Sex offender gets 35 years in prison for trying to meet minors for sex in Stevens County

A convicted sex offender was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison for child pornography and trying to meet with girls for sex, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Eastern Washington.

Jason F. Frank, 54, was convicted of attempted online enticement, possession of child pornography and commission of a felony sex offense by an individual required to register as a sex offender, the attorney’s office said in a news release.

“Today’s sentence of 35 years of a 54-year-old man demonstrates the seriousness of Mr. Frank’s actions,” Pete Serrano, interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, said in the release. “It also shows our office’s efforts to ensure that Mr. Frank will not have a chance to harm another child.”

According to court documents, Frank responded to an advertisement posted by undercover law enforcement in June 2023, in which two young girls were stated to be available for sex, the release said. Frank expressed sexual interest in the minors during various communications with an undercover officer posing as the mother of the girls.

Frank engaged with undercover officers for a week and arranged to meet for sex with the two girls. He was arrested after he arrived at an arranged meeting location in Stevens County.

Law enforcement agents found two phones in Frank’s vehicle. One phone Frank used to communicate with his probation officer. Agents found child porn images and videos of young children on the other phone.

Frank was previously convicted in 2008 in Virginia of two counts of carnal knowledge of a child, one count of attempted carnal knowledge of a child and three counts of use of communications systems to facilitate certain offenses involving children.

Frank was required to register as a sex offender because of the convictions.

“Cases such as this are a perfect example of what cooperation between local, State, and Federal partners can yield,” Stevens County Sheriff Brad Manke said in the release. “Coming together as a team, we were able to take a potentially dangerous predator off the streets.”

Besides the 35-year prison term, U.S. District Judge Mary K. Dimke ordered Frank to be on supervised release for life and to pay $10,000 in restitution to one of Frank’s victims.