Online Predatory Poaching Investigation Leads to Conviction of Rochester Man

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- A 43-year-old Rochester man has been convicted in a case stemming from an investigation conducted by citizens seeking to identify online sexual predators. 

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The group, which calls itself the "Predator Poachers," contacted the Rochester Police Department on March 7 and told police that a member was posing online as a 13-year-old girl and was contacted in late January on the social media platform Kik and Instagram.

The user who contacted the fake teen was later identified as Jason Allen Jerde, the complaint says. 

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Rochester Man, Charged Following Citizen Online Predator Sting, Sentenced to Probation

The charges state that the citizen investigators were able to determine that Jerde lived in Rochester and that the recorded conversations continued until March 7, when a member of "Predator Poachers" confronted him about what he had been doing. 

Jerde expressed a desire to have sexual contact with children and exposed himself while engaging in lewd conduct during video chats with the person posing online as the 13-year-old, the court document says. 

Rochester police executed a search warrant at Jerde's residence on March 26. Jerde told investigators he met a girl he thought was 18 years old online, but acknowledged that the person stated that she was 13 years old, the charges say. 

The investigator also reported that Jerde stated that he suggested meeting the girl at a hotel and that his intent was to have sexual contact with her. The Criminal complaint says he also told investigators that he was viewing child sexual abuse material on his phone. 

Jerde was charged with soliciting a child or a person believed to be a child to engage in sexual conduct, engaging in electronic communication relating or describing sexual conduct with a child, and distributing material that relates or describes sexual conduct to a child and two child pornography possession counts. 

In July, Jerde admitted to one of the child pornography counts and the distributing material that relates or describes sexual conduct to a child charge. All other charges were dismissed, according to the plea deal. 

Jerde was sentenced Monday to five years probation and 30 days in jail. He’s also ordered to register as a predatory offender.