Seattle, WA. — A 29-year-old registered sex offender who fled state supervision and sexually exploited more than a dozen children across the Pacific Northwest was sentenced Monday to 17 years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington announced.
James “Jake” Harrison Newcomer cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet on January 19, 2024, absconding from Department of Corrections Community Custody. Over the next three months, prosecutors say he posed online as a teenage boy on platforms such as Discord and Snapchat, targeting girls ages 12 to 16 from King, Kitsap, Snohomish, Lewis, Clark, Thurston, Spokane counties, as well as Woodburn, Oregon. He arranged meetings, provided victims with alcohol and drugs, and sexually assaulted them.
U.S. District Judge John H. Chun called the offenses “heartbreaking crimes,” noting that the youngest victim was just 12 years old.
“This repeat offender is every parent’s nightmare—the dangerous stranger who enters your home via the internet and steals your child’s innocence,” said U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. “He had a chance to get treatment and turn his life around. Instead, he cut off his ankle monitor and preyed upon more than a dozen children.”
Newcomer had previously served 30 months in state prison for two counts of rape of a child. When officers attempted to arrest him on January 25, 2024, he had already fled.
Investigators later recovered multiple electronic devices belonging to Newcomer that contained child sexual abuse material. Some victims depicted in those images have not yet been identified.
Family members told the court that Newcomer “manipulated, drugged and abused” their children, describing lasting trauma affecting entire households.
“Already a registered sex offender, Mr. Newcomer clearly didn’t learn his lesson from his previous sentence,” said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle Field Office. “Young people in the Pacific Northwest will be safer with Mr. Newcomer behind bars.”
Newcomer pleaded guilty on August 8, 2025, to travel with intent to engage in sexual acts with a minor and two counts of attempted enticement of a minor. He will also serve lifetime supervised release.
The case was investigated by the FBI and law enforcement agencies across Washington and Oregon, including the Woodburn Police Department, which initiated a related investigation earlier this year. Local detectives, working with multiple Washington agencies, identified Newcomer as a suspect after he traveled across state lines to assault a juvenile in Oregon.
The prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative targeting online child exploitation.
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This guy needs 2 to the chest and one to the head and that would end his miserable lie.