Southeast Missouri man charged with 20 sex crime counts

BENTON, Mo. -- A registered sex offender from Zalma, Mo., has been charged in Scott County with 20 felonies accusing him of having sex with a person younger than 14.

James L. Borders, 49, of Zalma lived in Scott County from 2006 to 2009, when the incidents occurred, Sheriff Rick Walter said in a news release. Borders was being held Thursday on a $200,000 bond at the Scott County Jail, Walter said.

Borders is charged with 10 counts of first-degree statutory sodomy and 10 counts of child molestation. He has been charged as a previous offender. If convicted, Borders faces a potential life sentence.

The charges were investigated jointly by the Scott City Police Department and the Scott County Sheriff's Office, Walter said.

Borders was convicted in 1987 of sodomy for molesting a 5-year-old girl in Flat River, Mo.

Pertinent address:

Benton, MO