DOTHAN | RICKEY STOKES NEWS
A jury returned a guilty verdict Friday morning against James Robert Suggs, convicting him of raping a 95-year-old woman in Cottonwood who suffered from dementia.
Houston County Sheriff’s deputies charged Suggs with two counts of rape in early 2025 after investigators received information about the alleged assault.
According to testimony presented during a pretrial hearing, Suggs took the elderly woman fishing and later transported her back to her Cottonwood residence using a golf cart. Investigator Brandon Barnes, a sergeant with the Houston County Sheriff’s Office, testified that Suggs sexually assaulted the victim while she was on the golf cart.
Barnes further stated that Suggs removed the woman’s diaper during the assault.
Suggs, 53, is scheduled to be sentenced next month following the completion of a presentence investigation.
