PORTLAND, Ore.—An Oregon man has been charged with federal child exploitation crimes after he persuaded a child to engage in a sexually explicit video chat with him on Discord, a popular instant messaging social platform.
Jason Kroeskop, 40, of The Dalles, Oregon, has been charged by criminal complaint with enticing and sexually exploiting a child online.
According to court documents, in August 2022, special agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Tulsa, Oklahoma were contacted by local law enforcement to request assistance with an investigation involving the online exploitation of a child under 12. Investigators discovered that Kroeskop pretended to be an Oregon teenager to convince the child to engage in sexually explicit acts during a video chat on Discord. He also recorded the video chat without the victim’s knowledge.
Investigators tracked Kroeskop’s Discord account, “Noctis Lucis #7347,” to an internet protocol address registered to his residence in The Dalles. On September 29, 2022, HSI special agents from Portland contacted Kroeskop at his place of employment. Kroeskop agreed to talk with the agents and admitted to having engaged in sexually explicit communications with multiple children online since at least 2021 using Discord, Snapchat, and Omegle. He was later arrested without incident.
On September 30, 2022, Kroeskop made his initial appearance in federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Armistead. He was detained pending further court proceedings.
This case was investigated by HSI Portland and The Dalles Police Department with assistance from HSI Tulsa. It is being prosecuted by Mira Chernick, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.
A criminal complaint is only an accusation of a crime, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Anyone who has information about other crimes committed by Kroeskop, or the physical or online exploitation of any children, are encouraged to contact HSI at (866) 347-2423 or submit a tip online at report.cybertip.org.
Federal law defines child pornography as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor. It is important to remember child sexual abuse material depicts actual crimes being committed against children. Not only do these images and videos document the victims’ exploitation and abuse, but when shared across the internet, re-victimize and re-traumatize the child victims each time their abuse is viewed. To learn more, please visit the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at www.missingkids.org.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.