Rape charges certified

STAUNTON — A mother’s testimony about her son’s struggle with bipolar disease wasn’t enough to free the accused rapist and convicted sex offender from jail Tuesday.

An Augusta County judge sent James Paul Desper, of Stuarts Draft, back to Middle River Regional Jail after certifying to grand jury charges he raped an 18-year-old mentally disabled woman.

His arrest last month came less than a year after his release from prison on another sex charge. Desper pleaded guilty in September 2007 to taking indecent liberties with a 16-year-old Fishersville girl. He served roughly a year behind bars before being released on electronic home monitoring.

In interviews with the Augusta County Sheriff’s Department, Desper claimed he developed a relationship with the 18-year-old through text messages, said county Investigator Brian Jenkins. Desper said he didn’t know the woman was disabled, Jenkins said.

“He said she carried a conversation all right,” Jenkins testified in Augusta County General District Court. “He said he didn’t know.”

A lookout discovered Desper and the woman at Relax Inn motel in Mint Spring after she was reported missing to Roanoke County authorities. When approached, the pair told police they engaged in consensual sex. But police interviews with the victim raised questions about her ability to evaluate what happened, and police recommended charges against Desper.

“She had very low functionality,” Jenkins said. “She did not respond emotionally.”

Desper became a registered sex offender after his 2007 guilty plea, according to court records.

He wrote a letter last year to an Augusta County judge to request electronic home monitoring, saying he wanted to be home with his young daughter and had arranged for a job in Waynesboro.

“I’m ready to start living to the standard that Jesus Christ has set for us all,” Desper wrote.

But the home monitoring didn’t stop Desper from taking his mother’s car without her knowledge, Glenda Desper said during a defense motion to release her son on bond. The motion requested that Desper be returned to his mother’s home.

Glenda Desper told the judge her son suffers from bipolar disease and spent his youth in special education classes.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney John Reed argued James Desper could slip unnoticed from home again.

Desper also has been convicted of credit card forgeries and more than a dozen misdemeanors, according to court records.

A grand jury is scheduled to hear his case Oct. 26.