A Chehalis man accused of uploading child sexual abuse material to an internet-based instant messaging application in July 2024 is now facing felony charges in Lewis County Superior Court.
Jason Scott Cramer, 39, was charged March 11 with one count of first-degree dealing in depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct and seven counts of first-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Each charge is a class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The charges were filed after a Lewis County Sheriff’s Office detective completed an investigation into a notice the sheriff’s office received from the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) data portal on Oct. 14, 2024, according to court documents.
ICAC reportedly received the tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which reported that a user identified as “jay351515” uploaded 26 videos and two images of child sexual abuse onto the internet mobile messaging application Kik from a device in Lewis County on July 13.
The material reportedly depicted girls between the ages of 4 and 11.
Two additional videos were reportedly uploaded by the same user after the detective reviewed the initial upload, according to court documents.
The detective obtained a search warrant for the user’s Kik account and found the user had allegedly uploaded a screenshot of a PayPaul receipt from Cramer’s PayPal account dated near the time the child sexual abuse material was uploaded.
When interviewed by detectives at his residence on Jan. 28, Cramer allegedly admitted to using Kik and another messaging app to view pornography, according to court documents.
“When asked about child pornography, he said if he is sent anything like that, he immediately deletes it,” according to court documents.
When asked about the PayPal receipt from July, Cramer allegedly “said from last January to August he couldn’t tell them what he was doing online due to his depression” and allegedly admitted to receiving “child pornographic videos, which he claimed to delete immediately, more than five times but less than 100,” according to court documents.
Cramer then allegedly “said he tried not to upload child porn if he received it” but later allegedly made a statement indicating he receives sexual gratification from people acting young in sexual roles, according to court documents.
Cramer was not arrested when the charges were filed, but was issued a summons notice for a March 25 preliminary hearing, which was postponed due to a widespread power outage affecting the Lewis County Law and Justice Center in Chehalis Tuesday afternoon.
