Rape suspect tells police he thought sex was in exchange for drugs

A Gipsy, Missouri, man told police sex with a woman was traded for methamphetamine — a deal unknown to the woman. He said he was high and did not remember whether the victim told him “no.”

Collin M. James, 27, was arrested by Bollinger County sheriff’s deputies Monday and charged with felony rape or attempted rape and first-degree sexual abuse.

Paul T. Hendrix, 54, of Zalma, Missouri, also was arrested Monday and charged with felony possession of a controlled substance and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia.

Bollinger County sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a rape about 9:30 a.m. Monday on Bollinger County Road 730, according to a probable-cause report.

The 50-year-old victim said she was staying with Hendrix, and Hendrix was friends with James, the report stated.

The three of them were watching the Super Bowl together when Hendrix left James and the victim alone about 8 p.m. Sunday, according to the report. They began kissing on the couch, and James led her into a bedroom, where he immediately pulled down her pants, the report stated.

“(The victim) repeated numerous times in her statement that she told him no and she did not want to do this,” Bollinger County sheriff’s detective Della Moore wrote in the report.

The victim told Hendrix about the incident, which was why she did not call the sheriff’s department until that morning, the report states.

Moore collected DNA evidence from bed sheets, and the victim agreed to a forensic examination at Beacon Health Center, explaining she had not washed or changed clothes since the rape, the report stated. Moore also collected a swab of DNA from Hendrix to eliminate any other DNA found on the sheet.

About noon, Moore interviewed James. James said he had sex with the victim, but it was consensual, Moore reported. James also said Hendrix left for 45 minutes to get “dope,” the report stated.

While James was waiting to be booked, he talked to Bollinger County Sheriff Darin Shell and said he made a deal with Hendrix to exchange methamphetamine for sex with the victim and pain medication, according to the probable-cause report.

Shell and Moore conducted a second interview, and James said Hendrix and another woman smoked methamphetamine out of a foil and blew the smoke into James’ face, getting him high, the report stated.

“James claimed Hendrix blew enough methamphetamine in his face that it caused him to be ‘messed up’ and ‘couldn’t remember everything that occurred,’” Moore wrote. “James stated (the victim) did not use any drugs.”

James told Shell and Moore he went with Hendrix to get pain pills, saying he can get methamphetamine for free, but it’s not his drug of choice, the report stated. Hendrix told James he could have sex with the victim as payment, according to the report.

James continued to deny raping the woman but told Moore it’s possible he did not remember the victim telling him “no” because he was “messed up.”

James is on bond for failing to register as a sex offender, the report stated. He was found guilty in 2012 of second-degree child molestation in Carter County.

Hendrix denied having made a deal with James for free methamphetamine in return for pain medication and sex with the victim, the report stated. Moore suggested a felony charge of promoting prostitution in the third degree.

In 2013, Hendrix was found guilty of sexual abuse in Bollinger County court, the report stated.

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address:

Bollinger County Road 730, Zalma, Mo.