By Allen Edmonds
A 42-year-old Belton man was ordered Friday by Associate Circuit Judge Mike Rumley to remain in the Cass County without bond on multiple child sex-related charges following an alleged weekend online encounter with a Belton Middle School student he had met while substitute teaching at the school last week.
Jason Lee Carey is charged with a felony count of enticement of a child less than 15 years old in connection with the female middle school student. Further investigation by the Belton Police Department then resulted in additional charges of molestation of a child younger than 12, and two counts of furnishing pornography to a child younger than 12 in connection with an alleged incident over the summer at his Belton home.
He was arraigned on the charges Friday morning and is scheduled to appear by Webex before Rumley on Monday at 10:30 a.m. for a bond hearing. He told Rumley during Friday's hearing that he plans to request a court-appointed attorney to represent him.
Friday's hearing was also held by Webex. During the hearing, Carey provided his name, then only brief "yes" or "no" answers to the questions he was asked. He indicated that he understood the charges against him as well as the potential sentences, which range from a minimum of five years and a maximum of 15 years with a requirement that 85 percent of his sentence be served on the molestation charge; and a minimum of five years and a maximum of 30 years with a lifetime supervision requirement on the enticement charge.
The investigation remains open, according to Belton Police Lt. Dan Davis.
“Although charges have been filed, this continues to be an ongoing investigation and additional charges may be filed as more information is obtained,” Davis said.
Anyone with additional or new information is urged to call Belton Police.
According to an affidavit filed with the Cass County Circuit Court by Belton Police late Wednesday evening, Carey was detained in Bates County at 12:08 a.m. Wednesday and transported to the Belton Police Station on an investigative hold. Officers took possession of Carey’s cell phone and obtained a search warrant for the phone and Snapchat accounts belonging to Carey and an eighth-grade girl based on information they had been provided in a report taken at midday Monday by the school resource officer.
According to the affidavit, the school principal, Jennifer Paschall, reported to the officer that the student had reported receiving “inappropriate pictures” from Carey, who had substituted at the school during the week of Sept. 12.
In a direct interview, the student told the officer that Carey had taught in one of her classes, and that she had gone to him and asked “How’s your day?” at one point.
She told the officer that he replied, “better since I’ve seen you now.”
She told the officer that she “thought he was cool,” and asked for his Snapchat name, which he provided, the affidavit said.
She told the officer she showed him her Snapchat, and added him as a friend.
Later that day, after school, she received a message from him “stating ‘Hey’ or ‘Hi.’” She told the officer “the messages did not get ‘weird’ until Friday night,” when she allegedly received a message “stating ‘I don’t know if I should be telling you, but your body is beautiful,’ and ‘If you were here, I would be hugging you.’”
According to the affidavit, he messaged that he had had a dream about her, and that the dream involved the two of them involved in sexual activity. The message then went on to graphically describe the activity.
Officers then learned that several girls from the middle school spent the night together on Friday night, Sept. 16, and that several girls were using their Snapchat accounts to communicate with Carey. Screenshots of those comments were observed by the resource officer during his initial investigation. He also obtained four videos from the victims, allegedly sent by Carey. In one of the videos, the suspect’s face is visible, the report said. Each of the videos featured a male individual involved in sexual activity.
During the investigation, officers discovered the existence of an additional female victim. An 8-year-old girl had told her mother that had shown her pornography during an overnight stay with her 10-year-old friend, the child of Carey’s roommate. The mother reported to police that the incident occurred on Aug. 9.
The three victims were sent to the Child Protection Center for a forensic interview on Wednesday, where the 8-year-old described swimming with her friend and Carey in the swimming pool at the residence. She told interviewers that Carey was swimming with the children, and was picking them up and throwing them into the water.
The girl said “the defendant grabbed and started rubbing her private part,” according to the affidavit.
She told investigators that they went into the defendant’s bedroom after swimming. After changing clothes, she sat on his bed with him, where she said he opened “an app full of videos on his phone and told her not to tell anybody.”
She said he showed her four different videos involving the suspect and a female involved in sexual activity. She told investigators she was able to identify the suspect in the video “because of the bump on his leg.”
Forensic investigators also interviewed the two middle school students on Wednesday. The first student gave investigators the same information that had been given to the resource officer on Monday. A second middle school student told the investigator that she had added Carey on Snapchat on Friday, Sept. 16, and that she began receiving “weird” messages that evening.
“She stated the defendant sent her messages asking if she was alone and if her parents ever let her leave the house. She stated she also received a photograph from the defendant’s Snapchat account of a male subject with his hands down his boxers.” She said that Carey also said “things about her body being perfect.” She told the investigator that she eventually blocked Carey’s account.
Officers interviewed Carey during the early evening on Wednesday at Belton Regional Medical Center. Though police are restricted by federal privacy law from disclosing the exact reason for the hospital visit, Davis said Friday that Carey was being treated for an "illness, not injury." By Thursday, he was being held at the Cass County Jail in Harrisonville.
Carey told officers he had heard he was being held for “having inappropriate conversations,” and he told detectives he knew which conversations were being referred to.
He told detectives that when he was at the school, he had his cell phone out and that his Snapchat was pulled up. He said that two of the students “took a picture” of his “Snap code: and added him on Snapchat.
He admitted to accepting Snapchat requests from one of the students but “stated he did not know who the other students were when he accepted their Snapchat requests,” according to the affidavit.
He told detectives that he had been drinking most of the day on Saturday, Sept. 17, and had conversations with people on Snapchat.
“The defendant stated he did not take any explicit photos or videos that night but did have explicit photos and videos that were stored on his phone,” according to the affidavit. ”The defendant could not provide an explanation for the videos or photos that were recovered from the victims’ phones besides that he was intoxicated. The defendant explained the only night there would have been any conversations would have been Saturday night.”
Carey also recalled the sleepover incident with the 8-year-old and told detectives that the girl slept in his bedroom.
He said he remembered playing with the children in the pool, but denied touching the 8-year-old inappropriately. He also denied showing the girl videos on his phone, but told detectives there had been times “he would allow her to play games on his cell phone with his son.”
Detectives confirmed with the roommate that Carey’s son was not at the residence that night, the affidavit said.
Carey told detectives he no longer had any sexually explicit videos on his phone, but that he had deleted the photographs and deactivated his social media accounts on Monday, Sept. 19.
Asked if the victim would have seen any other sexually explicit videos, Carey told detectives that he did have videos of an ex-girlfriend and himself involved in sexual activity. He said that these videos had been stored in their own folder and that were “multiple buttons that had to be pushed on the phone” in order to locate the material.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Following is the probable cause affidavit filed with the court in connection with the case. Birthdates and initials of victims and their relatives have been redacted by the North Cass Herald. Please be advised that the material contained in this affidavit is offensive in nature and is not suitable for young readers. However, we feel it is important to make available to our readers in order to fully understand the gravity of this case.
This story was updated at 5:41 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23.
Comments