Casting Assistant Jason James Murphy Was Convicted Sex Offender

By: Susan Harris
11/20/2011 06:38 AM ET

Jason James Murphy - Worked As Casting Assistant Was Convicted Sex Offender - Served Five Years In Prison - Jason James Murphy is a convicted child molester working as a Hollywood casting casting. The director began cooperating with a Los Angeles Police Department investigation, while child protection advocates called for sex offender background checks for those with access to child actors.

Jason James Murphy, who served prison time for the 1996 kidnapping and molesting of an 8-year-old boy in suburban Seattle, has spent the last decade working as a casting assistant even though he was a convicted sex offender. He helped find young actors for movies including the science fiction hit “Super 8″ and the forthcoming comedy “The Three Stooges.”

The casting directors who hired Murphy — who obtained casting jobs under the name Jason James — said they were unaware of his criminal conviction. LAPD representatives said Friday that, although Murphy is under investigation, there is no evidence that he had committed new crimes.

Murphy’s Hollywood career has caused anxiety among parents of child actors on the film and TV audition circuit.

“They’re just freaking out,” said Anne Henry, co-founder of BizParentz Foundation, a nonprofit support group for parents whose children work in the entertainment industry.

Henry said she spent the morning dealing with frantic parents worried that Murphy might have been alone with their children during casting sessions and could have obtained photos or videotapes of them.

“It’s the one place in our industry when the kids are alone,” Henry said. “In casting situations, the parents are never in the room for an audition. Some guy comes up. They take your kid down the hall and disappear for 20 minutes. You never know.”

Murphy, 35, is cooperating with an investigation into whether he complied with requirements for registered sex offenders, said Det. Christopher Merlo of the department’s West Bureau Registration Enforcement and Compliance Team.

Since 2008, under the name Jason James, Murphy has been a member of Teamsters Local 399 and casting assistant as a convicted sex offender.

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