Kivisto, 50, took plea deal last December
James Kivisto, a former gymnastics coach, will spend more than 17 years behind bars after being convicted of video recording children using the restroom at his Win Lake facility and possession of child pornography.
Kivisto, 50, who pleaded guilty to some of the charges last December, was sentenced to 17 years and three months followed by 30 years extended supervision on Feb. 15 by Racine County Circuit Court judge Mark F. Nielsen.
He originally faced 28 felony counts, including 10 counts of possession of child pornography before he accepted a plea deal in December.
As part of the plea bargain, according to online court records, he pleaded no contest to three counts of possession of child pornography and 10 counts of invasion of privacy, use of a surveillance device to record victims under 18 years old.
All other charges were dismissed.
Racine County assistant district attorney Dirk Christian Jensen requested 20 years incarceration followed by another 20 years extended supervision, online court records show.
The complaint contends Kivisto, who lived at the gymnastics center at 7923 S. Loomis Road, started using the recording device to collect videos of children in various stages of undress as early as 2014.
The recordings were not discovered until March, when a parent of a child found a camera in the bathroom of the Wind Lake Gymnastics Center, the complaint states.
The parent decided to take the camera home and viewed video, which showed Kivisto setting up the device, and later saw a teenaged girl adjusting her hair in the mirror.
“He stopped watching at that point and that after talking to a couple of people he contacted law enforcement,” the complaint states.
Kivisto, according to the complaint, admitted to investigators he used the videos for sexual arousal.
Investigators later uncovered hundreds of images of children on his electronic devices.
For more court-related news see the Feb. 22 edition of the Waterford Post.
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