CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- Jason Laseter was well-known in his community off of Jeff Davis Highway in Chesterfield County, so many neighbors were shocked to hear the allegations against him. But one man, who said he used to live with Laseter, was not. Laseter was arrested after police said he used a cell phone app to send sexually explicit videos and photos of his body parts to a person he thought was a 14-year-old girl. Instead, it was a detective from Washington County, Virginia, about five hours southwest of Chesterfield.
"One reason I left over there is because I found a lot of stuff on his computer," former roommate James Loftis said. "It didn't have nothing to do with children, but it did involve some nude men."
"I had lived over there three years," Loftis added.
Loftis said he noticed police knocking on Laseter’s door over a period of about two months. Last week, Loftis said, detectives asked him to help out.
"Last time they showed up he said, 'Mr. Loftis, for the sake of children please call us when you see him.' So I did, I did call them," Loftis said.
Investigators said Laseter asked the person he thought was a teen to engage in online sexual activity. Laseter is charged with 12 felonies, but Loftis said he never suspected anything criminal while the two lived together.
"It's breathtaking,” he said. “I never thought that. I mean, he's a preacher’s son from Emporia."
The 40-year-old Laseter is being held without bond at Southwest Regional Jail.