Former Blair man charged with 11 counts of sexual assault

A man who is currently imprisoned for two other sexual assault convictions has been charged with 11 more counts in Trempealeau County Circuit Court.

James C. Devenport, 57, formerly of Blair, was charged last week with 10 counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child and one count of second-degree sexual assault of a child, all with modifiers for him being on lifetime supervision for serious sex offenders. 

Devenport pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault of child and child sexploitation on Aug. 9, 2001. He was required to register as a sex offender and sentenced to one year in jail. In 2007 he pled guilty to sex with a child age 16 or older. Department of Justice records indicate he has been in prison since 2007 and is currently in the Racine Correctional Institution. He is scheduled to be released in 2027.

A new accuser has come forward and said Devenport sexually assaulted her hundreds of times from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s. The assaults began when she was seven years old; she is now 36 and told police she still experiences physical pain from the attacks.  

According to the criminal complaint, the accuser and her family moved to Blair in 1995. Her mother became friends with Devenport and his wife, Pam. She believed she was drugged before the first sexual assault and expressed reservations about staying with Davenport going forward, but Pam assured the victim it would be OK. The reporting party told police that Pam Devenport was home during some of the assaults, but would not help her even as she screamed inside their trailer home on East Center St. 

The accuser told police Pam Devenport would console her after the assaults but she has recently come to understand that Pam played a role and would put her in situations where James Devenport could assault her. Pam Devenport had not been charged as of early this week. 

She said Devenport would use household objects during some of the assaults, causing permanent physical damage. 

The assaults stopped when Devenport was in jail in the early 2000s, but continued after he was released. In the complaint, she detailed an incident in which Devenport found her in the park and forced her into the bathroom and another in which he hid behind a dumpster at their house. She said Devenport told her that if she reported the assaults, he would kill her mother.

James Devenport is scheduled to make an initial appearance in Trempealeau County Circuit Court on Sept. 2. Each count could lead to a prison sentence of up to 40 years.