Wake deputies charge Johnston County man in 2001 sexual assault of minor

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Johnston County man is behind bars after being arrested in a sex crime case that dates nearly two decades.

Wake County Sheriff's Office investigators arrested 61-year-old James Albert Williams on Tuesday and charged him in the alleged repeated sexual assault of a minor that began in August 2001.

Investigators became aware of the assault after the alleged victim, now an adult, contacted them.

The woman told investigators that the alleged sexual encounters happened when she was between 13 and 15 years old. She is now in her 30s.

Williams faces three counts of statutory sex offense against a person who is 13, 14 or 15 by a defendant who is at least six years older than the victim, as well as two counts of statutory rape of a person who is 13, 14, or 15 by a defendant who is at least six years older than the victim.

Investigators said Williams "concurred with the accusations" made against him.

Williams, of Selma, is being held in the Wake County Justice Center.