Retired Baltimore officer admits to watching porn in day care van, denies ever showing it to kids

TOWSON, Md. — A retired Baltimore Police officer testified Thursday that he would regularly look at pornography while driving a day care bus but denied ever showing it to children or touching them inappropriately.

On the third day of testimony, James Stanley Weems Jr. took the stand in his own defense Thursday morning during his trial in Baltimore County. The 59-year-old Marine Corps veteran and former police officer faces 33 counts alleging he sexually abused children at his ex-wife’s day care, Lil Kidz Kastle Daycare Center, in Owings Mills, Maryland. The trial had been limited to only 10 of the counts related to just one of the alleged female victims, however, prosecutors said Thursday afternoon they would not submit four misdemeanor assault counts to the jury.

Weems told jurors he had been the primary van driver for the day care for years prior to the allegations – contradicting his wife, Shanteari Weems, who testified earlier in the week as a witness for the prosecution that her now ex-husband had only taken up primary van driving duties after in-person classes resumed following the COVID-19 pandemic. He also blamed his wife for introducing pornography into their relationship and for him ultimately developing what he described as an addiction to watching it.

As the day care’s van driver, Weems was responsible for dropping kids off at several Baltimore-area elementary schools in the morning and picking them up again in the afternoon. Weems told jurors he would look at porn on his cellphone almost every day while he was waiting in line to pick kids up and even at times while children were in the van. He said he would lean away and try to shield the screen with his body to prevent them from seeing the screen. Weems denied ever showing any children pornography.

Prosecutors have painted for jurors a picture of Weems as a man who used snacks and special privileges in the van as a way to develop an inappropriate relationship with the juvenile victim, who is now 12. During her testimony, Weems’ ex-wife said he would often talk about the girl, who she said he called his “little buddy.” Weems denied that on the stand Thursday, saying his relationship with the girl was no different than any of the other children he drove. Weems said he remembered her as being "just a little girl" and "nice."

Weems also denied ever going out of his way to give her snacks – contradicting testimony from his ex-wife and the girl’s mother, aunt and grandmother.

“All these people who said that happened, they’re all incorrect,” assistant state’s attorney Lisa Dever asked him on cross-examination.

“Yes,” Weems replied.

Weems’ attorney, Thomas Pavlinic, has portrayed his client as a porn addict who was viewing adult materials — but only adult material — day and night. A digital forensic examiner called as an expert witness by the defense Thursday testified to as much, saying 50% or more of all web searches on Weems’ cellphone were for pornographic materials and the searches made while driving the day care van accounted for only 10% of all porn-related browsing on his phone. To Pavlinic’s apparent consternation, however, Weems appeared to undermine that during Dever's questioning.

“Isn’t it true that most of the time you were looking at pornography you were on the bus with kids?” Dever asked.

“Probably, yes,” Weems said.

Weems was on the stand for only a relatively short time on Thursday. He expressed little feeling about the case or the charges against him except in response to a final question from Pavlinic.

“In retrospect, do you think that was appropriate what you were doing?” Pavlinic asked.

“No,” Weems said.

Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Michel Finifter, who is presiding over the trial, ordered the attorneys to return Friday morning to deliver their closing arguments. Since prosecutors said they had decided not to present four assault charges to the jury, Weems will face three counts of sexual abuse of a minor, two counts of second-degree rape, and one count of displaying obscene material to a minor. If convicted of the most serious charge against him, second-degree rape, Weems would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.