Suspect in several sex crimes arrested
A man wanted in sexual assaults in Arizona, California, Nevada and
Oklahoma was arrested Tuesday.
Police Lt. Skip Arms said James Selby was arrested in Colorado Springs.
He would not give details.
KOLD-TV in Tucson reported Selby was arrested after walking into a
Veterans Affairs clinic.
No one answered the phone at the clinic Tuesday night.
Among other cases, Selby is wanted in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, in
the 1999 rape of a child who was pulled out of her bedroom window in
the middle of the night.
http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_1437774,00.html
Police: Rape suspect may still be in Tucson By James Kelley
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday August 29, 2002
Number of officers searching for accused rapist
James Allen Selby reduced as police recieve fewer
leads on his whereabouts
Although police have scaled down the search for
suspected serial rapist James Allen Selby, police
warn he may he may still be in the Tucson area.
The number of TPD officers searching for Selby has dropped from 25 to 10.
“We don’t have as many detectives and officers on it 24-seven as we did,”
said Kathy Wendling Tucson Police Department Public Information Officer.
“We are still responding to calls and sightings,” she said.
The number of tips and sightings has also fallen recently, giving police
fewer leads to follow, Wendling said.
The Tucson Police Department charged the 35-year-old Selby with
attempted murder, three counts of sexual assault, one count of aggravated
assault and one count of kidnapping in connection with four campus area
assaults beginning last October. Selby was charged on Aug. 16, the day of
his last confirmed sighting in Tucson.
“We have no reason to believe he has left, no other town has spotted
him,” Wendling said. “We are still investigating as if he is in town,” she
said.
Selby has not been identified as a suspect in the University of Arizona
Police Department’s case at this time, said UAPD Commander Brian
Seastone.
Selby is a suspect in a number of sexual assaults nearby campus, but not
on the UA campus.
Selby, who was featured on the television show “America’s Most Wanted,”
is the subject of multi-state manhunt where he is suspected to be
responsible for 15 sex crimes over the past four years, in San Diego,
Nevada and Oklahoma due to DNA evidence.
“The decision has no effect on us, regardless of how many detectives are
on the case, our communications with TPD doesn’t stop,” said Seastone,
who said he cannot comment on how many UAPD officers are currently on
the case.
Selby is 5-foot-9 inches tall, 180 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes and
has a tattoo of skull with a cowboy hat and handkerchief tattoo on his
upper right arm. He is believed to be driving a 1985 tan Chrysler New
Yorker and is considered very dangerous.
“I really haven’t generally felt unsafe on campus because I don’t go out
alone at night,” said Helena Sokol, an economics senior. “I think because
of the manhunt, he is attempting to lay low,” she said.
Irene Anderson, director of the Oasis Center for Sexual Assault and
Relationship Violence, doesn’t know if students should feel safer or less
safe on campus because of the decision to reduce the number of officers in
the investigation.
“It is very difficult to measure the concern of people on campus, but there
certainly has been a lot of media coverage on this case,” Anderson said.
The uncertainty surrounding the Selby case has caused anxiety with some
on campus.
“It probably makes me feel less safe. It would be nice to know they caught
these guys,” said Sarah Epperson, a political science freshman.
To ensure safety, Seastone and Anderson recommend using SafeRide,
walking in pairs, being mindful of your surroundings during both day time
and night time, communicating with friends about your location, making
plans when going out and using a buddy system.
SafeRide is a safety escort service for students, who can call 621-SAFE
from 6:45 p.m. to 12:55 a.m. for a ride. The service provides free
transportation within the boundaries of East Waverly Street, East Broadway
Boulevard, North Tucson Boulevard and North Fourth Avenue.
If you have information regarding the suspect, you can call the Tucson
Police Department tip-line at 791-4939, or 88-CRIME. Those who come in
contact with him should call 911.
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/96/4/01_1.html.
Man Suspected of Sex Assaults in Four States Arrested
Wednesday, September 25, 2002
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A man wanted in connection with nine sexual attacks on women and children since 1999 in Arizona, California, Nevada and Oklahoma was arrested at a veterans medical clinic.
James Allen Selby, 35, was arrested Tuesday on a federal warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, police Lt. Skip Arms said. He was in jail without bond.
Investigators have said DNA evidence links the five-year Army veteran to sexual assaults in the four states.
In Cleveland County, Okla., he faces charges of rape, sodomy, burglary and kidnapping in the Sept. 16, 1999, assault on a 9-year-old girl. Police said she was pulled out of her bedroom window in the middle of the night and raped in nearby woods.
Selby is wanted in Tucson, Ariz., in three sexual assaults, as well as an attempted assault and a home invasion. He is also under investigation in four sexual assaults in San Diego, and in a sexual assault on a 12-year-old girl in Sparks, Nev.
Oklahoma authorities said Selby has no permanent address and apparently stays with acquaintances or in homeless shelters. He was discharged in 1992 from Fort Carson, which is near Colorado Springs.
He was found at the Veterans Administration clinic after an employee recognized him from a flier.
Authorities had not determined where Selby would be transferred next.