Sheriff: Byesville man charged with sex crime

Jason Haren, 42, of Byesville has been charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a fifth-degree felony, according to investigators with the Guernsey County Sheriff’s Office.

The Noble County Sheriff’s Office contacted Guernsey County Sheriff’s detectives about a video they had discovered of a 13-year-old boy performing sexual acts with an adult male. The video was discovered during a similar investigation in Noble County. It was also discovered in the video that the adult male was wearing a Guernsey County volunteer fire department T-shirt and was believed to be a member, according to the sheriff's office.

Guernsey County Sheriff’s detectives, with the assistance of the Byesville Police Department, were able to positively identify the male as Jason Haren. Investigators located Haren and he was taken into custody and transported to the Guernsey County Sheriff’s Office. Haren was then questioned by detectives and admitted to performing sexual acts with the 13-year-old boy and offering to repeat the sexual acts after he learned of the boy’s age. Haren was then placed in the county jail.

Sheriff Jeffrey D. Paden said this is the second case, this week alone, that his detectives have investigated these similar incidents, in which adults have either attempted to or have had sexual conduct with a child. Both of these investigations stem from the use of various social media apps.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Byesville man charged with sex crime against minor