Change in law returns Olivia, Minnesota, man to court over shower videos

Tom Cherveny, West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minn.
·2 min read
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Dec. 27—OLIVIA

— A woman's successful work for legislation amending the statute of limitations for the surreptitious videotaping of unclothed individuals is putting an Olivia man back in court.

The Meeker County Attorney's Office, acting as a special prosecutor, filed nine new gross misdemeanor charges of interference with privacy against Nicholas William Steffel, 29, of Olivia.

The woman who is credited in court documents with helping change the statute is not named, but she is described as one of the victims in the case.

Steffel is scheduled to make his first Renville County District Court appearance on the new charges remotely via video on Jan. 2. He was summoned to appear and is not in custody.

Steffel previously served 270 days in jail and paid $1,800 in fines in 2022 after being convicted on six counts of interference with privacy against six women.

According to the criminal complaint, investigator Jeff Nelson with the Renville County Sheriff's Office obtained a search warrant in March 2021 after receiving a tip from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension of inappropriate video sharing. The investigator alleged that Steffel recorded 23 videos and took 104 still images of naked females in a shower stall of his hog barn.

Nelson was able to identify 17 women in the videos and images, and verified that none of them had consented to being recorded, according to the criminal complaint.

The recordings and images were made during the period of Oct. 30, 2016, to Dec. 12, 2019. Initially, six charges were filed involving as many women for recordings from the period July 23, 2018, to Dec. 12, 2019.

The three-year statute of limitations had prevented charges for alleged offenses before July 23, 2018.

With the new legislation, charges are being brought for alleged recordings made of nine other women during the period Oct. 30, 2016, to Dec. 12, 2019. Under the new legislation, the statute of limitations begins with the "discovery" of an offense, and not the date of the offense.

Each of the charges allege that the videos were made through a window in the hog barn that looks down on the shower stall. The defendant had advised the women that they were required to shower as they entered and exited the hog barn as part of the biosecurity protocol.

State Sen. Andrew Lang, R-Olivia, and then-State Rep. Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, initially authored legislation to amend the statute of limitations after the charges were filed against Steffel in 2021. They argued that the statue of limitations was unfair to victims.

Some of the women in this case learned of the secret videotaping after the statute of limitations had expired.

The Meeker County Attorney's Office is handling the prosecution of the case at the request of the Renville County Attorney's Office due to a conflict of interest.

Along with the criminal charges, Steffel is a defendant in civil litigation brought against him involving the recordings.