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In a plea-bargained exchange for a three-year state prison sentence, Jason McCann of Blackwood pleaded guilty to attempt to commit endangering the welfare of a child - impairing or debauching the morals of a child, according to Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina.
McCann attempted to meet what he thought was a 13-year-old girl for sex at a park in Bordentown Township, Coffina said.
McCann will also be placed on the New Jersey sex offender registry upon release and be subjected to parole supervision for life.
His guilty plea was entered on March 10 in Superior Court in Mount Holly before Superior Court Judge Philip E. Haines, who scheduled sentencing for July 14.
The investigation began in July 2020 after McCann used an instant messaging app to arrange a rendezvous and send pictures of his genitals and videos of himself masturbating to someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl, Coffina said.
In reality, the person McCann was communicating with was a Special Agent with United States Homeland Security Investigations. McCann, of the 100 block of West Church Street, was arrested in August 2020, Coffina said.
He joins multiple defendants arrested recently by the BCPO for similar crimes, along with possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material, and other more serious offenses. As part of the BCPO’s ongoing Operation Safe Quarantine, which targets the online exploitation of children, charges have been filed against 30 individuals since last May.
The investigation was conducted by United States Homeland Security Investigations – Cherry Hill Office, with assistance from the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office Hi-Tech Crimes Unit, the Barrington Police Department, the Bordentown Township Police Department and the Cinnaminson Township Police Department.
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