Summary: An Alabama attorney has been arrested again just a month after his first arrest, this time for human trafficking.
A Cullman, Alabama attorney’s career is unraveling quickly. He was arrested for the second time in just over a month. Randy Hames, 75, was arrested Monday and charged with two charges of human trafficking in the second degree. His bond was set at $15,000 for each count or $30,000 total.
Hames was arrested last month for stalking and solicitation of prostitution. He was out on bond from the first arrest and picked up at the Cullman County Courthouse where he was practicing law. The details of this latest arrest have not been released, according to WBRC.
A few weeks before his first arrest, two women opened civil proceedings against him for protection of abuse. Champ Crocker, the attorney representing the female victims, said, “The solicitation of prostitution case came about because those tenants were behind on rent. They were not prostitutes. I want to make that very clear. There were offers made in exchange for the payment of rent. These were vulnerable people. They were struggling and unfortunately they were placed in a situation where they faced the possibility of sexual servitude as a result of being tenants in this trailer park.”
The petitions state that the women, Kayla Carreker and Tomeka Bartlett, were renting from Hames at a mobile home park. They claim he made sexual advances towards them. When they refused, he evicted them. They also claim the attorney was stalking them.
Crocker added, “Whenever you seek sexual servitude, that’s the key. Sexual servitude of another person, that is human trafficking. Our clients have been subjected under the authority of Mr. Hames in one scenario or another. We have more than two clients. This situation is developing. The important thing that I want to say is this – no one is above the law. No attorney is above the law.”
The Cullman Sense reported: “According to the Alabama Criminal Code, Section 13A-6-153, a person commits the crime of human trafficking in the second degree if: (1) A person knowingly benefits, financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in a venture or engagement for the purpose of sexual servitude or labor servitude. (2) A person knowingly recruits, entices, solicits, induces, harbors, transports, holds, restrains, provides, maintains, subjects, or obtains by any means another person for the purpose of labor servitude or sexual servitude…”
Would you consider what Hames did to be human trafficking? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
To learn more about those that help human trafficking victims, read these articles:
- Largest United States Human Trafficking Event Is the Super Bowl
- Kansas City Law Firm, Husch Blackwell, Represents Human-Trafficking Victims
- Moritz College of Law Offering Human Trafficking Awareness Programs
Photo: cullmantoday.com