Woman charged in cross-country affair with N.J. boy
A cross-country affair between a South Jersey teenager and a Washington state woman he met playing an Internet video game ended after federal authorities filed pornography charges against the woman.
Jessica Pearce, 34, of Centralia, Wash., made her first appearance Friday in U.S. District Court in Camden, where bail was continued and Pearce was permitted to remain free with electronic monitoring.
Pearce is charged with receiving child pornography for explicit pictures she asked the teen, now 18, to send via computer as the two maintained an online correspondence beginning in 2007 and a sexual relationship in Atlantic County beginning last year, according to court records.
The teenager's father contacted the FBI in September 2009 after his son flew to Washington to be with Pearce, sparking a police search as the two were fleeing to Portland, Ore., 90 miles from Centralia.
According to statements the teen and Pearce gave to investigators, the couple met while playing the online video game World and Warcraft in the summer of 2007 when the teen was about 14.
Initially, the teen said he told Pearce he was 24, but several months later revealed his correct age. The two began sharing sexually explicit photos of themselves, according to court records.
The teen said the two met for the first time in 2008, but Pearce said it was in 2009 when she flew to Philadelphia and booked a hotel room, where the two had their first in-person sexual encounter.
Authorities tracked down hotel records that showed Pearce twice booked hotel rooms to visit the teen, in March and June 2009. During the second visit, records show, she brought her 6-year-old son to meet the teen at an Absecon hotel.
In September, Pearce returned to the area. After spending a night at hotel in South Jersey, the couple flew to Washington together, according to court records. The teen left his parents a note telling then he was going to New York, and they should not try to find him.
The teen's father, however, found electronic exchanges between his son and Pearce, tracked his son to Washington, and called police.
By then, Pearce and the teen were fleeing to Portland, Ore., but police caught up to them through cell phone records.
According to court records, Pearce told investigators that she thought she was pregnant with the teen's child. The two were planning to have a family together and wanted to marry.
Under the terms of her release on bail, Pearce is not permitted to have contact with the teen or any other minor without approval from authorities.