HOUSTON, Texas. – A man from the area of Houston He was sentenced to 99 years in prison for failing to meet sex offender registration requirements.
–
On Wednesday, March 10, 2021, a jury in Conroe north of Houston convicted defendant James Ray Bates, 65, after a contested trial in the 221st District Court.
–
Entered a school illegally
Prosecutors presented evidence that Bates was illegally present at Sacred Heart Catholic School on Friday, April 26, 2019.
–
At the time, both students and teachers were outside the school building after a morning mass.
–
As a registered sex offender, Bates knew that he was prohibited from entering the school grounds and that if he did, he would be guilty of committing a felony.
–
So was the arrest
However, Bates walked through a line of students and approached a student’s father to ask him for money for lunch. The father offered to provide Bates with food directly, but he declined the offer and began screaming and refused to leave.
–
An agent from the Conroe Police Department was at the school at the time providing security for the students. Officer Christenson arrested Bates when he showed his sex offender registration card as a means of identifying himself.
–
Following the jury’s conviction, prosecutors presented evidence of the defendant’s extensive criminal record and pattern of behavior as a sexual predator.
–
Extensive criminal history
The jury heard evidence that Bates went to jail on three separate occasions throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
–
In 2001, Bates was convicted and sentenced to prison for aggravated sexual assault and burglary in Tarrant County. For these convictions, Bates had to register as a sex offender for life.
–
He raped an old woman in hospital
Sergeant Joe Hadley of the Fort Worth Police Department testified that Bates broke into a hospital room and sexually assaulted an elderly woman recovering from hip surgery.
–
Stalked elderly women
Officer Vazquez and Conroe Police Department Detective Minchew detailed their 2018 arrest and investigation of the defendant for breaking into an assisted living facility at 1 a.m.
–
The investigation revealed that Bates was in the apartments of two elderly women. One resident was 103 years old and the other was 93 years old. Additionally, Lt. Stowe of the Conroe Police Department testified about his arrest in 2017 in which Bates was charged with indecent exposure in the parking lot of a Hobby Lobby.
–
