Jess Mason

A Bowling Green man who was arrested in 2021 on allegations of setting up an illegal sexual liaison with a 13-year-old at a bowling alley pleaded guilty to multiple criminal counts.

Jess Andrew Mason, 24, entered a guilty plea Wednesday in Warren Circuit Court to two counts of first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor and one count each of second-degree rape and second-degree sodomy.

In a separate criminal case, Mason pleaded guilty to four counts of third-degree burglary and a count of second-degree criminal mischief.

Mason was originally arrested by the Bowling Green Police Department after it opened an investigation into a reported sexual assault at Southern Lanes Bowling Alley.

The incident was reported to have occurred March 14, 2021, in a bathroom at the business, with the victim being identified as a 13-year-old juvenile.

Mason was found by police on April 22, 2021, and confessed to sexual contact with the juvenile and to sending explicit pictures of himself to the girl and receiving similar pictures from her, according to court records.

He reportedly confessed to using his phone to arrange the illegal acts.

“Mason also reported to detectives that he was aware the victim was 13 years old when the acts occurred,” an arrest citation said.

The plea agreement Mason accepted recommends a 20-year prison sentence on the charges to which he pleaded guilty, as well as the dismissal of other charges of first-degree sexual abuse and other counts.

He will be ordered to be a lifetime registrant on the state sex offender registry.

The case involving multiple burglary counts stems from a 2023 arrest following an investigation by the Smiths Grove Police Department.

Mason’s attorney, Jason Pfeil of the Department of Public Advocacy, said in video of Wednesday afternoon’s court proceeding that Mason acknowledged breaking into and causing damage to several businesses in the Smiths Grove area.

Prosecutors have recommended a five-year sentence in the burglary case that would be served concurrently with the 20-year sentence in the other case.

Mason is to be sentenced May 28 by Warren Circuit Judge J.B. Hines.