A college football player with a history of sexual assault raped a 17-year-old girl on a Carnival cruise ship while she was on vacation with her family — before brutally asking, “You okay?”
James Thomas Kelly, now 22, was found guilty of aggravated sexual battery, sexual battery and assault in connection with the incident that occurred at Carnival Legend between Jan. 1 and Jan. 2, 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland said Was.
The running back for Wingate University was already convicted of sexual assault as a minor in 2019 — and the jury heard testimony from six people who accused him of other sexual assaults, including Cruz for rape. The FBI was already investigating.
Prosecutors said that in that case, he “forcibly raped” the teen by taking her back to his cabin when she needed the toilet — then pushed her “face first” onto the bed and raped her.
But prosecutors wrote in court documents, “He saw that (she) was intoxicated (by her own admission), he realized she was vulnerable” and “took full advantage of the situation.” Received by the state.
“After raping her, Kelly asked, ‘Are you okay?'” doctors said.
Prosecutors said Kelly denied raping the teen when FBI agents visited him at the college in April 2023.
But after federal authorities arrested him at the university in September 2023, a student came forward to say Kelly had also raped her, prosecutors said.
According to court documents, as of November 2023, there was an outstanding arrest warrant for Kelly for second-degree forcible rape in relation to that victim.
During the two-week trial, jurors heard testimony from six people who accused Kelly of sexually assaulting them on separate occasions, including after Cruise was investigated by the FBI, prosecutors said.
He was also convicted as a minor in a 2019 sexual assault case, prosecutors said.
“Kelly has an alarming history of allegations of sexually assaulting men and women from early 2017 through September 2023,” prosecutors wrote in court documents.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Kelly faces up to life in prison in the federal case.
