Utah man charged with alleged sexual abuse of over half a dozen boys

POCATELLO — A man who police say sexually abused at least seven boys is facing eight charges.

Jason Earnest Stark, 38, of Utah, was charged with four counts of solicitation of sexual abuse of a child, two counts of lewd conduct with a minor and one count each of attempted sexual exploitation of a child and allowing a child to become a witness to the sexual act He was charged with child abuse, court records show.

3 August 2023

A man came forward to Pocatello police to report that he was the victim of a sexual assault in 2016 or 2017 when he was 16 or 17 years old, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The victim reported to officers incidents involving a man (later identified as Stark) and other male juvenile victims.

Officers spoke to one of the victims, who said the incident did indeed happen but declined to discuss it further.

During a second conversation with the second victim and his mother, the victim said that Stark was involved in the incident. The victim’s mother told officers that Stark had access to boys during this time because he employed several at his landscaping business.

After speaking with the second victim, officers called the first victim who initially reported the incident, who confirmed that he was sexually assaulted by Stark.

The first victim said Stark befriended the boys, who eventually began sneaking out of their homes at night to meet with Stark. Eventually, he said, Stark began showing the boys pornography — believing it was “just to see what we would do.” Then, the victim said, Stark began asking for sexual favors, the affidavit states.

Both victims recalled the incidents occurring mainly in a remote area near the railway tracks in the city.

Over time, the second victim said, the sexual abuse began at Stark’s home, where he traded items such as computers, meals and outings for sexual favors. The victim said he never realized what was wrong.

When asked if he knew of other victims of Stark’s sexual abuse, the second victim gave officers several names.

22 August 2023

Officers checked Stark’s identity against a police database and determined he was a registered sex offender from Ogden, Utah.

Officers also learned of another allegation from Bannock County: Stark was accused of soliciting nude photos from a 16-year-old boy in exchange for marijuana gummy bears in 2020.

The following day, a Department of Homeland Security special agent contacted the officials investigating Stark and informed them that DHS had opened an ongoing investigation into the 2020 allegations. The DHS had not filed criminal charges despite a search warrant against Stark’s Snapchat account because he had deleted all messages from the account.

August 24, 2023

Officials reviewed Stark’s entire criminal record and found that he had been convicted of three counts of second-degree sodomy and sentenced to seven years in prison in Richmond, Kentucky.

September 6, 2023

Officers spoke with a third victim who said she was sexually abused by Stark during her freshman year of high school, according to the affidavit.

Like the first two victims, the third victim said Stark told him he was in his early 20s. In reality, Stark was in his late 20s to early 30s during these incidents. Like the other victim, the third victim also said Stark was eating him with you and then go to a secluded area near the train tracks in the city to watch pornography.

Over time, the victim said, Stark began to perform sexual favors for him.

The third victim gave officers names of other potential victims.

While the other victims were unable to identify the location near the train tracks where Stark had taken them to watch porn and perform sexual favors, the third victim showed officers a spot near Hoffman Avenue where Stark was going according to his statement brought him.

The third victim said he believes he was sexually abused by Stark more than 100 times over the course of two years.

September 7, 2023

One of the victims – it is unclear whether it was one of the first three victims or another – came to the police station, where officers overheard a phone conversation between the victim and Stark.

During their conversation, the two discussed many personal matters, including the victim’s marriage and child-bearing plans.

On more than one occasion, the victim asked Stark about the sexual acts Stark had performed on him, but each time Stark interrupted him.

Regarding the victim’s statement that he avoided talking about what happened, Stark said, “I guess I just don’t have a good answer.”

Following the conversation, officers discussed with the victim the sodomy convictions in Kentucky. The victim said that as far as he knew, sodomy had to do with people engaging in sex acts with animals. The victim then told officers about a time when Stark enabled him to have an animal perform a sexual act on the victim.

September 11, 2023

Officers were told there was another victim they had not yet spoken to.

The new victim came to the Pocatello Police Department, where he made similar statements to the previous victims. He said the sexual assaults began when he was a sophomore in high school.

This victim put officers in touch with another victim who spoke to officers on the phone and repeated many of the same allegations.

The following week, officers made contact with at least one other victim who said many of the same things happened between him and Stark — starting when he was in high school in 2017 and 2018.

November 2023

Pocatello police received a letter from Kentucky State Police with information about Stark’s conviction there.

According to this report, in 2005, police in Kentucky received a complaint from a ten-year-old boy that a “Mormon missionary” had “molested” him by “touching his buttocks and private parts.” The boy also witnessed the missionary performing a sexual act on a six-year-old boy.

The boy said the missionary tried to perform a sexual act on him, but the boy pushed him away. When he did so, the boy said, the missionary offered him $7 to perform the sexual act.

After reviewing the Kentucky documents, officers continued to contact potential victims in Idaho. They spoke with several more people, all of whom made similar statements to previous victims.

December 2023

Pocatello officers and the DHS special agent examined items taken from one of the victim’s phones. They found several messages between the victim and Stark – including sexually inappropriate memes and discussions about the two’s time together.

January 2024

Officers searching for Stark spoke with a person who told them that Stark had moved to Utah with his wife.

The affidavit does not detail how officers found Stark, but charges were filed on April 15 and an extradition ticket was signed on April 17. An arrest warrant was served on May 6 and Stark was booked into the Bannock County Jail.

He is being held on $500,000 bail and seven restraining orders prohibiting him from having any contact with the known victims.

Although Stark is accused of these crimes, that doesn’t necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

If convicted, Stark faces life in prison.

He has a preliminary hearing before Judge David Penrod on June 3.