No penalty for man who filmed naked children

A 29-year-old counselor caught secretly filming naked children at a Swedish summer camp won’t be punished for his crimes.

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The man was arrested in June 2007 after being discovered making recordings of children while they were taking saunas at a summer camp in the archipelago outside of Norrtälje, north of Stockholm, the Metro newspaper reports.

But just before prosecutors brought formal charges against the 29-year-old, he managed to slip out of the country and escape to Thailand.

Since then, the man has been hiding out in the Asian paradise, ignoring repeated summons and waiting until the statute of limitations for his crime expired.

And just a few hours after the former camp counselor could no longer be charged with a crime, prosecutors had no choice but to grant his request that they return the recording equipment and computer confiscated when he was arrested.

“Obviously, you can get upset over how easy someone can have criminal suspicions against them written off,” prosecutor Eva Thunegard told the newspaper.

The man was able to leave the country so easily in part because he had a protected identity due to having been the subject of earlier threats.

According to Metro, the man currently works as a school teacher in another country.

"It’s disgraceful that it’s so easy to avoid a trial and possible conviction,” a parent of one of the children filmed by the counselor told the newspaper.