LINCOLN COUNTY – A local man who admitted to hiding cameras in a church bathroom in 2018 will spend the next two decades in prison after sentencing April 25.
Judge Deborah Jean Alessi sentenced Jeffery Eisenbath, 33, of Troy to 19 years in prison for charges he hid cameras inside the bathrooms Sacred Heart Catholic Church, where he was a parishioner, and taught religious classes.
Packing tape was located on a windowsill where Eisenbath admitted he mounted a camera the size of a coat hook. Church authorities were immediately notified of the breach.
“Our churches are where people should feel most safe,” Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Wood said. “Eisenbath was sentenced by St. Charles Circuit Judge Alessi to the maximum penalty available, 19 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. My office and I are satisfied with the result.
“I want to thank our partners in St. Charles County and at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for working in conjunction with us to achieve justice in this case.”
Eisenbath also admitted to placing cameras inside of the Adrenaline Zone, an indoor children’s amusement facility in St. Charles that contained laser tag and bumper cars. The Adrenaline Zone has since closed.
According to a probable cause statement, an Adrenaline Zone manager located a recording device with tape hanging off it.
A facility employee identified Eisenbath as the person who likely placed the device in the bathroom.
However, Eisenbath couldn’t be brought in for questioning immediately, because he was in Washington for the anti-abortion March For Life. Upon his return, Eisenbath was pulled over at Highway 61 and Highway A and questioned by law enforcement.
At first, he denied having any involvement with the hidden cameras, but changed his story when detectives informed Eisenbath that when he placed the camera, he took an image of himself placing the camera, according to the probable cause statement.
During questioning, he admitted he was addicted to child pornography, and produced a hard drive with multiple graphic images.
Eisenbath’s admission to the Adrenaline Zone crimes opened the door to multiple charges of child pornography and invasion of privacy charges in both Lincoln and St. Charles Counties, as well as federal charges for hiding a camera inside of the bathroom of a home in Pennsylvania.
Eisenbath was sentenced to 15 years for possession of child pornography, and four years for invasion of privacy, to run concurrently with his federal sentence.
“The Feds got (Eisenbath) for 184 months,” Wood said. “We continued our prosecution because we wanted the full extent of what the law could afford.”
Lincoln County prosecutors also said the delay in prosecuting Eisenbath arose from the federal and St. Charles County courts proceeding first.
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