Former Black Diamond man charged with sexual abuse of three teenagers

Former Black Diamond man charged with sexual abuse of three teenagers

James Harrison Newcomer was living in Black Diamond in 2020 when he pleaded guilty to rape of a child. He now faces three charges in federal court.

Correction: James Harrison Newcomer was originally identified as Black Diamond Man. Newcomer now lives in Seattle, according to the latest reports. The article has been updated.

A former Black Diamond man faces charges in federal court with sex offenses against a minor after federal prosecutors say he sexually abused three teenagers from Auburn, Snoqualmie and Oregon while under electronic monitoring.

U.S. prosecutors filed a criminal complaint on June 17 against James Harrison Newcomer, who currently lives in Seattle, for traveling with the intent to engage in sexual activity with a minor. The complaint alleges that Newcomer traveled from King County to Woodburn, Oregon, in April 2024 to sexually assault a teenager. Case records state that Newcomer sexually assaulted two minors from Auburn and Snoqualmie.

Newcomer was also registered with the first name Jake.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Newcomer was under electronic monitoring and wearing an ankle bracelet at the time of the sexual assaults. He had been serving a 30-month prison sentence for two counts of rape of a child; he was sentenced in April 2022 after pleading guilty.

According to the federal complaint, Newcomer’s ankle monitor went disconnected on Jan. 19, and correctional officers discovered he had left the apartment when they arrived to arrest him.

According to the Justice Department, between February and April 2024, Newcomer contacted the teenagers – aged between 14 and 16 – through the social media platform Snapchat and arranged in-person meetings during which he gave the teenagers drugs and alcohol and sexually abused them.

Police arrested Newcomer in Kent on June 7, 2024, and transferred him to federal custody on June 20. Newcomer appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle on June 20.

Numerous local and federal agencies, including the Auburn, Snoqualmie and Kent police departments, the FBI and Oregon, continue to investigate the case.

In 2020, while still a resident of Black Diamond, the King County District Attorney’s Office filed charges against Newcomer after a Black Diamond police investigation found that Newcomer had raped a 15-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty in 2022.

Editor Ray Miller-Still contributed to this report.