Former trooper sentenced to six months in jail

Published 12:56 pm Friday, March 4, 2016

A former Alabama State Trooper originally charged with rape and sodomy has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor sexual misconduct.

Samuel McHenry, of Rutledge, reached a plea deal with prosecutors from the Attorney General’s office, who handled the case after Charlotte Tesmer, district attorney for the Second Judicial Circuit, recused herself from the case.

McHenry was ordered to serve six months in the Butler County Correctional Facility. He can serve the sentence at increments of his own discretion, but must serve the full sentence within the next year.

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McHenry was arrested in December by officers with the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation following an accusation that he raped a woman while on duty.

According to court documents, McHenry responded to an accident on Interstate 65 on Dec. 6. In the victim’s statement she said McHenry found a pill bottle and an empty nasal spray bottle in her car. Investigators say the woman was driven away from the scene in McHenry’s patrol vehicle and he told her that she’d go to jail unless she had sex with him.

Along with paying a $500 fine and restitution, McHenry will lose his Alabama Peace Officer Training Commission and must register as a sex offender.