Oregon man gets 8 years in Fresno County child assault case

A Fresno County judge sentenced Oregon man James Ellis to eight years in state prison after prosecutors said he used an app to contact a 12-year-old Fresno girl, then assaulted her in a parking lot near a Fresno church. The case has landed hard in Fresno because Ellis also rented a home in the city, making this a local child-safety failure as much as an out-of-state criminal case.

Prosecutors said Ellis first contacted the girl about a month before the December 30, 2023 assault. They said he told her he wanted to have sex with her, picked her up from her home, and drove her to the parking lot where the attack happened. Family members tracked the girl’s cellphone, found Ellis’s vehicle, and intervened. As the confrontation unfolded, Ellis fled, later dropped the girl off at a gas station, and Fresno police arrested him that same day.

Court records show the Fresno County criminal case was filed January 10, 2024. Police initially booked Ellis on kidnapping with intent to commit a specified sexual offense, communicating with a minor with intent to commit sex acts, and child-sex-assault charges. Fresno police also said Ellis was known to travel to California often for work.

At the June 10, 2026 sentencing in Fresno County Superior Court, Ellis pleaded no contest and asked for probation and therapy instead of prison. Defense attorney Jon Renge argued that Ellis believed the girl was 18 and said Ellis cooperated with investigators by turning over electronic devices. The judge rejected that account. She said the victim told Ellis her true age and that he replied, “Cool.” Investigators also found a search on one of Ellis’s devices that read, “How do you delete Snapchat history?”

Senior Deputy District Attorney David Devencenzi called Ellis one of the predators who target children and said he was glad Ellis was going to prison. The judge also ordered Ellis to register as a sex offender for life and issued a protective order for the victim, underscoring how seriously Fresno courts treated the case.

For Fresno parents, schools, and investigators, the details are a blunt warning about how abuse can begin on mainstream apps, not just obscure corners of the internet. The case shows how quickly a child can be groomed, moved off-platform, and placed in danger before adults realize what is happening, and why conversations about online safety now have to include dating apps, Snapchat, and other everyday tools that predators can exploit.