Predator Sentenced For Using Social Media To Trade Explicit Images For Vapes With VA Teens

Authorities announced that a North Carolina man has been sentenced to time in federal prison after admitting to using social media platforms and traveling over state lines to exploit teenage boys in Virginia.

Jonathan Avery Shumate
Photo Credit: *Southwest Virginia Regional Jail*

Zak Failla

11/01/2022 4:59 p.m.

Jonathan Avery Shumate, 54, of Warrensville, N.C. has been sentenced to 151 months in federal prison after pleading guilty earlier this year to one count of coercion and enticement of minors.

Prosecutors say that Shumate used both Snapchat and Grindr to contact teenage boys attending Oak Hill Academy in Grayson County, and offered to provide vapes and vaping materials in exchange for the 16-year-old and 17-year-old minors sending him sexually explicit photographs and nude videos of themselves.

In addition to communicating online, officials stated that Shumate traveled to Oak Hill Academy to deliver the vaping supplies, and also offered to provide oral sex for the teens while requesting that they perform oral sex on him.

The sentence was announced by US Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh and Stanley Meador, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Division.

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