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Counselor for Grayson County juvenile sex offenders arrested for child porn
A youth services counselor from McKinney has been charged with possession of child pornography.
SHERMAN, Texas - A youth services counselor from McKinney has been charged with possession of child pornography.
The Grayson County Sheriff’s Office said Jonathan Neece, 37 is a licensed professional counselor who specializes in counseling juvenile sex offenders. He was hired as a sub-contractor for the county to work with kids who are on probation. He is charged on 10 different counts.
Authorities started investigating Neece after another county employee found images of young boys performing sex acts in the recycling bin on his work computer. He was also in some of the inappropriate photos.
“He actually went into the recycle bin to find a document he accidentally deleted,” explained Grayson County Sheriff Tom Watt. “He went into the recycle bin and found some things that were suspect.”
Investigators say Neece would gain the trust of his underage victims in order to sexually exploit them.
According to the search warrant, investigators found pornographic images of a man who appeared to be Neece, images of boys who looked as young as 12, and other photos of teen boys taken without consent in the juvenile detention services facility.
The warrant says investigators found “several images of a teenage boy wearing JDC-issued shorts and these photographs were taken from underneath a desk.”
“Just given the nature of these allegations and the nature of his occupation, the potential is there could be additional victims,” said Grayson County District Attorney Brett Smith. “And I think we have an obligation to seek those folks out.”
Neece also has a private practice in Richardson that was searched, along with his home in McKinney. He has previously held offices in Collin, Dallas and Denton counties.
According to the search warrant, furniture and wall colors in some of the images found matched Neece’s home in McKinney and his office in Richardson.
A witness also identified shoes and clothing in some of the photos as belonging to Neece. And a JDC employee identified some of the teens in the photos, showing records that confirmed all of them were in a counseling session with Neece the same day.
Authorities executed search warrants on Monday at Neece’s home, office and car. They seized phones, a flash drive and a laptop.
According to his website, Neece has been conducting juvenile forensic mental health evaluations for Dallas and Grayson counties and counseling for children in the Texas foster care system. He had no prior criminal history.
“He was vetted five or six years ago,” Sheriff Watt said. “And as you all know, these folks try to fly under the radar. They’re hard to spot.”
The sheriff’s office has set up a hotline and encourages any other potential victims to call 903-813-5280.
Neece is being held in the Grayson County with a $750,000 bond.