Court dates set for suspects charged with raping mentally disabled victim
Published 10:28 am Thursday, January 3, 2019
By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor
COLUMBIANA – A pair of suspects who are facing felony sex charges involving a mentally disabled victim are set to appear in Shelby County District Court over the next couple of months, according to recently filed scheduling documents.
The Alabaster Police Department arrested 58-year-old Alabaster resident Barry Wendell Oliver on Oct. 23, 2018, and arrested 67-year-old Montevallo resident on Sept. 30, 2018, and charged both of them with counts of second-degree rape and second-degree sodomy.
According to both suspects’ arrest warrants, they allegedly engaged in sexual intercourse and deviate sexual intercourse with a victim “who was incapable of consent by reason of being mentally defective” between July 1 and July 31 of 2018.
APD detective Josh Rauch previously said the department’s Criminal Investigation Division identified Cox and Oliver as suspects in the crimes during a several-week investigation, and said he didn’t expect any further arrests in the case.
Oliver is now set to appear in Shelby County District Court for a preliminary hearing on March 6, and Cox is set to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on April 3.
Cox was released from the Shelby County Jail on Oct. 1 after posting a $20,000 bond, and Oliver was released from jail on Oct. 24 after posting bonds totaling $20,000.