Andrews man faces rape charges

    Andrews – Three investigations lasting more than a year have led to more sexual assault charges against a local man.
    James Allen Bass, 21, of Andrews, was arrested on Sept. 3, when he surrendered to authorities on a bevy of charges, including that he allegedly kidnapped and held at least two girls against their will with a deadly weapon.
    Bass was first arrested on March 13 on a charge of statutory rape of a girl less than 15 years of age. He was later released on a $100,000 secure bond.
    Investigators working with HAVEN Children’s Advocacy Center and REACH gathered information from other alleged victims, who claimed they were also kidnapped and raped. Sheriff Derrick Palmer said the women knew the suspect and were not chosen at random.
    The sheriff’s office posted the arrest on its Facebook page Friday afternoon, but took it down by Monday after comments began to get out of control, Palmer said. Bass himself commented on the post after someone expressed sympathy for his mother.
    “I can assure y’all nothing is wrong with my mother and we were raised right,” Bass said. “We just have to let the court do its job to allow both sides to defend their cases.”
    Bass was arrested on charges of first-degree kidnapping (two counts), second-degree rape (two counts) and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. He was in custody at the Cherokee Scout’s press time Tuesday at the Cherokee County Detention Center in Murphy on a $250,000 bond and has a court date of Monday, Sept. 23.
    “A lot of investigative man hours were put into these cases. We again thank both REACH of Cherokee County and HAVEN Children’s Advocacy Center for their invaluable assistance to both our investigators and our Victim Advocates Program,” Palmer said. “Bringing these types of cases to conclusion involves a tremendous amount of teamwork.”