A 28-year-old registered sex offender who sexually exploited 10 different minor teens after cutting off his electronic monitoring device and absconding from Department of Corrections community custody pleaded guilty Aug. 8 to federal charges in the United States District Court in Seattle.
The announcement was made by Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller.
According to a news release from the United States Department of Justice, James “Jake” Harrison Newcomer admits that between February and April of 2024 he sexually abused 10 different teens he met via various social media platforms. The release states that prosecutors and the defense will both recommend that Newcomer be sentenced to 17 years in prison when sentenced by U.S. District Judge John H. Chun on Nov. 17.
According to records filed in the case, Newcomer was on state supervision following his 30-month prison sentence for two counts of rape of a child. As part of the supervision, Newcomer was on electronic monitoring with an ankle bracelet. On Jan. 19, 2024, the ankle monitor lost connection and, when corrections officers went to arrest Newcomer on Jan. 25, Newcomer had left the residence and could not be located.
Over the next three months, Newcomer connected with various teen girls via social media and then arranged to meet them in person. In those meetings, he gave girls drugs and alcohol and sexually assaulted them.
The victims were from Lewis, Thurston, Clark, King, Kitsap, Snohomish and Spokane counties as well as Woodburn, Oregon. The victims ranged in age from 12 to 16.
Newcomer pleaded guilty to travel with intent to engage in sexual acts with a minor and two counts of attempted enticement of a minor. According to the release, travel with intent to engage in sexual acts is punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Enticement of a minor is punishable by a mandatory minimum 10 years in prison and up to life in prison.
The case is being investigated by the FBI, the Woodburn Police Department, the Marion County District Attorney’s Office, the Auburn Police Department, the Snoqualmie Police Department, the Black Diamond Police Department, the Des Moines Police Department, the King County Sheriff’s Office and the Kent Police Department, with assistance from the Department of Corrections.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Cecelia Gregson, and 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.
Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.
