CROSS COUNTY, AR (abc24.com) - A Mid-South pastor is accused of having sex with a 14-year-old girl. Now a neighbor and long-time friend of James Davis is speaking out.
It turns out Davis has been in trouble with the law before. If the charges are true he could spend a long time behind bars.
From pulpit and pews to barbed wire and jumpsuits - smiling mugshots aside, Pastor James Davis is living a nightmare, accused of getting a 14-year-old girl pregnant.
“We got it on the news and I was like, 'this can't be my neighbor, but it's him,’” said Bernard Johnson.
Johnson lives just a few doors down from James Davis. He was shocked to hear the pastor who he watched grow up was accused of such a serious crime.
“My little granddaughter always be down to his house and playing with his kids and stuff,” Johnson said.
ABC 24 News went by Davis's house and a woman inside answered but she wouldn't give an interview.
Neighbors say the pastor is also a father.
“Being a father, it was kind of horrific,” said Cross County Sheriff J.R. Smith.
Smith says his office received word about the reported sex acts through the state's Crimes against Children Unit.
Right now, Davis is one of 38 inmates in the Cross County Jail. He’s locked up on a $500,000 bond. He's in custody not just for rape but also a parole violation. Davis spent time in prison on a felony drug charge.
“When he got in that trouble I thought he learned some sense, you know? That he would be alright. And we all respected him in the neighborhood,” Johnson said.
