Local paramedic jailed on new charges
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James Lavelle Walley
From Staff Reports
The shocking story of a Greene County paramedic accused of being a serial rapist grew darker last week after his arrest on five new counts of predatory sexual crimes, including two involving young girls.
James Lavelle Walley, 55, of Leakesville, was arrested Dec. 23, while reportedly shopping at a store in Leakesville. He is facing three counts of sexual battery as well as charges of touching of a child for lustful purposes. Walley’s arrest stemmed from indictments being issued against him on Dec. 9 by a Greene County Grand Jury.
According to copies of the indictments obtained by the Herald, Walley is accused of two counts of sexual battery against a woman on separate occasions in April and June of 2018. Another indictment alleges sexual battery against a second woman in June 2018. Each of the three charges stem from incidents that allegedly occurred in an ambulance while Walley was a paramedic on board.
As for the crimes alleged against minors, the new indictments accuse Walley of rubbing the genitalia of two young girls with his hand in February and May of 2018, when the children were between 6-8 years of age. The indictments did not provide any further details.
At the time of his arrest two days before Christmas, Walley was out on $100,000 bond from an indictment and arrest for sexual battery in September. In that indictment, Walley was accused of “engaging in an act of sexual penetration” of a female patient on or about April 18, 2018. While that indictment does not specifically indicate whether the victim was under Walley’s care when the alleged sexual battery took place, law enforcement officials have told the Herald that the charges stemmed from an incident in an ambulance in which he was working.
Walley is also charged with sexual battery in Jackson County, where he was arrested in October following an incident where he was accused of sexually assaulting a 38-year-old woman while she was being transported to Singing River Hospital.
As of Monday, Walley remained in police custody at the George-Greene Regional Jail in Lucedale. It is unclear whether he will be eligible for bond associated with the new charges. The Herald reached out to District Attorney Angel Meyers McIlwrath on Monday concerning whether Walley’s past bonds would be revoked and was told by a spokesperson with the DA’s office they did not comment on pending cases.
The alleged adult victims are identified in each of the indictments. However, the Greene County Herald does not typically identify victims of sexual abuse. The children who were alleged to have been sexually assaulted are not named in the indictments.
Walley and his former employer, ASAP EMS of Mississippi, are also facing multiple lawsuits filed by women alleging sexual misconduct by Walley while on the job. Five women filed lawsuits in Greene County Circuit Court this past January naming ASAP and Walley as defendants. The plaintiffs are three Greene County women and two women from George County, named in the court filings as Jane Does 1-5. In each case, the women accuse Walley of sexually assaulting each woman while they were in a vulnerable state and under his direct medical care. Court records indicate the alleged victim involved in Walley’s September arrest has also filed suit seeking damages against him and the ambulance company.
