Colorado Dentist Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Solicit a Minor Online and Transporting Child Pornography

MIAMI – Jason James Atha, 51, a dentist from Broomfield, Colo., pleaded guilty yesterday in the Southern District of Florida to charges of attempted enticement of a minor and transportation of child pornography.

According to the court record, beginning on Oct. 3, 2023, Atha, who lived in Colorado, used a social networking application on his phone to solicit sex with an 8-year-old child through conversations with the child’s mother in the Southern District of Florida. The child’s purported “mother” was in fact an undercover Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agent. Atha’s communications detailed the sexual acts he wanted to engage in with the child. On Aug. 9, Atha flew to Palm Beach International Airport, in the Southern District of Florida, to consummate the sexual act and was arrested at the airport. A search of Atha’s devices revealed child pornography videos.

At sentencing, currently scheduled for March 11, 2025, in Ft. Pierce, Fla., before U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, Atha faces a statutory maximum sentence of life in prison for attempted enticement of a minor and 20 years in prison for transportation of child pornography.

U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida and Special Agent in Charge Anthony Salisbury of HSI Miami made the announcement.

HSI West Palm Beach investigated the case. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office provided invaluable assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Schiller is prosecuting it. 

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov or https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/project-safe-childhood.

Anyone with information regarding child sexual exploitation and abuse is encouraged to call (877) 4-HSI-TIP [(877) 447-4847].

You may find a copy of this press release (and any updates) on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov under case number 24-cr-80102.

###