A white Florence man faces trafficking and child sex crime charges for allegedly molesting 693 black underage girls.
Forty-two-year-old Jason Roger Pope, a popular South Carolina promoter and disc jockey, remains in jail without bond after withdrawing his request for a bond hearing.
Rose Mary Parham, defence counsel for Pope, announced to the court the intent to withdraw his request for a bond hearing without giving a reason. With the bond hearing withdrawn, Pope will remain incarcerated according to WBTW
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Pope faces three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, three counts of trafficking in persons, and a count each of kidnapping, second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, and promoting the prostitution of a minor.
The Florence man, who lives in Sumter, SC, studied at the University of South Carolina and went to CMA [Military Academy], was arrested in August with arrest warrants showing that between July 2017 and July 2019, Pope had forced four underage girls to perform sex acts at his home.
According to the police, a 17-year-old victim reported him giving her money, drugs and other items in exchange for sex. One of Pope’s victims is listed as a 13-year-old.
Recalling his activities of how several young-looking girls stopped by the home, the suspect’s long time neighbour said: “I suspected a long time ago that things weren’t right over there because of who he had coming in and out.”
“They looked like they were very young, underage maybe,” he added.
In September, the party promoter reportedly sexually assaulted a 16-year-old, identified in arrest warrants as “A.B.” He is accused of paying the teen for sex. A similar incident occurred months earlier when a 14-year-old also claimed Pope paid her to have sex with him, WMBF reports.
Authorities learned through Facebook that Pope solicited a 17-year-old, identified as T.C. in arrest warrants, for commercial sex acts, and the victim received money and other things of value from Pope.
Listed as a street promoter for Jam Recording since 1999, Pope’s Facebook page shows photos of him posing with African American women. Pope reportedly once bragged that “I’m 36 with 693 BODIES (All Black females), WBU?”
In 2018, Pope was charged with two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of two counts of cruelty to children.
Also, Pope allegedly held a minor in a home against her will and sexually assaulted her. The identity of that victim was not revealed.
Pope has had a series of allegations that dates back to December 2011 when a 13-year-old told deputies she had sex with Pope after a friend introduced them. He allegedly gave her marijuana and alcohol and she later found out he had AIDS, according to report .
There has been a series of reports alleging that Pope has sexually assaulted an unknown number of minors, some of whom are concerned that they might have contracted AIDS from him.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) thinks there could be more victims.
