Staff Report

Jason Scott Wolfe

COLUMBIA CITY — A registered sex offender in Columbia City was arrested after a local group working to expose child predators allegedly caught him speaking with who he believed was a 13-year-old.

Jason Scott Wolfe, 31, 4614 E. Old Trail Road Lot 75, Columbia City, is charged with child solicitation, a level 5 felony; and dissemination of matter harmful to minors and failure to register as a sex offender, both level 6 felonies.

On Dec. 23, 2024, Whitley County Sheriff’s Office deputies were notified about Wolfe, a registered sex offender, messaging a decoy from Big County Predator Exposure. The decoy was posing as a 13-year-old child.

According to court documents, the messages provided to officers showed Wolfe trying to explain to the child how to inappropriately touch themselves.

Officers spoke with Wolfe about the incident. Wolfe said he had a social media account on an app that he did not report as required through being on the sex offender registry. He told officers he deleted the app the previous night.

Wolfe said he messaged an individual whose profile said they were 20 years old, but through messaging, the individual said they were 13 years old. Wolfe acknowledged that he believed the individual was underage.

Wolfe also sent pornographic images to the decoy.

At the time of this offense, Wolfe was a lifetime registered sex offender, having been convicted in Texas of indecency with a child in 2014. After his release from prison, Wolfe was required to register as a sexual predator. As of Oct. 28, 2024, Wolfe did not indicate he was using a new online account.

Wolfe has a pretrial conference at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 21, in Whitley County.