A former police officer who allegedly ran a child prostitution ring for five years while working for the Honolulu Police Department was arrested Thursday by Homeland Security Investigations agents in New Mexico.
Mason Jordan, 31, who worked as a patrol officer from Nov. 4, 2013, until he resigned amid a Professional Standards Office investigation on March 26, 2021, is being held in Albuquerque ahead of a detention hearing Tuesday.
Jordan was charged in an eight-count indictment secured May 26. He is accused of three counts of sexual exploitation of a child, two counts of sex trafficking of a child, two counts of coercion and enticement and one count of cyberstalking for alleged incidents involving four different victims between July 18, 2016, and April 11, 2020. The alleged incidents involved three minors and an adult female.
On Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerry H. Ritter of the district of New Mexico ordered Jordan detained until Tuesday’s hearing.
While an HPD officer, Jordan allegedly took sexually explicit photographs of a child in 2017 and used a hidden camera to record sexually explicit videos of the same child on two occasions in 2016, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Jordan also allegedly impersonated the child on social media in order to recruit other local kids to work for him as underage prostitutes in 2020.
Child sex trafficking is “one of our top priorities, not just locally, but nationwide,” said John Tobon, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Hawaii. “The risk is high not just in the state of Hawaii, but all over. When you talk about minors on social media … that allows strangers to contact them. (Parents) really need to take the safety and security of their children seriously when they are participating in any kind of social media activity.”
That includes securing children’s social media accounts to ensure they are private and monitoring their online activity, Tobon said.
Homeland Security Investigations received a tip about Jordan’s activity, prompting the federal probe. HPD’s Professional Standards Office also received a complaint about Jordan from the family of a minor teenage girl who had run away but returned home, according to law enforcement sources.
Jordan allegedly tried to lure the girl into working for him during a meeting in his car, scaring her into going back to her family. At one point he allegedly worked with a 19-year-old who helped him search social media for runaways and young girls who needed money and a place to stay, according to the sources.
HPD investigated Jordan in connection with the allegations and then worked with Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI on the case that led to his arrest Thursday.
Jordan’s Makakilo Drive apartment and his locker at HPD were searched by agents in 2020.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Wayne A. Myers and Christine Olson are prosecuting the case for the Justice Department. An HPD spokesperson directed questions about Jordan’s case to federal investigators.
Jordan allegedly met up with some of the underage girls for “commercial sex acts in 2020,” according to the news release. He also allegedly “sextorted” a woman he met through his work as a police officer, using photographs he had obtained of her when she was a minor.
If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and up to 30 years on the three counts of sexual exploitation, a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life imprisonment on the two counts of coercion and enticement and two counts of sex trafficking, and up to five years in prison for cyberstalking.
“The sexual exploitation of children is among the most reprehensible crimes we prosecute and deservedly carries severe criminal penalties,” said Hawaii U.S. Attorney Clare Connors in a statement. “When, as here, the perpetrator is a law enforcement officer sworn to protect the community’s most vulnerable members, including our children, the crime is that much more egregious.”
On May 12, 2021, a Kapolei woman and three family members were granted a five-year protective order against Jordan in connection with a domestic abuse case, according to state court documents.
In September 2016, Jordan received a certificate of recognition from HPD for being part of a group of police officers who helped chase down a robbery suspect in Kalihi and prevented him from jumping off an H-1 freeway overpass.
Jordan is listed in HPD’s 2021 annual discipline report, which is shared with state lawmakers. The department accused him of criminal conduct and “promoting intoxicating liquor to a minor” and said he “failed to participate and/ or respond to the administrative investigation” of the incident.
He resigned “prior to discharge,” according to the report.
“Sexual predators who prey on the most vulnerable members of our society will be identified, investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said Steven Merrill, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Honolulu Division, in a statement. “The fact that Jordan was an active duty police officer — sworn to protect the public — makes this case particularly appalling. This arrest demonstrates the importance of the FBI’s commitment to work closely with our partners to investigate cases such as this with a sense of urgency to protect our keiki.”
The investigation was a part of the Justice Department’s Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, according to the release.
Led by U.S. Attorney’s offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, Project Safe Childhood pulls together federal, state and local resources to find, arrest and prosecute people who exploit children via the internet and to identify and rescue victims.
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How to help
If anyone has any additional information related to this case, please call Homeland Security Investigations at 808-532-3753. People who are or believe they may be victims of human trafficking are urged to call or text the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline at 888-373-7888.
>> SMS: 233733 (Text “HELP” or “INFO.”)
>> Hours: 24 hours, 7 days a week
>> Languages: English, Spanish and 200 more
>> Website: humantraffickinghotline.org
>> Those who wish to report incidents of human trafficking or suspected human trafficking may also call the FBI’s Honolulu Division office at 808-566-4300, county police, or 911 if it is an emergency.
