Sex offender denies involvement in case of missing Swampscott woman

LYNN – The Level 3 sex offender with whom a missing Swampscott woman was reportedly last seen said he had nothing to do with her disappearance and last saw the woman walking away from his car after a drug deal.”I didn’t hurt the girl. She and I are friends; unfortunately a little mom is missing, and I’m a Level 3 sex offender,” the man, Jason Fleury, told The Item in an exclusive interview Thursday. “I don’t blame (the family) for being angry, they’ve got to take blame on somebody and a Level 3 sex offender is a hell of a target.”Jaimee Mendez, 25, was reported missing by her family on Saturday afternoon. Police said the family said they last saw Mendez Nov. 6 at around 6:40 p.m. Mendez’s family has said she was later was in the company of a man whom she said made her nervous, and she called a friend to pick her up. The friend showed up, but Mendez was nowhere to be found, the family told reporters earlier this week.Fleury, who has not been charged in connection with the incident and has not been identified as a suspect by police, agreed to an interview after being approached Thursday outside of Lynn Police Headquarters where police confirmed he had met with an officer but would not specify the reason for the meeting. Fleury said he had been interviewed by various police agencies three times and gave the same story on each occasion.Police have extensively searched Fleury’s East Lynn neighborhood and impounded two cars from his address this week.Fleury acknowledged he was with Mendez the night of her alleged disappearance. He said that Mendez was the go-between for him and a heroin dealer and, on the night of her disappearance, he picked up Mendez at 5:30 or 6 p.m. to buy drugs.Fleury said they took the same trip they had taken twice before: Fleury said he would pick Mendez up at her Swampscott residence and drive her to the area of a Rite Aid on Lewis Street in Lynn. She would call somebody to arrange the drug deal when they arrived at the store, although Fleury said Mendez used his cell phone to make calls on Nov. 6 because hers was running out of battery power. He would then allegedly give her the money and she would bring him drugs. Fleury said he last saw Mendez walking away from his car at approximately 6:30 or 7 p.m. on Nov. 6.”She was with me 30 minutes tops,” Fleury said.Fleury said he then did what any heroin user would do: “I went home and fried my brain.”Fleury insisted he did not kill Mendez, saying he had no motive to hurt her. He said he believes the drug supplier is the person who knows what happened to Mendez. But he admitted he did not know this person, as it was Mendez’s job to ensure he didn’t know the drug dealer, he said.Fleury also said he has no idea whom Mendez was with when she allegedly called a friend and said the man was making her uncomfortable. He said he didn’t understand why police – if they had Mendez’s phone as her family has reported – would not be able to find this person. (Police have not confirmed any details about any alleged evidence in the case.)Fleury said he was with his girlfriend later on the night of Nov. 6 and would not have had time to “hide a body so well in four hours so 700 people can’t find her,” referring to unsuccessful searches that have taken place this week in Salem, Lynn and Swampscott.Fleury said that if Mendez had used with him and overdosed, he would not have tried to discard the body. He said he is aware of the state’s so-called Good Samaritan law (having overdosed before) and said he would have dropped her at the hospital after getting rid of the drugs in his car.Fleury admitted he was uncertain about the exact timeline of the night.As for a criminal record that includes 22 cases in Lynn since 2002, according to court records, Fleury said he is a heroin addict and “petty criminal,” but not violent. He said he was convicted in Virginia in 1997 when he was 18 for having sex with a 13-year-old girl, and that he was designated a Level 3 sex offender after a conviction