CLEARFIELD – A DuBois man facing child pornography charges for allegedly posing as a woman online to get photos of a teen boy has signed a plea agreement.
Jarrod Andrew Ross, 21, is charged with F3 child pornography-sexual abuse of children, and corruption of minors in relation to events that occurred in November of 2014. During jury selection Thursday, Ross agreed to plead guilty. He is scheduled to sentenced March 7, according to court documents.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, an officer from the Reynoldsville Police Department was investigating Ross, who allegedly had nude photos of several underage males on his cell phone. Ross was able to obtain the photos from the victims because Ross allegedly posed as a woman online.
While the officer was reviewing the photos, he recognized one of the juveniles and knew this victim lived in DuBois. He then contacted Pennsylvania State Police about it.
When an officer spoke with the victim in September of 2015, he remembered getting a friend request on Facebook from a girl named Lacey, who was a good-looking blonde woman about 18 or 19- ears old around the time of the crime.
He accepted the request and the two started talking. When “she” asked how old he was, he told her he was 16, when he was really only 15 years old at that time. They continued to send messages via Facebook and the conversation became sexual in nature.
“Lacey” sent him a topless photo and requested photos of the victim in return, he told police. The victim sent 17 photos of which six or eight were frontal nudes. After the fourth day of talking and sending photos, Lacey stopped responding to his messages.
He said he tried to figure out why she was not responding, but gave up and moved on, forgetting about the whole thing until the police contacted him. The victim was able to identify himself in the photos. He told police he was not aware that “Lacey” was actually a guy posing as a woman.
In his interview with police, Ross said he knew the victim. He also said that the victim knew he was a man.
He admitted they conversed on Facebook and their conversations were sexual in nature. He also admitted that they exchanged explicit photos and that the victim told him he was 16 years old.
Ross is facing additional charges in Jefferson County of F3 child pornography (five counts) and one misdemeanor count of corruption of minors. Jury selection for that case is scheduled for March 6, according to online court documents.
