EAST BRIDGEWATER, MASS. (WHDH) - A 21-year-old East Bridgewater man was arrested Thursday on child pornography charges, according to police.
Jason Giles was arraigned Friday on charges of possession of child pornography, disseminating obscene matter to a minor, enticing a child under 16, and posing/exhibiting a child in a sexual act, according to the East Bridgewater Police Department.
On Wednesday, police received a call from a woman in Indiana who said she was an employee of Bikers Against Predators, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to "expose online predators to help spread awareness and education to as many citizens as possible while having these predators face justice for their crimes," according to their website.
At the same time, some of the organization's members were at a house on Central Street in East Bridgewater, police said. They were speaking to Giles, who they accused of having inappropriate contact with minors online.
Investigators determined that another third-party group had made contact with Giles on Facebook Messenger, posing as a juvenile girl, police said. The group then contacted Bikers Against Predators, who uncovered Giles' identity and found him in East Bridgewater, where he lived with his parents, according to police.
"The defendant was forthcoming and admitted that he believed he was talking to an underage girl," prosecutor Matthew Pfaff said in court Friday. "He asked her a few times if it's 'okay if he got weird.'"
Police found Giles to be in possession of child sex abuse videos and had sold videos online, authorities said. Investigators seized his phone.
On Thursday, detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Giles and took him into police custody.
Court documents show Giles has been arrested before. In 2022, when he was a senior in high school, police said he was caught sending pornographic pictures of himself to a seventh grader, using a school computer.
Giles' attorney told the judge her client was likely on the autism spectrum and had a rough childhood.
"Mr. Giles has a significant history of being bullied, of being threatened, of being made fun of. He had an extremely difficult time in middle school and high school," said defense attorney Lauren Rose.
On Friday, the judge set bail at $10,000 cash. Giles' parents, who adopted him when he was three, were in the courtroom.
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