On March 12, at approximately 11 a.m., former SCHS drama teacher Louis (Nick) Saubers entered courtroom 515 in the St. Charles County Courthouse. Within two hours he was sentenced to four years in prison. Seven months prior, Saubers had been arrested by St. Charles County police and charged with two counts of possession of child pornography, a class D felony. In November of 2025, the former teacher pled guilty to both charges, and sentencing was scheduled for January of 2026, though sentencing was postponed until March due to Saubers not having yet been screened for SOAP (Sex Offender Assessment Process), which is used to determine risk of reoffense.

About an hour after arriving in court, Saubers was sworn in, and both defense and prosecution approached Judge Erin Burlison to present their arguments.

The prosecution, Katie Rickerson, began the discussion, laying out the city’s requests and perspective on the case. The city, according to Rickerson, requested a sentence of five years for the charges. Rickerson cited community safety concerns due to the defendant’s prior position as a teacher, his involvement in other organizations that gave him unrestricted access to minors, and the online conversations where he expressed sexual interests in 14-15 year old boys, a demographic he had easy access to through his position at SCHS. 

The defense, attorney Eric L. Bohemer, refuted the prosecution, claiming that there are many factors in the case that ruled in his client’s favor. Bohemer claimed that at the time of the initial arrest, there was great community support for Saubers, and, gesturing to those attending the sentencing, the majority whom were Saubers’ family and friends, claimed that there were still many who supported him. He also made a point to mention that in other cases, the defendant’s job would be considered irrelevant to the crime, arguing that his job as a teacher at the time of his offense should not be a factor when considering sentencing. He then reminded the judge that because of these charges, Saubers will never be employed as a teacher again. It was also mentioned that he had no prior criminal history, and no allegations were made against him from former students.

Bohemer then went on to talk about the crime itself, where he stated the offense was a result of “tremendous errors in judgement…possibly due to what I [the defense] believe was meth use.” In regards to the text conversations that were discovered with the images, which included graphic descriptions of Saubers’ various sexual fantasies involving children, Bohemer simply stated that, “It is not against the law to say stupid things to your friends online.”

Bohemer then circled back to the images, and stated that “they only found two pictures, that is unbelievably rare,” claiming that in most cases of this nature, a large collection of CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) is found, and the small amount Saubers was in possession of implies this was not a large issue.

The prosecution then argued that “the fact that he was a teacher is absolutely a factor too,” saying that “child porn is not just a stupid mistake.”

After brief discussion between the judge, the defense, and the prosecution, the verdict was handed down: a sentence of four years on both counts, to be served concurrently. 

Following the sentencing, Rickerson stated via email, in regards to the sentence, “We are disappointed in the number of years.” 

When asked for comment via email, Bohemer’s office did not respond.

Saubers’ family declined to comment.