Warren County man’s appeal denied on multiple sex crimes against two children

A Warren County man convicted of statutory rape and multiple counts of sexual battery will remain in prison after the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the convictions Thursday.

James Willie Ross, 49, was convicted in December 2018 in what Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace called one of the worst cases of child sexual abuse he had ever seen.

Ross, a registered sex offender in Tennessee, had forced his girlfriend’s two daughters, ages 6 and 7 at the time, to perform oral sex on him, according to court documents.

Ross and his girlfriend, Canary Johnson, were indicted and tried together.

Johnson pleaded guilty to child neglect. Ross was convicted of three counts of sexual battery and one count of statutory rape. He received three concurrent sentences of 30 years each for the battery charges and a consecutive charge of 20 years with five years suspended on the rape charge for a total of 55 years.

His anticipated release date is 2072.