The Dentist is Charged With Trying to Sex Abuse a Mother and Her Daughter, 8 Sooo Love to Be a Part of That
Authorities say a dentist in Colorado set up sex abuse online with someone he thought was the mother of an 8-year-old girl and was then caught and charged.
Federal officials arrested dentist, Dr. Jason Atha when he arrived at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida on August 9. This is according to a federal indictment that PEOPLE looked over.
The 49-year-old man thought he was talking to the mother and her 8-year-old daughter on a messaging app, but the indictment says he was actually talking to a federal agent working undercover.
When the undercover agent first met Atha, they are said to have talked about “taboo” sex acts and child sex abuse in a message app chat room in October 2023. The indictment says that the agent’s job was to “find and investigate violations of federal law related to the sexual exploitation of children.”
According to the accusation, the undercover agent, who Atha thought was a single mother, told Atha that they had a daughter who was 8 years old and that they sexually abused her during “play time.” Atha is said to have replied, “That’s a beautiful thing.” The charge says, “I would so love to be a part of that.”
Atha is said to have said, “Hmm, not really” when later asked if he had a taste for age. “I’d say maybe 8 and up,” the charge says. The accusation says that over the next few months, Atha sent pictures of himself, said he wanted to “play,” and talked about the sexual acts he would do on the “girl.” Atha is said to have planned to go to Florida to have sex with the mother and daughter in texts from July. The indictment says that he later talked about the details of his round-trip journey.
The indictment says that Atha gave up his Miranda rights and decided to talk to federal agents when he was arrested at the airport on August 9. He supposedly agreed to the talks and said he went to Florida to watch the mother have sex with the daughter, but he said he wasn’t going to have sex with the child.
The accusation also says that Atha’s phone had pictures and videos of sex acts on children when he was caught. He is being charged with trying to get a minor to do something illegal, which, according to the indictment, could get him life in jail. It’s not clear if he has entered a plea, and PEOPLE couldn’t find an attorney right away who could talk for him.
The complaint says that Atha is a dentist at Alpine Dentistry in Boulder, Colorado and that he has a valid license to practice as a dentist. Peak People tried to get Alpine Dentistry to speak on Friday, August 16 but did not hear back right away.
Call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org if you or someone you know has been sexually attacked.