The Southern Oregon Child Exploitation Team (SOCET) joint interagency task force arrested a Medford man in Eagle Point yesterday.
The Jackson County Sheriff's Office and Eagle Point Police Department assisted with the arrest of 22-year-old Zachary Elijah Bowen on Wednesday at a business near the intersection of Highway 62 and West Linn Road.
During their investigation, SOCET discovered the suspect was communicating nationwide with at least five underage victims through social media sites. SOCET investigators identified a 13-year-old victim from Kansas City, Missouri, and were attempting to identify the additional underage victims.
Bowen was lodged at the Jackson County Jail on 12 felony charges including Using a Child in a Display of Sexually Explicit Conduct, 10 counts of 2nd-Degree Encouraging Child Sexual Abuse and Luring a Minor.
SOCET started investigating Bowen after more than a dozen cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led to multiple residences where he lived in Portland and at a licensed marijuana farm in Trail. A search warrant was served at the marijuana farm in the 4700-block of Highway 227 where investigators seized digital devices for examination by the Southern Oregon High Tech Crimes Task Force.
The case remains under investigation with detectives following additional leads and attempting to identify other victims. The case will be prosecuted by the Jackson County District Attorney's Office.
