Shivangi Sinha
With iHeartMedia and Glass Podcasts’ ‘Betrayal’ season 2 delving deep into how a suburban Utah male destroyed several souls by leading a life of duplicity, we get a horrid tale unlike any other. After all, it carefully explores the atrocious behavior and manipulative endeavors of 2022-convicted sex offender Jason Andrew Lytton through the eyes of his own former partner, Ashley Lytton.
Jason Lytton Led a Seemingly Normal Life in Utah
It was reportedly around 2008 when Ashley first came across Jason at a restaurant while working as a waitress, just for him to suddenly keep showing up in the hopes of grabbing her attention. The truth is she was a single mother to two toddlers who’d recently parted ways with the father of her children who was also struggling with substance addiction. Her her priority was thus only being a stable provider, but the latter was relentless. In fact, the man she thought was a meathead upon recognizing him as her younger sister’s school batchmate soon clarified his intentions by switching jobs to be a server in the same restaurant.
That’s when Ashley decided to give Jason a chance despite their age gap as well as her personal standing, just to realize he actually had a great upbringing and could be irresistibly charming. This seeming sincerity, kindness, and care went to such an extent she didn’t wait long to introduce him to not only her close family but also her toddlers, all of whom believed he was a great guy. It hence came as no surprise they decided to tie the knot merely three years later, on August 12, 2011, before choosing to settle down in Riverton, where they soon welcomed a child of their own.
Jason Lytton Had Pictures of Child Sexual Abuse on His Laptop
According to the podcast, Jason never once differentiated between the three kids, which is just part of the reason even Ashley’s eldest (daughter, 5 at the time of their wedding) called him dad. Therefore, although the couple honestly had their fair share of troubles in the ensuing decade in terms of his infidelity and his increasing preference for isolation. He claimed that his mental health issues were mounting each day but the marriage persevered and thrived again during the COVID-19 pandemic. That is, until September 29, 2021, when the local Little League coach contacted his wife with login information to his iCloud to have her set up a Venmo for his recently purchased contracting business.
Jason actually called back immediately and asked Ashley to drop the entire account with the assertion they’d make it together in the evening, driving her to wonder if he was hiding something. She thus went through his synced iCloud, only to find a hidden folder containing at least a thousand images — images of minor girls aged 8-15 while they were naked and in vulnerable positions. She admittedly opened up a few of these before shutting her laptop in disgust, following which she somehow got the courage to contact a few family members prior to approaching the authorities.
Jason Lytton is Living in Riverton Till Today
Despite Jason’s best efforts to get in touch with Ashley to explain, apologize, and promise to do better in the succeeding hours, she didn’t respond until she needed to get him to a neutral place. In other words, it was with her help that officials were able to arrest the 40-year-old from a Walmart parking lot shortly before midnight the same day on 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. A search warrant obtained on the basis of her statements mere hours prior played a significant role in this as well — it enabled them to seize all the explicit content he had, which included not just internet downloads but also secret homemade videos of Ashley’s eldest daughter, Avaya.
It was nearly a year later, on September 9, 2022, that Jason pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of sexual exploitation of a minor (possessing nude images minor) plus two counts of voyeurism (secretly taping a minor without consent). The Utah native was subsequently sentenced to 329 days in county jail after credit for time already served and 48 months of supervised probation, along with a clear order not to have internet access again. Moreover, he was told he had to undergo a cognitive behavior treatment program, a complete mental health evaluation, as well as participate in an extensive parenting class while always abiding by Group A Sex Offender conditions.
The 44-year-old was incarcerated at the Salt Lake County Jail in South Salt Lake City, Utah, that is, until his parole in mid-August 2023. He’s now a registered sex offender and has gone back to living in Herriman, Utah. He is in the middle of a divorce with his wife and has laid claim to the equity of the house and other investments that they made together. He has also been allowed supervised visits with his daughter, Olivia and once he finishes another treatment program, he can have unsupervised visits with her. He often runs into his old family but things are not cordial between them.
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