Man Pleads Guilty to 2 Child Sexual Abuse Felonies After Attempting to Meet With Undercover Agent Posing as Teen in 2024

NORFOLK, Va. — Jason James Bush, 41, pleaded guilty on April 3 to attempting to solicit prostitution from a minor and attempting to commit indecent liberties with a minor after he chatted with and attempted to meet with an undercover Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent posing as a teenager.

On the afternoon of Aug. 8, 2024, during an undercover operation conducted by the NCIS with the help of Norfolk Police, Mr. Bush responded to an advertisement on a prostitution website that was posted by an undercover agent. Mr. Bush exchanged numbers with and began texting the agent, who told Mr. Bush multiple times during that text conversation that she was a 14-year-old girl. Believing that he was speaking with a teenager, Mr. Bush continued on with a sexually explicit conversation and arranged a rendezvous in Ocean View that night for the teenager to give Mr. Bush oral sex.

After Mr. Bush arrived at the agreed location, he asked the undercover agent for nude photographs, because he said he wanted “proof” that he was not speaking to a law enforcement officer. Despite not receiving any nude photographs in return, Mr. Bush continued with his plan to meet, asking instead if the teenager had a friend who could vouch for her identity. In response, another undercover agent called Mr. Bush to confirm, and Mr. Bush arranged to meet the teenager at a different location. While Mr. Bush was driving the to the second agreed location, Norfolk Police officers pulled him over and arrested him.

On April 3, Mr. Bush entered an agreement to plead guilty to attempting to solicit prostitution from a minor under age 16 and attempting to commit indecent liberties with a minor under age 15 — both felonies. In exchange for Mr. Bush’s guilty pleas, the Commonwealth agreed to dismiss additional related charges from this incident. Mr. Bush’s sentencing guidelines recommend probation and no active incarceration due to his lack of a criminal history, but his plea agreement leaves his sentence to the discretion of the deciding judge for up to one year and eight months in prison. Judge Jamilah D. LeCruise accepted Mr. Bush’s plea agreement and set his sentencing hearing on Aug. 8.

“Mr. Bush thought he was enticing a 14-year-old girl and took steps to exploit her; fortunately, on the other end of the chat was a law enforcement officer who was committed to keeping our children safe,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “There is no such thing as ‘consensual sex with a 14-year-old,’ and at sentencing we intend to ask for a sentence above the guidelines to account for the seriousness of Mr. Bush’s actions.”

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney J. Drew Fairbanks is prosecuting Mr. Bush’s case, and NCIS Investigator Richard A. Stocks and Norfolk Police Sergeant Gaudencio Dajero led the investigation.

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