PROVO, Utah, Oct. 27, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — A registered sex offender from Ogden who was released from prison in March was arrested in a Provo park Wednesday after he arranged to meet someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl for sex.
The girl in this case was actually an undercover detective, and Jason Wayne Jones, 37, was arrested for enticing a minor over the Internet and dealing in materials harmful to a minor.
Sgt. Spencer Cannon, spokesman for the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, said in a news release that in mid-September, investigators from his office and the Department of Homeland Security began communicating with Jones, as part of the Utah Valley Special Victims Task Force and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Jones arranged to meet a person he believed was a 13-year-old girl, and investigators say he arrived at a park in Provo with the intention of having sexual relations with that girl. Jones was arrested.
Jones had been released from prison on March 26 after he served a five-year prison sentence. Because he served his full sentence, Jones is not on parole. He is, however, a registered sex offender in Utah. In the earlier case, Jones was arrested for having unlawful sexual relations with a minor, a third-degree felony. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of sexual battery, a class A misdemeanor.
In this new case, Jones was booked into the Utah County Jail on a second-degree felony charge of enticing, soliciting, or luring a minor by Internet or text, and a third-degree felony charge of dealing in materials harmful to a minor. Bail has been set for Jones at $10,000, cash only.
