TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Two one-time members of an Alabama police department were charged with sex crimes in an alleged assault on a woman, news outlets reported.
Former West Blocton Police Chief Brian Keith Whatley and Craig Baird Arnold, who served as a reserve officer with the West Blocton Police Department, were booked into the Tuscaloosa County Jail on Tuesday, police said.
Both men were accused of sexually assaulting a woman they knew while she was under the influence of alcohol and unable to give her consent, said Capt. Jack Kennedy of the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit. Whatley, 50, was indicted on a sexual abuse charge and Arnold, 49, was indicted on a rape charge.
The charges resulted from an investigation that began in January and aren’t connected to the men’s past roles as police officers, and both are out of law enforcement, Kennedy said.
Court records weren’t available to show whether either man had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. Arnold was charged with sexual abuse of a child in 2016 and pleaded not guilty by reason of mental defect in June, documents show.
Whatley was released on a $5,000 bond, and prosecutors have asked a judge to revoke Arnold’s bond from the earlier case because of the latest arrest.
West Blocton, with about 1,200 residents, is located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Birmingham.