Child molester tried to orchestrate murder from behind bars

A former Naugatuck resident and Derby church organist serving prison time for sexually assaulting three girls has been sentenced to seven more years for plotting to kill one of his victims.

Robert Nelson, 53, who has been behind bars since 2005, will serve a total of 22 years in prison. He is currently incarcerated at Bridgeport Correctional Institution and is not expected to be out of prison until he is 73 years old, according to the state Department of Correction's Web site.

Nelson worked as a church organist at St. James Episcopal Church in Derby. There, he met young girls under the age of 16 and coerced them into sexual activities.

Between 2000 and 2004, he paid three girls, ranging in age from 10 to 16, to engage in sex acts, pose naked and watch pornographic movies. Nelson gave the girls rides home from church. He served them alcohol, photographed them in the nude, and had sex with them, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

While Nelson was incarcerated at Cheshire Correctional Institution, state police learned of a plan Nelson was orchestrating to murder one of the girls he sexually assaulted. State police said Nelson tried to convince a woman outside of prison to kill one of his victims. Police arrested him in January for criminal attempt to commit murder and inciting injury to persons.