17-Year-Old Boy Who Allegedly Raped 9-Month-Old Will Be Tried as an Adult

James Wamsley, of Richland, Wash., Has a Trial Date of July 23

James Wamsley, 17, of Richland, Wash., is being charged as an adult for allegedly raping a 9-month-old baby. Wamsley's charge is first-degree rape of a child; his trial is set for July 23. His bail as of today is set for $500,000; he has yet to post bail, the Tri-City Herald reports.

As of yesterday, Wamsley has been in the Benton County jail. Prior to being moved he was located in the Benton Franklin Juvenile Justice Center. 

According to court records, Wamsley had been baby-sitting the baby as well as a 3-year-old on Monday for over 8 hours. The mother of the children had gone out to a barbecue. When she returned home, she noticed something wrong with the baby and called the paramedics immediately. The call to the paramedics was made around 11:30 p.m., the Herald reported.

Paramedics arrived shortly and took the baby to Kadlec Medical Center. The baby, whose name will not be released, was treated for severe injuries from a sexual assault. According to Captain Mike Cobb of the Richland Police Department, the baby was moved to a hospital located in the Spokane area. Unfortunately due to privacy laws, the condition on the baby is unavailable until further notice.

The National Incident Based Reporting System is a system that collects data that is based on reports from law enforcements agencies in 12 states and is based on sexual assault, especially sexual assault in small children.

It covers four categories, forcible rape, forcible sodomy, sexual assault with an object, and forcible fondling. The data collected is unimaginable, but factual. 67 percent of all victims of sexual assault are under the age of 18. 34 percent of all victims are under the age of 12. One of every seven victims of sexual assault that is reported to authorities were under the age of six. 40 percent of the offenders who victimized the children that were under the age of six were under the age of 18 themselves as stated from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Prosecutors who had been in juvenile court Wednesday for Wamsley called the incident "horrific" and "unfathomable" as reported by KEPRTV.

SOURCE : Charged as an adult - William Pitts - KEPRTV