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East Bridgewater man facing child porn charges following tip from group that targets online predators
The nonprofit Bikers Against Predators tracked Jason Giles down and confronted him after he allegedly messaged a decoy account that was posing as an 11-year-old child.
An East Bridgewater man is facing child pornography charges after police received a tip from a nonprofit group that aims to expose online predators.
Jason Giles, 21, was charged with possessing child pornography, disseminating obscene matter to a minor, enticing a child under the age of 16, and posing/exhibiting a child in a sexual act, East Bridgewater Chief of Police Michael Jenkins said in a news release.
Giles pleaded not guilty Friday in Brockton District Court and was ordered held in lieu of posting $10,000 cash bail, according to online court records. If Giles does post bail, he’ll be subject to GPS monitoring and home confinement, with orders to have no contact with minor children and no use of the internet or social media. Boston.com has reached out to his attorney for comment.
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Police arrested Giles on Thursday after receiving a call from a woman in Indiana who identified herself as an employee of the nonprofit Bikers Against Predators, according to Jenkins. As the woman spoke to police, other members of the organization were at a house on Central Street, speaking to a man they alleged was having inappropriate contact with minors online, Jenkins explained.
He said officers and detectives arrived at the home and spoke to one of the group members, who purportedly identified Giles as the suspect. A preliminary investigation revealed another third-party group that was engaged in undercover online chats to expose child predators had made contact with Giles on Facebook Messenger, according to Jenkins.
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Giles, he alleged, “was under the impression that he was speaking with a juvenile girl.”
The third-party group then contacted Bikers Against Predators, which learned Giles’s identity and tracked him down in East Bridgewater, according to police. Bikers Against Predators livestreamed the confrontation on its Facebook page, alleging Giles had been messaging a decoy account that was posing as an 11-year-old child. According to its website, the organization has “exposed” nearly 350 online child predators.
Giles allegedly had child pornography videos in his possession and had sold videos online, Jenkins said. Police seized his phone as evidence, the police chief added.
Giles is due back in court on Nov. 4.
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