Man charged with sex assault: I don't remember

James Tilton said he doesn't know why he's being charged. (Harrison Thorp photo)

ROCHESTER - Octogenarian James Tilton, charged with sexually assaulting a Meals on Wheels worker last month, said on Friday he has no clue why he’s being charged, but that he’s not losing any sleep over his impending court date.

“I ain’t worried about anything,” the retired Portsmouth Naval Shipyard worker said.

Police say Tilton sexually assaulted the 50-something volunteer on Sept. 9 while she was delivering a noon meal to Tilton, 87, of 18 Second Street.

Tilton says he remembers nothing of the alleged incident, but he does remember the visit from the police, adding that they verbally, “drove me right to the ground. They gave me hell.”

Tilton says he doesn’t understand why the police sent two officers to arrest him on Tuesday.

“They told me I was arrested for assault,” he said standing in his doorway clad in gray pajamas and bathrobe.

Asked around noon if Meals on Wheels were still delivering his lunch five days a week like they used to he said, “I don’t know; they haven’t come today and there usually here around 10:30 a.m.”

He said if they don’t show, he’s able to fend for himself, food-wise.

He said the Visiting Nurses, however, are still delivering services. He said his nurses have never brought up the Meals on Wheels incident, and he’s never brought it up to them.

Tilton said he spent many years working for the Shipyard, mowing lawns in the summer and plowing in the winter.

“I always worked for myself,” he said.

He said he’s lived in the small, neat white house on Second Street since 1960.

A widower, Tilton said he lost his wife to Alzheimer’s disease eight years ago.

Asked about what he might have done to deserve the sexual assault charge, he only says, “I don’t know, I don’t remember.”

He said he didn’t know the woman, wouldn’t recognize her if he met her and doesn’t know her name. He said police said she was around 55 years old.

Rochester Police did not return phone calls to The Lebanon Voice about the case on Friday, but did tell Foster's Daily Democrat there were no injuries as a result of the alleged incident.

Tilton's arraignment is set for next month at Rochester Circuit Court where he’ll face a charge of Class A misdemeanor sexual assault, which carries up to a one-year jail term.

Tilton said it will be his first time in a courtroom.