LONGVIEW (KYTX) - Authorities on Sunday arrested a 39-year-old Longview man at his home for sexual assault of a child one-third his age.
According to arrest reports, a witness noticed a 13-year-old girl walking down a northern Gregg County road. The witness gave the girl a ride to the Longview police station, as she requested.
Gregg County Sheriff's Investigator Cecil Shelton was dispatched to a reported sexual assault call at about 1:30 a.m. Friday at the station, where he met the girl. The girl told Shelton that James Darwin Vance sexually assaulted her, and that her mother did not believe her when she was told about the incident, reports stated. The girl was taken to Good Shepherd Medical Center for an examination.
On Sunday, Shelton interviewed Vance, who was brought to sheriff's office Criminal Investigation Division for questioning. Vance told deputies that he had sex with the girl, "but claimed that she wanted to," according to a magistrate's review. "The story the child gave during her Child Advocacy Center interview conflicts with (Vance's) story."
Vance also told investigators that he left town after the assault, traveling to Laredo and Mexico before returning to Gregg County.
Deputies booked Vance into the Gregg County Jail, where he remains today on $100,000 bond.
James Darwin Vance
