Porn Charges Put Camp Director in Hot Water and Raise Parents' Caution

Parents may think about sending children off to overnight camp, now that a fired camp director in Northern Wisconsin faces pornography charges for shooting videos of showering kids.

Moms and dads may already feel somewhat anxious, sending youngsters on their first overnight camp experience. But Jeremy Fadoul (32), who worked for at least three years as a camp executive in Oneida County, may have raised parents' worst-case suspicions even more. Is this not the scariest scenario a mother or father might consider, while shipping a child off to summer camp?


The bare facts from the Badger State

Terminated earlier this year by Camp Fire USA's Camp Birchrock of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, Fadoul is under felony criminal investigation for allegedly secretly videotaping little girls in the camp showers.

The camp ended the former executive director's employment several months ago. Fadoul has been suspected of stealing nearly $44,000 from the camp's coffers at the local People's State Bank by transferring funds to a PayPal account. When authorities obtained a warrant and searched Fadoul's Rhinelander home computer, they apparently uncovered videos of young female campers showering, with and without swimsuits.

Oneida County detectives have indicated that Fadoul's face appears on one of the videotapes, and that they have identified the specific camp shower stall in which filming occurred.

Hired in 2008, Fadoul had been Camp Birchrock's executive director and medical director. His other interests apparently have included operating JAMZDJ, a mobile deejay service, serving as a volunteer firefighter in Rhinelander and spending time with his own family. Fadoul has a young son, who has been enrolled in local day care.

The non-profit Camp Birchrock offers both day camp and residential camp options for boys and girls from seven to 14 years, including programs for foster kids and children with special needs. The 200-acre camp has been accredited by the American Camp Association and the State of Wisconsin for 30 years. A new director has not yet been named as Fadoul's replacement for the 60-year-old camp, but camp sessions are expected to open on schedule for the 2011 season.


If convicted, Fadoul could face up to 13 years in prison for the felony charges.

Several questions remain unanswered. Will the parents of the videotaped children be notified? Did Fadoul upload and share his sordid camerawork with others? What steps can summer camps take to ensure this sordid sort of thing does not occur at their facilities?

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