Last Updated: Friday, 1:41 p.m.
James Tyler Melady, a 37-year-old resident of 100 Navigator Drive in Daytona Beach and former paramedic, was arrested and jailed in Volusia County early today on a charge of raping an unconscious woman in a Flagler County Fire Rescue ambulance during a service call in 2021.
Incomprehensively, it took Flagler County government more than 24 hours since the arrest to issue statements.
Daytona Beach police were investigating a separate sex offense when they discovered two video clips allegedly depicting Melady “exposing and digitally penetrating the vagina of an obviously unconscious/incapacitated female victim within fingers/hand,” his arrest report states.
The video clips show Melady setting up the camera and moving it during the incident–as if to ensure the best angles–and “clearly depicted” his face as well as the fire department uniform he was wearing during an obvious call for service.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office investigated, located the particular call to which Melany had been assigned on Oct. 17, 2021, and noted that it was for an “unresponsive and intoxicated” woman in Flagler Beach who was transported by ambulance to AdventHealth Palm Coast. The woman subsequently recovered and identified herself in stills taken from the video clips. She told investigators that she had no recollection of the incident, as she had blacked out after drinking excessively.
Detectives interviewed Melady, a former Navy corpsman, “who confessed to his crimes and told detectives he retired from Flagler County Fire Rescue earlier this year,” according to a sheriff’s release issued this afternoon. Melady was known as “Jimmy.” The county feted him at the beginning of 2022 in a press release when he and a fellow-paramedic delivered a baby on New Year’s Eve, in Rescue 62.
The rape charge is a a first degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Melady was also charged with video voyeurism, a third-degree felony. He is being held at the Volusia Branch jail on $150,000 bond on the voyeurism charge and no bond on the rape charge.
A call to Flagler County Fire Rescue Chief Michael Tucker at 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon was not returned. A request for the start date of Melady’s work with the county was not responded to Thursday. It was not until Friday afternoon, shortly after 1 p.m., that the county issued statements from County Administrator Heidi Petito and Tucker, with Melady’s start date: June 2018.
Melady, the statement read, “was put on an unrelated administrative leave on May 8 after failing a drug test for a medication for which he no longer had a prescription. He subsequently resigned and has not worked for Fire Rescue in the past four months.”
“We want to express concern and extend our support to the victim and her family,” Petito was quoted as saying. “The actions described are deeply disturbing and completely contrary to the values of our organization, and the principles we uphold in our service to the community.” The county is reviewing the circumstances of this case to determine if there are measures that can be made strengthen patient safety protocols, the statement read, without suggesting how or what would be done presently, or independently of the case, to ensure against a recurrence.
Customarily, only one paramedic rides with the patient in the ambulance, in addition to the driver, in non-critical cases. In critical cases, two paramedics are usually with the patient.
“This is a horrific allegation that casts a dark shadow on Flagler County Fire Rescue,” Tucker said in the release. “Fire Rescue is devastated by this incident, as our team is truly made up of dedicated professionals.”
“It’s unfathomable to me what this predator did to an unconscious victim while on duty while being entrusted to provide proper emergency medical care but instead sexually assault her,” Sheriff Rick Staly was quoted as saying. “It is likely there are other victims of his disgusting behavior.”
If you believe you may have been a victim of Melady or have information on this case or other victims, call the Flagler County Sheriff’s non-emergency line at 386-313-4911 or email [email protected].
