Court Hears Powerful Victim Testimony in Kelly Bachelder Sexual Exploitation Case

Every dollar helps Decorah News chase down the truth on Water Street, not just headlines. Give today. DECORAH — On Wednesday, Nov. 12, Kelly Jon Bachelder, 49, of Decorah, was sentenced in Winneshiek County District Court following guilty pleas to multiple criminal charges, including two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of contempt for violating a no-contact order. The sexual exploitation case stems from the June 2022 discovery of cameras within the bedrooms of his home. Investigators reported that Bachelder admitted in a text message that he had placed the cameras in the room of his adopted daughters. In September, he entered an Alford plea to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a plea allowing him to maintain his innocence while acknowledging the state had enough evidence to convict. Bachelder was previously convicted in a separate Winneshiek County case on stalking charges, for which he received a suspended prison sentence and was placed on supervised probation. His legal issues continued into 2024 and 2025 when he violated a no-contact order protecting one of the victims. According to investigators, Bachelder repeatedly viewed the victim's TikTok profile, generating identifiable notifications each time. Between July and November 2024, he viewed the profile at least 15 times, with additional views noted as late as March 2025. The court later found him guilty of two counts of contempt for those violations. At sentencing, the court imposed seven days in jail on each contempt count. Bachelder received credit for time already served. For the sexual exploitation convictions, the court imposed prison sentences not to exceed two years on each count, but suspended those sentences and placed Bachelder on two years of supervised probation. Conditions include placement on the Corrections Continuum, possible residential or day-reporting supervision, completion of the ACTV behavioral program, and re-completion of the Sex Offender Treatment Program at the direction of his probation officer. Bachelder must also pay fines, surcharges, restitution and court costs, and is required to register immediately as a sex offender, including payment of a $260 civil penalty. The court allowed Bachelder to have unsupervised contact with his son. In addition, Bachelder received a special sentence of 10 years under the custody of the Iowa Department of Corrections, as required under Iowa Code 903B.2. That sentence will begin after completion of the sentence imposed in the sexual exploitation case, and he will be supervised as if on parole during that period. The modified no-contact order in the case will remain in effect for five years, with the possibility of additional extensions if the court finds he continues to pose a threat. Bachelder is also facing a civil case, which remains pending. He has been advised of his right to appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court. DecorahNews.com reached out to his defense attorney for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication. "We will continue to fight through." — Grace Shultz As part of Kelly Bachelder's sentencing, the affected parties delivered victim impact statements. The victims' identities were not previously disclosed by DecorahNews.com during the investigation. They have since given permission to be named and appeared publicly as part of the trial. Both Grace and Emma Shultz appeared before the court, their words — and presence — supported by one another. In her statement, Grace Shultz described how her adoption by Bachelder marked "the day my nightmare began." At the time, she believed a new last name meant stability. "I thought a man was finally going to come into my life and be someone I could trust and call dad," she told the court. She said that in the summer after the cameras were discovered, Bachelder repeatedly intimidated her at work and tracked her phone and vehicle without her knowledge. "I knew he had great power, and I never knew how far he would take it," she said. Learning that cameras had been hidden in her younger sister's room left her unable to sleep, she said, describing the lasting feeling of being watched even after investigators cleared the home. She recalled watching her sister, whom she called "one of the strongest women I know," become unable to sleep alone and lose her sense of safety in her own community. Later, she learned that cameras had also been placed in her own bedroom. She described the moment as "an out-of-body experience," saying it sparked a period of emotional withdrawal, isolation and difficulty trusting others. "You violated the place that was supposed to be my safe space," she said, adding that returning to her hometown now brings feelings of loneliness and isolation. She told the court that the abuse upended her relationships, her college athletic career and her sense of self. Grace said the psychological aftermath remains constant. "There is not a day that goes by that I am not looking over my shoulder," she said. "After we walk out of this courtroom, everything will not magically go away. What you have done to our family has become our new reality, and we will continue to fight through." "Getting closure and justice was all I ever wanted." — Emma Shultz In her statement, Emma Shultz, now in her first year of law school, described the pain of returning to the same courthouse where she was once adopted and where she previously delivered a victim impact statement. She recounted discovering two hidden cameras disguised as electrical outlets in her bedroom — devices she said were placed there "by someone who took an oath to protect and love me like his own daughter." She described the two-year wait for forensic results, ten continuances requested by the defense, and hours-long depositions that forced her and her sister to confront intimate images taken without their knowledge. "The photos we had to testify to … confronted us with the painful truth: we had been violated and recorded for two years," she told the court. "Getting closure and justice was all I ever wanted, but the justice served here is a minor infraction for the damage that was done," she added. "Grace and I's lives will never be the same." She detailed what investigators later confirmed: the installation of the cameras had been deliberate and planned. The devices were wired directly into electrical outlets, requiring the home's power to be shut off and timed for rare moments when her mother, a stay-at-home parent, was not around. She said the cameras were moved between the sisters' rooms depending on who was home. Forensic analysis showed thousands of images of the sisters taken over the course of two years, cited as evidence of Bachelder's compulsion toward the material the cameras captured. She spoke about the lingering impact of that trauma: night terrors and the instinct to scan electrical outlets in every room. She also described the pain of realizing she could not protect her younger sister. "How could you do that to my baby sister?" she said. "You didn't just hurt her. You broke something in all of us." Still, she ended with a message of resilience. "Yes, my family and I have faced one of life's harshest challenges, but we will come out stronger," she said, crediting their mother's strength and support. "Because of her, we will keep moving forward, one step at a time, never giving in." Join the community of savvy subscribers (for free)! Get the latest updates, tips, and insider information by subscribing to the free newsletter today.