MAN FACING CHARGES IN HIDDEN RECORDINGS REJECTS PRISON DEAL

A 22-year-old Massachusetts man accused of setting up hidden cameras in restrooms at Connecticut College and at an East Lyme beach club has rejected a plea offer that called for a five-year prison sentence.

Facing multiple felony charges and free on $275,000 in bonds, Nicholas Spellman of Wilbraham, Mass., appeared in New London Superior Court on Tuesday and rejected an offer from state prosecutors to plead guilty to one count of first-degree child pornography in exchange for five years in prison and 10 years of probation, court records show.

Spellman’s cases were added to the trial list with an unspecified start for jury selection.

Spellman, a former Connecticut College student, has four pending criminal cases dating back to 2020 with multiple felony charges stemming from investigations in New London and East Lyme. New London police have charged Spellman with nine counts of voyeurism with malice and disorderly conduct. Police said Spellman made secret recordings of women in the Connecticut College dormitory bathroom in 2020. Investigation into Spellman’s electronic devices led to an additional charged of first-degree child porn possession, police said.

In East Lyme, Spellman is accused of possessing video from a camera hidden in the woman’s restroom at the Old Black Point Beach Club, where he worked as a lifeguard in 2019 and 2020. Among the 13 victims in the videos is an underage girl, police said.

Spellman has pleaded not guilty to all voyeurism charges and told police he had no intention of disseminating videos he collected and no intention of recording minors, police records show. Spellman, whose family has a summer home in Stonington, is represented by attorney Michael Brown.