A Casper man faces up to 440 years in prison if convicted of sexually abusing at least one toddler, child and teenager.
James Maxwell Brite, who is 39 this year, faces 23 felony charges in the Natrona County District Court ranging from first-degree to third-degree sexual abuse of a minor.
Originally charged Aug. 18, his case ascended to the felony-level court this week.
The affidavit in the case spans numerous interviews over at least five years and at least four potential victims.
In one of the interviews, a male who is either 17 or 18 now disclosed to his counselor that Brite had sexually abused him starting when the teen was about 3 years old, the affidavit claims.
The youth insisted that he did not let Brite sodomize him, but that Brite touched his genitalia inappropriately and attempted to sodomize him.
“It felt like it was tearing so that’s why I kind of pushed off of him and ran to the bathroom,” the youth reported.
The young man’s mother and stepmother both told police when interviewed that they remembered the boy often screaming out and in his sleep as if having a nightmare during that age range. He’d call out phrases like, “No, stop!” and “It hurts!”
Babysat
A girl, who is now about 15, told police that Brite used to babysit her when she was in the second grade and would call her his “little girlfriend” and “fiddle” with her genitalia.
In a forensic interview at age 10, the girl allegedly told an investigator that Brite would make her touch his “private.”
If she told anyone, Brite allegedly said, she would “get dead.”
The Teen
Another girl who lived with Brite for a while when she was about 15 at first denied that they had sex, despite witness interviews saying they did.
Eventually she agreed to write her statement.
She played video games with Brite one day when no one else was home, then fell asleep cuddling her pillow. When she woke, the girl was naked and felt as if someone had stabbed her in the groin, the affidavit alleges.
Brite would give her alcohol a lot during this time, she said.
In his own interview, Brite denied doing anything sexual with the girl, but said he’d been drinking vodka like water during that time and couldn’t be sure.
He adamantly denied having “touched” the little boy, though.
Another girl told law enforcement that Brite “made me do things” starting at age 9 and threatened to hit her if she told anyone, the affidavit claims.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
