A former paramedic from the Mississippi Gulf Coast was sentenced to 40 years and prison without the possibility of parole in a Gulf Coast court room on Monday.

James Lavelle Walley, 58, pleaded guilty in May to three counts of sexual battery and two counts of touching a child (the children were ages 5 and 7) for lustful purposes before Jackson County Circuit Judge Robert Krebs.

The victim of the assaults were considered vulnerable due to the medical conditions that required emergency care when Walley assaulted them.

“He should be in his late 90s before he’d ever be eligible to get out,” District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath said Monday.

In one incident in 2018, Walley raped a pregnant patient in the ambulance as she was being taken to a hospital.

The woman had a miscarriage hours later.

Several of his victims were in the courtroom to hear the verdict.

Walley, a married father of four from Greene County, read from a prepared statement at times.

“I want to take the opportunity to say I’m sorry, I really am,” Walley said.

He turned to address the victims seated in the audience, and repeated, “I’m sorry,” While the women and their families cried, Walley said, “I’m asking you, begging you to forgive me.”

Walley’s pleas for leniency were centered around Walley’s 6-year-old son, but Jude Krebs was not swayed by his argument.

McIlrath said Walley committed the crimes between 2016 and 2019 while working as a certified paramedic for ASAP Ambulance, which serves patients in Alabama and Mississippi.

He was fired from the company.

The victims of Walley’s assaults reported that they were doubted by law enforcement officers and others in the criminal justice system when they reported the rapes.

Judge Krebs apologized to the victims, saying that he was sorry they had faced doubt.

Walley had no criminal history before his arrest.

More details were revealed in civil lawsuits filed on behalf of other individuals who said Walley also assaulted them during emergency trips to south Mississippi hospitals.

The civil cases have been settled and dismissed.