Liberty lawyer sentenced for online sex crimes with someone he thought was teen girl

A Liberty lawyer who sent lewd comments in emails to someone he thought was a teenage girl was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison.

Jerome Michael Patience, 40, who lives in Independence, pleaded guilty to engaging in an explicit online chat with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl for nearly a month in 2016. The “girl” was an undercover detective.

Patience is charged with crimes including attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, sexual misconduct and furnishing pornographic material to a minor.

Patience admitted he urged “the girl” to “take pics” while performing a sexual act. He was also convicted of two counts of sexual misconduct for exposing himself to the “girl,” Platte County Eric Zahnd said.

Zahnd said Patience began chatting with an undercover officer on May 24, 2016. The two allegedly chatted on and off until June 22, when either Patience or the “girl” mentioned her age nine times.

Patience showed interest in meeting the “girl.” He told her he did not know where they could meet “that I can trust that it doesn’t get me arrested.”

Investigators were able to identify the Liberty law office where Patience conducted his chat. He told the “girl” that he only chatted while at work and not during the evening and weekends.

On Aug. 25, 2016, investigators served a search warrant at the law firm. Patience’s computer was open to the Yahoo account that he used to conduct the online chat with the undercover officer, Zahnd said.

This story was originally published January 19, 2018 at 2:19 PM.