Sex offender charged with grooming teen in Johnson County

A Missouri man was arrested Tuesday in Johnson County on charges that he attempted to groom for sex acts a 14-year-old.

Jason Champion, 35, is charged with child endangerment, enticing a minor under 16, grooming and drug distribution to a person under 18.

  Buy Photo

According to criminal complaints, he was living in Oxford in October 2024, although his current address is in St. Charles, Mo. Between Oct. 8 and Oct. 31, 2024, he was alone with a 14-year-old multiple times at his Oxford residence, and he attempted to convince the teen to engage in unlawful sex acts with him.

“The defendant made multiple sexually explicit comments to the juvenile, asked the juvenile about their sexual past, gave his phone number to the juvenile and made comments about the juvenile's body. The defendant told the juvenile that if they were to have sex, he would not tell anyone and he knows the juvenile would not tell anyone,” the complaint states.

Champion also offered the teenager marijuana that he kept in a trailer parked in his driveway, according to the complaint.

Champion is a registered sex offender. In 2024, he was charged with and pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a depiction of a minor in a sex act in Muscatine County after he hid a camera in the bathroom of his residence there and kept video of at least two nude minors, according to criminal complaints filed in that case.

He was also convicted in St. Charles, Mo., in 2012 of two counts of sexual assault — against a 17-year-old and a 22-year-old — two counts of statutory rape — against a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old — and two counts of sodomy — against a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old — according to information on the Missouri sex offender registry.

A warrant to arrest Champion in the Johnson County case was issued Feb. 19, and he was booked Tuesday into the Johnson County Jail. He had his first appearance in court Wednesday and was being held on a $37,000 bail. A no-contact order has been filed on behalf of the 14-year-old.

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com