WARSAW — An area resident who police accused of sexually assaulting a 32-year-old woman with intellectual disabilities could spend nearly two years behind bars.

James Theodore King

James Theodore King, 51, was charged with rape, a level 3 felony, and sexual battery, a level 6 felony. King has addresses in the court records of Warsaw, Silver Lake and Akron.

According to a plea agreement between King and the Kosciusko County Prosecutor’s Office, the rape charge was dropped in return for King pleading guilty to sexual battery.

According to police, King lived at 1518 Dot St., Warsaw, on Feb. 20, 2016, when a woman reported her twin daughters missing. The two women, aged 32 at the time, are intellectually handicapped. Police began to search for the woman and the mother reported that she had located them in King’s apartment.

Police interviewed both women, who both admitted being intoxicated and who both tested over the legal limit. King told police he had provided both women with root beer and that he had consumed alcohol. Police tested King, who tested negative for alcohol with .000 percent.

According to the probable cause affidavit, one of the women told police that King had carried her to a back room of his residence and attempted to pull her pants down multiple times. She was able to stop him from doing so, but told police that King had carried her to the bathroom and wiped her after she had urinated.

The other woman told police she had also been carried to the back room and that after her sister fell asleep, King was successful in having intercourse with her. She told police she did not want to, but admitted she was too drunk to stop him. The woman added that King carried her to another room in the apartment, fondled her again and took photos of her with his cell phone.

Police confiscated a computer and cell phone from King and found nude photos of the woman.

Prosecutor Brad Voelz told the court in Superior Court One that he wished predators who prey on adults with the intellectual capacity of much younger people could be prosecuted as if those victims were minors. “[Intellectually] disabled people are the most vulnerable to sexual predators,” Voelz said. “He found disabled persons and he got them drunk. I believe that creates enough of an aggravating circumstance.”

King’s defense called the defendant’s wife, Theresa, to the stand.

“He is a very devoted man to our Heavenly Father,” she said, telling the court about a Christian ministry the couple run. “He is a hard worker and very dedicated husband and father.”

In cross examination, Voelz said “has Mr. King’s devotion to God been a recent thing?” Theresa King responded by saying “every man falls into temptation.”

The mother of the two women wrote the court a letter stating “this man is not a good person. The community needs to know what type of person he is.”

Judge Jerry M. Barr, sitting in for Judge David Cates, told King he was aware of the ministry formed by the defendant and his wife, but added “I’m not sure I can come up with, in my mind, an excuse for that behavior. I’m not fully convinced you understand how egregious your behavior was.”

Barr sentenced King to two and a half years with the Indiana Department of Corrections with the final six months of the term to be served on probation. He also gave King 74 days credit for time served.

Among conditions of the plea agreement, King must register as a convicted sex offender.