Sex Offender Sentenced in 3 Stalking Cases, Police Were Contacted by a Total of 13 Women Who Were Reportedly Approached by Nickell
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DIVISION
JACKSON POLICE DEPARTMENT
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: September 16, 2011
BY: Chief Gill Kendrick
Sex Offender Sentenced in Three Stalking Cases, Jackson Police Were Contacted by a Total of 13 Women Who Were Reportedly Approached by Jason Nickell
On Friday, there was a sentencing hearing in Madison County Circuit Court wherein Jason Everett Nickell, 39, of Holladay, was charged with three counts of stalking. After hearing testimony from two of the women and a Jackson Police Investigator, the judge sentenced him to three consecutive sentences of 11 months and 29 days in jail. He will be eligible for release after serving a minimum of 75 % of the sentence. This was the maximum sentence allowed. He will serve his sentence in the Madison County Jail and will receive credit for time served following his April 16 arrest.
Jackson police initially arrested Nickell for stalking two of the women. After his photograph appeared via our local media outlets, police were contacted by 11 other area women who said that they had similar encounters with Nickell. All but one encounter either occurred outside of Jackson or did not rise to the level of a criminal act. Police were able to file charges on the one additional encounter and Nickell was indicted in July on three counts of stalking.
The investigation concluded that Nickell stalked the first woman on March 16. Around 3 p.m., a 20-year-old Union University student was approached by Nickell on Union's campus. He made a statement to her about having a fetish. This made her feel uncomfortable. She went into her dorm room and stayed about 15 to 20 minutes. She then left to go to the library. While driving, she passed Nickell going in the opposite direction. When she arrived at the library and was walking toward the entrance, she saw that Nickell had turned around and was coming towards her.
He stalked the second woman on April 6 and 7. On April 6 around 6 p.m., a 19-year-old Jackson woman was shopping inside the Old Hickory Mall. Nickell approached her and told how attractive she was. He followed her in and out of several stores. This made her feel uneasy and she left the mall. The following day around 8 p.m., she was leaving Kohl's Department Store on Vann Drive when Nickell pulled up next to her in a car and again began complimenting her on her appearance. She rushed into another store and stayed for about 30 minutes. When she left, he re-approached her, asked her if she knew what a fetish was and told her that he had one for her. He made a couple of more lewd comments and then began performing a simulated sex act on himself. She ran into another store in the Columns and he drove away.
On April 7 around 5:30 p.m., Nickell approached the third woman, who was a 19-year-old Union University student, on Union's campus and began complimenting her. He asked her if she knew what a fetish was and then made a comment about her feet. She walked away to her dorm room and noticed through the window that he had pulled into a parking space closer to her dormitory. She contacted Union security. They responded and he left; however, security was able to obtain a license plate number on the car that he was driving and they forwarded that information to police. The woman remembered about a week earlier that Nickell was watching her intently as she walked across the parking lot of Target and into the store. He continued to watch her when she left Target about twenty minutes later.
Union University Security was integral in helping Jackson police identify Nickell, a registered sex offender in Benton County.
Address/Location
Jackson Tennessee Police Department
234 Institute St
Jackson, TN 38301
Contact
Emergency: 9-1-1
Non-emergencies: 731-425-8400
Lt. Tyreece Miller
Criminal Investigation Divison/ Violent Crimes Unit
[email protected]
731-425-8676
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