Billings Man Gets 8 Years For Attempting To Have Sex With Minor

In a case you'd expect to see on To Catch a Predator with Chris Hansen, a 33 year old Billings man has plead guilty to attempted coercion of a minor for sex.

What happened?

In October 2021, Kroepelin walked to a residence in Billings where he assumed he would be meeting a 13-year-old girl for sex. Kroepelin was previously talking online to a person he believed was the girl's dad, but was an undercover FBI agent. Kroepelin posted an online ad titled "young naught girl to use", and the FBI agent responded.

What did this pervert have planned?

Kroepelin chatted with the FBI agent, who was undercover, about graphic sexual activities he had planned to do with the girl, and discussed recording the encounter.

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When was he caught?

Before Kroepelin was able to do anything to any child, he was arrested upon arrival at a agreed upon location, where he assumed he would meet the 13-year-old girl for sex. After his arrest, law enforcement searched his phone and found photographs and two videos depicting child porn.

Court results?

Jason Robert Kroepelin was convicted from the undercover investigation, and sentenced to 8 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release according to U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich.

About Project Safe Childhood

This case was initiated under the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative, which was launched in 2006 to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. Through a network of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and advocacy organizations, Project Safe Childhood attempts to protect children by investigating and prosecuting offenders involved in child sexual exploitation. It is implemented through partnerships including the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The ICAC Task Force Program was created to assist state and local law enforcement agencies by enhancing their investigative response to technology facilitated crimes against children.