Man pleads guilty to use of minor in pornographic work

Published 7:34 am Tuesday, December 28, 2010

A 28-year-old Rochester man pleaded guilty Monday in Mower County Court to accusations that he used a 16-year-old girl in sexually explicit videos.

Jason Allen Jerde entered into a plea agreement, pleading guilty to one count of using a minor in a sexual performance or pornographic work in exchange for dismissal of two other similar charges.

Sexual images and videos of the girl, along with images and videos of nude male genitalia, were found on cell phones and iPods in the girl’s possession when she was reported as a runaway in November.

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One of the men with whom she had been communicating extensively was referred to as “Jay” — later identified as Jerde.

The girl told officers that “Jay” was her boyfriend who worked as a physical therapist at Mayo Clinic. She indicated she met him three times in person and later said they had engaged in sexual intercourse on three separate occasions.

Police discovered the girl and Jerde had been communicating via Yahoo, two Hotmail accounts, My Yearbook, Facebook, Myspace and Moco Space — the girl said she is listed as a 16-year-old female on all social networking sites.

The girl told officers she and “Jay” had exchanged many sexual images and videos per his request.

On Oct. 15, Jerde sent a text message stating that he wanted the girl to keep sending him pictures.

In other text messages, Jerde indicated that he wanted the girl to be his “little six-year-old girl,” according to court documents. He also told the girl she could not tell anyone about them or they would get into trouble.

Jerde indicated he liked when the girl wore her hair in pigtails, court documents said. He sent her a text message encouraging her to wear pigtails for “daddy,” because they made her look younger than a first grader. He also stated in text messages that he had “never been so turned on.”

Police also found a total of six sexually explicit videos on the girl’s iPod; all six videos had been of the girl and sent to Jerde.

Jerde was arrested on Dec. 10 and admitted to having a user profile on mocospace.com, where he and the girl allegedly met. He told officers he is aware of the girl’s age. He denied ever having sexual intercourse with her, but said they had a “fantasy” that consisted of him playing “Daddy” and her playing his six-year-old daughter.

Jerde admitted to all of the messages from the chat logs and said the chats became more violent and included bondage and “forced sex.” He also admitted to sending images of his genitalia to the girl and asking for images and videos from her.

Police discovered Jerde is employed at Hiawatha Homes in Rochester, which is a residential facility for disabled adults and children. Jerde told officers that he has never had sexual relations with vulnerable adults or children.

His sentencing date is scheduled for March 3. The maximum sentence is 10 years in prison or a $20,000 fine.