'Bachelorette' alum James McCoy Taylor accused of assaulting and groping college student

It is not his first brush with the law.

Bad news for Bachelorette graduate James McCoy Taylor. The 38-year-old from Katy, Texas, was arrested at a bar after warrants were issued for his arrest. The singer and reality star is accused of meeting a 19-year-old Blinn College student in April and taking her to a house in Bryan, where he allegedly attacked her and prevented her from leaving. Taylor appeared on The Bachelorette Season 12.

According to an arrest report obtained by KBTXAfter the two met, Taylor and the woman left the bar and returned to a condo where Taylor was staying. The two kissed in a bedroom, but the woman told police she changed her mind and wanted to leave when she felt uncomfortable. But she says Taylor became “very serious and intense” and “had an expression on her face that scared her.”

The woman reported that she went to the apartment's bathroom and called a friend who ordered her an Uber. When she left the bathroom, Taylor was already naked on the bed. She asked him to put his clothes back on and told him she wanted to leave.

After Taylor allegedly walked the woman to the front door, he slammed the door and began forcibly kissing her. She says he threw her to the ground, got on top of her and groped her private parts. She says she eventually managed to escape through the front door, got into an Uber that was waiting outside and drove away.

When police met the woman, they said they noticed bruises on her buttocks. They also saw the text messages between the woman and her friend that corroborated her story. One of the messages read, “Please come and pick me up.” Another read, “I'm not feeling well” and “He's forcing himself on me.”

Taylor told police the situation was “pleasant and consensual” and denied ever pushing her to the ground or lunging at her. Police did not believe his account. He was charged with assault and false imprisonment and released on a total of $8,000 bail. After the incident, the woman moved out of state.

In a statement sent to KBTX after his arrest, Taylor again denied the allegations, writing on social media, “So let me get this straight. I don't even have a scratch as I showed police in pictures of my entire body which was embarrassing to say the least and I'm a pretty big guy but I tried to 'unlawfully detain' a girl and she just… ran away? And went straight to her Uber right outside my house? With no injuries? Okay, got it. That makes total sense,” Taylor wrote. “Believe me if there were any injuries they would be all over the internet.”

It's not his first run-in with the law. In 2022, he was arrested for drunk driving and driving with an unregistered weapon. Police noted that at the time of his arrest, he was driving an “impaired” 18-year-old college student back to her dorm.