A former janitor who admitted to placing cameras in the restrooms of several Huntsville businesses faces a possible sentence of 180 years in prison when he is sentenced on Tuesday.

Jeremy Joseph Nelson pleaded guilty in February to four counts of sexual exploitation of a child, two counts of possession of child pornography and a single count of distribution of child pornography. He is being sentenced at 2 p.m. Tuesday in U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala's courtroom.

Jeremy Joseph Nelson (Madison County jail)

Court records indicate that a pre-sentencing investigation report recommends the 180-year sentence. Though the report itself was not available in the records Monday, Nelson's objection to the report was.

His attorneys argue that stacking the sentences for each of the seven charges against Nelson is unnecessary to reach the "total punishment" according to federal law. The relevant law requires the court to impose consecutive sentences, or one after another, only sufficient to equal life in prison, they write.

"At least one district court has recognized that stacking counts beyond an individual's lifetime is unnecessary and not required" under the law, the defense objection reads.

Nelson, 43, currently has an average life expectancy of 82 years, the lawyers argue. They claim that a sentence of 39 years, provided that all conditions are the same for him in custody as they are outside of prison, would equal a life sentence.

In a sentencing memorandum filed by the defense last week, the lawyers argue for a sentence of 30 years on each of the seven charges, to run concurrently, or all at the same time.

"Mr. Nelson submits that this sentence reflects the nature and circumstances of Mr. Nelson's offense, his personal history, and is 'sufficient, but not greater than necessary' to serve the purposes of sentencing" set forth by the law, the document reads.

The memorandum offers details into Nelson's personal history, which includes an alleged incident of sexual abuse as a young boy that he never reported. He began using drugs at age 14 and has been plagued by addiction since.

The court record also includes letters to the judge written by character witnesses, including one of Nelson's two daughters and the maternal uncle who adopted him at the age of 15 months.

The daughter's handwritten letter says she understands the seriousness of her father's crimes and is not trying to justify his actions. Nelson, an employee of Sanitary Systems of New Market, was arrested in October after it was discovered that he had placed cameras in the restrooms of three local businesses - Ann's Studio of Dance, WHNT News 19 and Bentley Automotive Cadillac.

Court records show that he had a computer file that held naked images of children from the dance studio titled, "What a Little Cutie." The charges against him stemmed from those images, as well as pictures of three children taken using hidden cameras in Nelson's home.

Nelson's daughter described him as a church-going man whose life changes when he falls to his addictions.

"I can understand how easily a person can classify my father as an evil man who cannot be helped," the girl writes. "However, I know my father, and he is a kind-hearted man that wishes to start a new, better life."

She writes that she and her sister understand that he must be punished for his crimes, but that they would like to see him out of prison in his lifetime.

His uncle and adoptive father, Donald Nelson, writes of the young man he raised, someone with a kind and giving heart who struggled with addiction since middle school.

"I am not sure what happened to Jeremy these last couple of years, other than both of his girls decided to stay in Tennessee and go to high school there, and he got diabetes and almost went into a diabetic coma in the doctor's office. He started drinking again and did not take good care of his health," the older Nelson writes. "Since Jeremy has been incarcerated, I have talked to him about his actions. There is something wrong and I do not know what it is, nor do I know how to fix it. I do know that he is willing to pay the price for his actions.

"My prayers for Jeremy are to have him placed in the facility that can help him work through this addiction and dark place in his life," he writes.