MILFORD, PA — On August 11,  Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin announced the arrest by the district attorney’s office criminal investigation division, of a registered sex offender on charges of rape of a 10-year-old child.  Detectives arrested Jason A. Hook, age 33, of Dingmans Ferry Pennsylvania, and charged him with the felony charges of rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors and unlawful contact with a minor.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, the district attorney’s office criminal investigation division received a cyber-tip from the Internet Crimes Against Children task force (ICAC), that child pornography had been uploaded to the internet via a Google account.  The district attorney’s office then used subpoenas to locate the address where the internet was used.

Based on that information, detectives learned that the victim in the child pornography lived with Jason A. Hook. Hook is a registered sex offender based upon a previous conviction in Wayne County for the possession of materials depicting sexual abuse of children.  Detectives also learned that several other children lived in the home.

The children were brought to Dickson House Children’s Advocacy Center to participate in a forensic interview.  During one interview a ten-year-old child described multiple acts of sexual abuse by Hook.  

After his arrest on the charges, Hook was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Alan B. Cooper, where Hook was denied bail, and placed in Pike County Correctional Facility.

In speaking of the charges, Tonkin said, “My office is laser-focused on aggressively prosecuting child abuse perpetrators as well as working with victims in a manner to start their healing.  This focus led to the creation of Dickson House Children’s Advocacy Center under the District Attorney’s Office.”  Tonkin continued: “In this case, we saw great teamwork to investigate this case and also provide protection for children, all of which is a direct result of the professionals in the district attorney’s office.”

Tonkin commented on Hook, a registered sex offender on parole living with minor children, saying: “I urge both state parole authorities and lawmakers to review the policies and laws that may be in place that allowed a man convicted of child pornography and under parole supervision to have access to children. Not long ago, we saw a number of persons on state parole charged with a homicide that received a lot of attention, this type of incident needs the same attention.”

If Hook is convicted of the charges he faces a minimum mandatory 25-year prison sentence because he had previously been convicted of the child pornography offense, which requires a person to register under Pennsylvania’s version of Megan’s Law.

The case is being prosecuted by senior deputy district attorney Sarah Wilson. 

On Tuesday, August 10, a preliminary hearing occurred before Magisterial District Judge Paul Menditto. All charges were held for trial.