited news coverage from several regional outlets.
“Via the noted media saturation and the small population of the county, tied to a smaller land mass, the negative knowledge or perceived knowledge of this case has indeed tainted the local jury pool,” Brown said in his motion.
A hearing on the request for a change of venue has yet to be scheduled.
The case
The Decorah Police Department was contacted in late June of 2022 after one of the victims in the case discovered cameras hidden in the outlets of her bedroom. The girl “stated she had noticed a blinking light in the corner of her room for some time, but couldn’t recall how long it’s been there,” according to court documents. The teen’s boyfriend noticed the light June 24, 2022. He later examined the outlet and ultimately discovered small cameras in at least two outlets. The two left the cameras in place and informed the girl’s mother. Bachelder was informed of the cameras the following day — the teen discovered one of the cameras had been removed around that time — and Bachelder allegedly said he would contact the police in the morning, according to court documents.
Both the victim and her mother told police they received a text message from Bacheleder the morning of June 27, 2022, in which the 47-year-old allegedly admitted to placing the cameras in the girl’s room. Court documents say Bachelder claimed to have bought the camera through his business to investigate suspected employee theft, and he allegedly said he had placed the cameras in the girl’s room that Friday to see if her boyfriend “was the person he appeared to be on the outside.”
“Kelly Bachelder described in the text message how he destroyed the disc from the camera into 1,000 pieces,” court documents said.
Law enforcement executed a trio of search warrants in late June of 2022 — one at Bachelder’s home, one at his business and one for the local hotel where he was staying at that point. Court records show investigators seized numerous items — the specific items are largely redacted in the public court record, but the documents show multiple electronic devices, such as computers, tablets and cellular phones, were taken.
Winneshiek County Andrew Van Der Maaten said during a Tuesday hearing this week that there were “a number of nude images found on the defendant’s computer.”
Bachelder was formally charged in early July of 2024, according to court records, and he entered a plea of not guilty less than two weeks later.
Bachelder’s defense attorney Mark Brown also asked a judge on Tuesday to order certain adjustments to his client’s case filings in order to make it clear the charges are in fact misdemeanors — earlier court filings, such as the original criminal complaints inaccurately indicated Bachelder was facing felony charges. Van Der Maaten had no objection to the changes so long as it could be accomplished from an administrative standpoint, rather than dismissing the original case and filing new charges.
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