A 76-year-old Cullman attorney has been indicted on multiple charges of sex-related crimes.
A Cullman County grand jury indicted Randy Allan Hames, who was initially arrested on criminal charges in February and then again in March, on four counts of human trafficking, two counts of sexual extortion, two counts of soliciting prostitution and two counts of second-degree stalking involving three different victims. The indictments were issued May 17 and made public Thursday.
Hames was first arrested on Feb. 22 on charges of stalking and soliciting prostitution. He was arrested again on March 5 on three counts of second-degree human trafficking and one count of first-degree human trafficking. The charges came after two women claimed that Hames asked for sex in place of rent payments at one of his trailer parks.
Efforts to reach his attorney for comment weren't immediately available.
In the case of one victim, documents state that on Dec. 15, 2017, Hames did "knowingly recruit, entice, solicit, induce, harbor, transport, hold, restrain, provide maintain, subject or obtain by any means another person (the victim) for the purpose of labor servitude or sexual servitude" which was to perform sexual acts in lieu of payment for rent.
On the sexual extortion count, the indictment says Hames threatened the victim with eviction if she did not have sex with him in lieu of paying rent. And, on the stalking charge, Hames is accused of continuously harassing and following the woman between Dec. 20, 2017 through Jan. 28, 2018.
For the second victim, records state Hames did "knowingly recruit, entice, solicit, induce, harbor, transport, hold, restrain, provide maintain, subject or obtain by any means another person (the victim) for the purpose of labor servitude or sexual servitude" which was to perform sexual acts in lieu of payment for rent.
The indictment also says he stalked the woman at work, intimidating her with threat of eviction, asked for sexual favors in lieu of rent and repeated followed and harassed her between Dec. 10, 2017 through Jan. 28, 2018.
For the third victim, he is accused of coercing a mother of three to perform oral sex on him with the threat of eviction if she didn't, and solicited her to perform sexual conduct in exchange for rent payment.
That woman, as well as another not listed as a victim in any of the criminal cases, have filed civil lawsuits against Hames.
One of the lawsuits claims that Hames in 2010 was appointed by the courts as Guardian Ad Litem for a woman who had lost custody of her four children. As Guardian Ad Litem, Hames' responsibility was to look out for the best interest of the children.
That woman claims in the suit that Hames would frequently summon her to his office and then repeatedly ask about her sex life. Eventually, she claims, Hames started showing up at her house uninvited. He made sexual advances toward her and told her "You'll lose your kids if you don't have sex with me.''
He also left a bag on her front porch that contained red panties, a bra and lingerie. And, he tried to get her to move into one of his trailer parks, the lawsuit claims, but she refused.
By 2012, according to the suit, the woman continued to refuse his sexual advances and Hames ''became rude and adversarial...in court and began supporting DHR's petition to terminate her parental rights.'' Knowing that Hames was now against her and believing she had no chance to regain custody of her children, she relinquished her parental rights in 2013.
The second woman, who is the victim in one of the criminal cases, who has filed a civil suit against Hames lived in the Hames Marina trailer park for 2012 to 2013. According to her suit, Hames asked her for oral sex and said he would evict her if she did not comply. She was a single mother of three children.
Soon after she moved in, according to the complaint, Hames showed up at her home and invited himself in, telling her he wanted to talk over a glass of homemade elderberry wine. He asked her to perform oral sex on him and when she resisted, he said, "You know I can evict you. I'm an attorney. I can do whatever I want."
The woman, afraid of what would happen to her children or herself, reluctantly performed oral sex on Hames, according to the lawsuit. He continued to make unwanted advances against her until she moved out in 2013.
Hames is currently out of jail on bond. A trial date has not yet been set for the two felony and two misdemeanor charges.