Man lured teen boys to concerts and secretly recorded them nude in hotel, feds say

A Missouri man admitted to luring teenage boys to concerts and secretly recording them nude in hotel bathrooms, authorities say. Now he’s been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

An investigation into Michael Stevens, 43, began in April 2020, when parents of one of the boys contacted the Scott County Sheriff’s Office regarding sexual misconduct.

They reported that Stevens, of Oran, had become friends with their family and started taking their son hunting and fishing when he was about 13. But in July 2019, the boy told his stepfather he no longer wanted to go on trips with Stevens, according to court records.

The stepfather questioned the teen, officials say, and the boy said he was no longer comfortable spending time with Stevens. He said Stevens had been asking for pictures and videos of his genitals, and he said the man grabbed his buttocks in a hotel after a Garth Brooks concert in March 2019.

Authorities later learned Stevens had set up a small camera in their hotel bathroom, and after the concert, the boy was surreptitiously recorded nude, according to a signed plea agreement. While executing a search warrant in May 2020, officials found the video recording on Stevens’ laptop. The boy was seen undressing and getting in the shower.

Stevens’ defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on Aug. 25.

In May 2020, Stevens told law enforcement officers “he took multiple teenage boys under his wing and mentored them over the years,” according to the plea agreement. “The defendant stated that he went too far with sexual talk with some of these boys.”

He identified one other boy, authorities say, whom he met at a youth baseball game. Stevens said he had the boy pose without his shirt for senior baseball pictures, and he tried persuading the boy to take pornographic photos in lieu of “repayment” for all the “gifts” he had received from him over the years.

Stevens said he also took that teen to a St. Louis concert prior to September 2017, and he used a small camera to secretly record the boy while nude, according to the plea agreement. Authorities found the video on a disc with 16 video files of “early pubescent males.”

Stevens pleaded guilty to coercion and enticement of a minor, according to an Aug. 24 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. After he’s released from prison, he’ll be required to register as a sex offender and spend the rest of his life on supervised release.

The man was also ordered to pay $6,000 in restitution, authorities say. He agreed to give up a 2011 Chevrolet Silverado, and a portion of the sale will go toward his restitution.

Oran is about 135 miles south of St. Louis.

This story was originally published August 25, 2022 at 8:27 AM with the headline "Man lured teen boys to concerts and secretly recorded them nude in hotel, feds say."