Man, woman charged in sexual abuse of child

A 45-year-old Preston man who is serving time in an Idaho prison on a 2015 murder conviction is one of two people to be charged in 1st District Court with the sexual abuse of a small child.

James Kelly Pilgrim was transferred from prison and booked into the Cache County Jail on May 21, and on Thursday the arraignment process was started by video conference.

Defense attorney Shannon Demler has been appointed to represent him. 

According to court records, allegations of abuse first surfaced about 10 years ago. During the investigation, the Cache County Sheriff’s Office interviewed both Pilgrim and Melissa Tilley, who was living in Richmond at the time. However, they both denied any wrongdoing, and the child was so young that she was unable to fully articulate what happened to her, even though there was DNA evidence linking her to Pilgrim.

The Sheriff’s Office was contacted again several years later after the child told a therapist that she had been physically and sexually abused by both Tilley and Pilgrim, court records say.

Pilgrim was charged with rape of a child, a first-degree felony, and Tilley was charged with sodomy on a child, also a first-degree felony.

If convicted as charged, Pilgrim is facing a minimum of 25 years to life in prison.

He is already serving a 25-to-life prison term on the 2015 murder conviction, and according to the Idaho Department of Corrections, he will not be eligible for parole until 2037 at the age of 64.

Tilley, 37, is also facing 25 years to life in prison if convicted as charged. She is scheduled to appear in court on May 29.

James Pilgrim

James Pilgrim