February 7, 2022 - RIVERSIDE, California – A San Bernardino County man who paid a teenager he met on the internet to have sex with him on two occasions was sentenced today to 136 months in federal prison.

Jason Dee Taylor, 42, of Fontana, was sentenced by United States District Judge Jesus G. Bernal. Judge Bernal also ordered Taylor to pay $3,508 in restitution to the victim.

At the conclusion of a four-day trial in November 2021, a federal jury found Taylor guilty of one count of sex trafficking of a minor and one count of enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity.

According to the evidence presented at trial, Taylor contacted the victim on a public website. They exchanged messages through that website’s messenger feature and then switched to communicating via Instagram messenger.

Although she initially represented that she was 19 years old, the victim told Taylor almost immediately that she was 16, even though she was 15 years old at the time. In response, Taylor wrote her, “I’ll be honest. I like your age, it’s kinda hot.”

Twice in April 2020, Taylor drove to Santa Barbara County, picked up the victim, took her to a hotel, and paid her a total of $600 for sex.

That same month, the victim’s family friend, whose phone she used to communicate with Taylor, found the messages between Taylor and the victim. When a member of the victim’s family sent Taylor a message informing him that they were going to report him to law enforcement, Taylor deleted his Instagram account, but not before the family friend had taken screenshots of the incriminating communications.

“The minor victim was not a fully developed young woman with whom [Taylor] had sex in the heat of the moment, only to find out she was underage,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “Rather, this was a case where [Taylor] looked for, found, and exploited a teenager who was willing to sell her body for money because that is what he wanted.”

The FBI investigated this matter, with the assistance of the Guadalupe Police Department, the Santa Maria Police Department, and the Fontana Police Department.

Assistant United States Attorney Sonah Lee of the Riverside Branch Office prosecuted this case.

Source: DOJ Release