Merrill sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of child porn

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Former Green Mountain middle school teacher Norman Merrill, a Chester resident who plead guilty to possession of child sexual abuse material, was sentenced on Monday afternoon to 10 years in federal prison by Judge Christina Reiss in Burlington.

On May 19, 2022, a federal grand jury in Burlington returned a three-count indictment charging Merrill with production of child sexual abuse material, attempted production of child sexual abuse material and possession of child sexual abuse material. That third count carries the lowest minimum sentence of 10 years; the other two have a minimum to maximum sentence range of 15 to 30 years. The counts of production and attempted production were dismissed at the end of sentencing.

Merrill had been accused of surreptitiously taking video in a bathroom used by children in his home and editing those images. In addition,  there were reports of him shooting video and attempting to ‘upskirt’ girls at school but the prosecution said that no pornography production took place at the school.

Up until the day of his arrest just last May, Merrill had been a respected and —  for some beloved — long-time teacher at Green Mountain, and the charges against him shocked the greater school community.

At a Dec. 19, 2022 hearing, Merrill changed his plea from not guilty to guilty. At that time, Judge Reiss said that the plea agreement called for 10 years in prison and supervised release of not less than 10 years but she would defer her decision on it because she did not know enough about Merrill and his case to determine whether that was the appropriate sentence.

At Monday’s hearing, the judge asked Merrill to stand and then said, “It is the sentence of the court that the defendant be committed to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons for 120 months, with credit for time served, to be followed by a 10-year term of supervised release.” Merrill could be out on supervised release in May 2032. Reiss recommended that Merrill be sent to the Federal Medical Center in Devens, Mass., for sex offender treatment and, if that is not available, to a prison as close to Connecticut — where some family resides — as possible with the lowest security setting available to him.

The conditions of release at the end of his prison term ran to more than six pages of the 37-page transcript and included cooperating with collection of his DNA, sex offender registration and notifications, participation in sex offender evaluation and treatment, strict restrictions on his owning and using computers and contact with children including the victims of his crime. He was also told that he, his house, vehicles and belongings will be subject to warrant-less search by any law enforcement or probation officer who has a “reasonable suspicion” that he may have violated the conditions of release.

A substantial portion of the hearing was given over to discussion of the restitution, fines and other financial matters. The judge ruled that there would be a fine of $5,000, restitution to a minor victim of $3,000 and $750 for legal fees incurred in securing a restraining order for family members.

The judge recognized that $3,000 was not a lot for the ongoing treatment that the minor would likely need, but both the defense and the prosecution pointed to a restitution fund available for child pornography victims to access for such expenses. Judge Reiss looked to balance the ongoing needs to pay child support and the likely demands of a pending divorce in allowing Merrill to retain his assets.

“I would like to see whatever assets he has that are available for distribution go into those areas,” said Judge Reiss.

Defense attorney Deven McLaughlin told the court that Merrill’s “darkness” was only mitigated by the fact that this was his own private obsession and that he did not distribute what he produced. Again the charge before the court was not production but possession of one image of child pornography.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ophardt said he wanted to make it clear that, “There is no (child sexual abuse material) made at the school. I want to be clear on that. There was no pornography produced at the school.” Ophardt admitted that Merrill had made “covert video attempts,” but none of them had resulted in pornographic content.

Midway through the hearing, Merrill spoke to the court, saying, “I would just like to start by saying how overwhelmingly sorry I am for what I’ve done. I know that I’ve caused many people immeasurable pain, anger, disappointment, embarrassment, especially the victims in this case. I have irreparably broken the trust of my students, my colleagues, my school community. I’ve brought undue embarrassment to them and let them down as a role model for my community. I’ve hurt my family, my friends in unfathomable ways. Most importantly, I know I have inflicted unimaginable trauma on the direct victims of my crime.”

The Bureau of Prisons will now decide where Merrill will serve his sentence.

Previous Telegraph coverage

GM middle school teacher arrested on federal charges of creating child pornography

Merrill pleads not guilty, ordered to remain in custody

Judge denies Merrill motion for pre-trial release

Fired by GMUSD board, Merrill awaits trial in jail

Hearing scheduled for Merrill plea change

Judge defers decision on Merrill plea agreement