Pop Culture

'Bachelorette' Alum James McCoy Taylor Arrested in Connection to 2024 Assault Case

It seems to be because he still owes $300 in fines and court costs.

James McCoy Taylor
Brazos County Sheriff's Office

Former Bachelorette contestant James McCoy Taylor has been arrested, in a surprising continuation of a 2024 arrest for assault — apparently for not paying the entirety of a court-mandated fine.

Taylor was arrested on Mar. 20. He was released on the same day with a $10,000 surety bond. According to court documents obtained by Complex, he was arrested on a warrant from Texas related to the assault causing bodily injury and unlawful restraint charges from 2024. That’s when he was accused of forcibly kissing, groping, and throwing a 19-year-old student of Blinn College.

Taylor pleaded guilty to the charges last April and was sentenced to 18 months of probation, 80 hours of community service, a $750 fine, $350 in court costs, anger management classes, and was ordered to have no contact with the victim. He was also banned from College Station, Texas’ Northgate Entertainment District.

Taylor’s probation was ended by the court last month, apparently over issues related to nonpayment of the fines, and a warrant for his arrest was issued on Feb. 17.

Per online court records, he still owes $300 out of a total of $1,184, which includes the fine, court costs, and various fees. His most recent payment of $80 was made just two days before his arrest.

Complex reached out to the Brazos County Sheriff’s Office, which confirmed the arrest but didn’t provide any additional details.

Back in 2024, when Taylor was originally arrested for this incident, he told Page Six, “I would never hurt anybody. I’m nice to every person I meet.” He also told KBTX that the incident was “enjoyable and consensual,” and that “if there were any injuries they’d be all over the internet.”

The 2024 incident wasn’t Taylor’s first legal issue. In 2022, he was arrested for DWI and unlawful carrying of a weapon by police officers at Blinn College. At the time, an officer discovered an “impaired” freshman. Taylor claimed that he was driving her back to her dorm, but the officer saw that the teenager “was not in any kind of condition to appraise the benefits and risks of the situation she was in.”

He was found guilty the following year and was sentenced to five days in the Brazos County Detention Center, along with needing to pay a $500 fine, $585 in court costs, and having his driver’s license suspended temporarily.

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