Steven Brian Higginbotham / Photo courtesy of Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney's OfficeA Rossville, Georgia, man was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for the rape and molestation of three children, according to a release from the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office.
Steven Brian Higginbotham, 48, was convicted by a Walker County jury of 20 counts including multiple counts of rape, aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, incest and child molestation stemming from years of sexual abuse after a three-day trial that ended Dec. 1, according to the news release.
The allegations first emerged in 2019 after one of the children spoke to a friend on the child's softball team. All three children were then interviewed at the Children's Advocacy Center, where they described several sexual acts they were forced to perform by Higginbotham. The Walker County Sheriff's Office then issued a search warrant for Higginbotham's residence, where officials found corroborating evidence. When confronted by police, Higginbotham vomited profusely before he was arrested, the release states.
It was determined that the victims had been afraid to come forward with the information earlier because they had been physically threatened by Higginbotham. During the trial, they shared in graphic detail the acts perpetrated by Higginbotham over several years. The children were joined in the courtroom by members of Bikers Against Child Abuse, a charitable worldwide motorcycle association built from biker community members.
- Compiled by Kim Sebring