{"id":16977,"date":"2026-02-17T07:01:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T13:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=16977"},"modified":"2026-02-15T11:34:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T17:34:43","slug":"jamestown-man-charged-in-online-luring-sting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/jamestown-man-charged-in-online-luring-sting\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamestown: Man Charged in Online Luring Sting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jamestown, Stutsman County<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) A Jamestown man is facing felony charges after a police sting.<\/p>\n

Police say he tried to lure a 14-year-old girl he met online. The girl was an undercover officer.<\/p>\n

Charges Filed<\/h2>\n

Joseph Scott Nelson<\/strong>, 23, is charged with luring minors by computer. He also faces a drug paraphernalia charge.<\/p>\n

Nelson pleaded not guilty on Feb. 5, according to court records. The case is pending in Stutsman County court.<\/p>\n

Nelson is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.<\/p>\n

How The Investigation Started<\/h2>\n

Court documents say a Bismarck detective contacted Jamestown police in January. The detective was working an online luring case.<\/p>\n

Investigators say the detective posed online as a 14-year-old girl. Police say the chats with Nelson lasted for months.<\/p>\n

Police say Nelson recently moved from Fargo to Jamestown. They also noted he was possibly homeless.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph
Joseph Scott Nelson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Planned Meeting At The Library<\/h2>\n

Police say the detective told Nelson the teen would come to Jamestown on Feb. 5. The plan was a drop-off at Alfred Dickey Library.<\/p>\n

The meeting was set for about 10 a.m., according to the probable cause statement. Police say the messages included sexual content.<\/p>\n

Detectives arrested Nelson outside the library after he arrived. Police say he believed he was meeting a 14-year-old.<\/p>\n

Interview And Booking<\/h2>\n

Police say Nelson admitted using methamphetamine hours earlier. Police say he also admitted chatting with a 14-year-old on Messenger.<\/p>\n

Nelson told detectives he wanted to help the girl and offer support. He denied plans to have sex with her.<\/p>\n

Police say staff found a smoking device in his pocket after booking. The device had white residue, police said.<\/p>\n

Learn More And Report Tips<\/h2>\n

City of Jamestown information is here: jamestownnd.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can learn about the James River Valley Library System here: jrvls.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stutsman County\u2019s Correctional Center information is posted here: stutsmancounty.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

North Dakota\u2019s luring law is listed here: NDCC 12.1-20-05.1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

North Dakota\u2019s drug paraphernalia law is listed here: NDCC 19-03.4-03<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To report suspected child exploitation, contact local law enforcement. You can also file a report with the NCMEC CyberTipline<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jamestown, Stutsman County (trfnews.i234.me) A Jamestown man is facing felony charges after a police sting. Police say he tried to lure a 14-year-old girl he met online. The girl was an undercover officer. Charges Filed Joseph Scott Nelson, 23, is charged with luring minors by computer. He also faces a drug paraphernalia charge. Nelson pleaded… Continue reading Jamestown: Man Charged in Online Luring Sting<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[13407,11905,770,772,1781,5080,7596,13404,6207,13405,151,1186,13406,303,5691,6005],"class_list":["post-16977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-alfred-dickey-library","tag-bismarck-police","tag-charged","tag-crime","tag-drug-paraphernalia","tag-jamestown","tag-jamestown-nd","tag-joseph-scott-nelson","tag-luring","tag-luring-minors-by-computer","tag-man","tag-methamphetamine","tag-online-sting","tag-online","tag-sting","tag-stutsman-county","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18973,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16977\/revisions\/18973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}