Former GOP aide fesses up to 'imaginary' teen trysts

RAW STORY

Defense attorney had claimed boy made it up; said client was 'conservative guy, caring'

A former GOP congressional aide has pleaded guilty to molesting two male teens, including the 13-year-old son of a family with whom the staffer lived while working on Capitol Hill.

37-year-old Jeffrey Ray Nielsen, who has worked previously for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), as well the Republican chair of California's Orange County, agreed to two felony counts of lewd acts upon a child, reports the Associated Press. A jury had deadlocked at an earlier trial this year -- in which Nielsen was accused of engaging in sexual acts with a 14-year-old boy he met on the internet -- and prosecutors were prepared to bring additional charges in a retrial.

The plea deal is expected to bring a sentence of three years in state prison, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"Prosecutors contended that Nielsen had met the 14-year-old victim on a gay Internet site and driven the boy to his Ladera Ranch condominium, where the two engaged in oral sex," the Times reports. "The boy, a high school freshman, told a friend who alerted school authorities." After his arrest in 2003, police found "thousands of images" of child pornography on his home and work computers......