A Missoula man, 23 year-old Jordan Daniel, is in the Missoula County Jail on $200,000 bond after being charged in Missoula Justice Court on Friday with two felony counts of sexual abuse of children.

According to court documents, in a 'sting' operation, a police detective posed online as a 13 year-old ‘Jane Doe’, and the defendant showed up to meet ‘her’ at a predetermined location with candy, lingerie and other items, including marijuana.

At his Justice Court appearance on Friday, Deputy County Attorney Eric Owens asked Judge Landee Holloway to have Daniel held on $100,000 bond.

“The state is asking the court to set bail in the amount of $100,000,” said Owens. “These are extremely serious offenses with equally serious and disturbing allegations. This sort of conduct presents a significant danger to the community. The defendant in this case is charged with attempting to have sex with a perceived 13 year old child. When he was confronted about these explicit text conversations, he acknowledged thinking that this person was 13 years old.”

Owens continued with his presentation to Judge Holloway.

“He admitted to acquiring drugs that he was planning to give this apparent 13 year old,” he said. “These types of crimes and this sort of conduct preys on a pretty vulnerable portion of our community, and they're extremely difficult to detect, your honor. Furthermore, I'm not sure what conditions could be set that would mitigate this type of behavior sufficiently. There isn't really a condition the court could set to unless it was willing to search his residence every single day and make sure that he had not acquired a new phone or some device capable of connecting to the internet.”

Judge Holloway then doubled the bail amount requested by the state,

“So Mr. Daniel, it's very concerning the allegations and I do believe that there is significant risk here, and I will be setting bail in the amount of $200,000,” said Judge Holloway. “The conditions of your release are that you obey all laws, you appear at your scheduled court appearances, and you stay in contact with your attorney. Make sure your contact information is current with your attorney and the court through pretrial supervision.”

Daniel was remanded to the Missoula County Jail  on $200,000 bond.

 

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