York County man pleads guilty to secretly making videos of children in bathroom
A York County man who secretly took thousands of videos of girls in a bathroom at his home has been sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges associated to exploitation and voyerism.
Mark Steven Ehrnschwender, 64, of Lake Wylie, admitted taking the videos when he pleaded guilty Monday afternoon in York County criminal court. He pleaded guilty to single counts of second and third degree sexual exploitation of minors, and four counts of misdemeanor voyeurism by taking secret videos, according to court records and officials.
York County Circuit Court Judge Dan Hall sentenced Ehrnschwender after he came to an agreement with prosecutors with the S.C. Attorney General’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children task force.
Half a million pictures, thousands of videos
Ehrnschwender was arrested after York County Sheriff’s Office deputies were informed in October 2018 of a video transfer. Ehrnschwender shared a video online through Bit Torrent file sharing, records show.
Deputies continued to investigate and found that Ehrschwender had more than 500,000 child porn pictures and almost 9,000 videos, attorney general’s office spokesman Robert Kittle said.
Law enforcement officials also found Ehrnschwender had recorded thousands of videos over several years in the bathroom of his home, Kittle said in a written release. Videos of naked and partially-naked children taking showers, changing clothes and using the bathroom were made at Ehrnschwender’s home, documents in the case show. There were 19 victims in the case, officials said.
The material that Ehrnschwender shared online, which led to the initial search, was not the voyeuristic material he had shot at his house, Kittle said.
Exploitation charges are felonies
South Carolina law defines child pornography as sexual exploitation. Second degree sexual exploitation of minors includes sharing child pornography. Third degree sexual exploitation includes possession of child pornography.
Erschwender was guilty of both possession and sharing of child porn, under South Carolina law.
Ehrnschwender’s lawyer, Gary Lemel of Rock Hill, said in a statement after court that Ehrnschwender apologized for his actions.
“My client took full responsibility for his actions and hopes that his family and the victims will see his remorse for the pain he has caused them,” Lemel said.
Several of the victims were in court Monday. The Herald is not naming the victims because of their ages and the nature of the sex crimes against them.
Ehrnschwender must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life after his release from the S.C. Department of Corrections, according to court documents..
This story was originally published June 22, 2021 at 9:41 AM.
