Alabama woman found guilty in child sex ring: reports

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Reuters) - An Alabama woman was convicted on Wednesday for her role in what prosecutors say was an incestuous child sex abuse ring, according to local media reports. Wendy Wood Holland, 35, is among 11 people - eight of them related - arrested as part of a group of family and friends who groomed and then shared children for sex, the Alabama Media Group reported. It is not clear how many children were victimized. Holland was found guilty by a Baldwin County jury, in southwestern Alabama, of sodomy, child sexual abuse, sexual torture and child endangerment, and faces up to life in prison upon sentencing, the news group reported. Authorities have said that Holland's late husband, Donnie Holland, was the ringleader of the group. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2012, days after the disappearance of his 19-year-old niece, Brittney Wood, who was last seen with him and who authorities have said was among the abuse victims, the news group reported. Holland was the second defendant in the case to stand trial. William Brownlee, a family friend, was convicted in October of sodomy and sexual abuse of a girl who was 12 or 13 at the time, the news group reported. Prosecutors with the Baldwin County District Attorney's Office and Holland's defense attorney, Mitzi Johnson-Theodoro, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. (Reporting by Sherrel Wheeler Stewart in Birmingham, Alabama; Writing by Jonathan Kaminsky; Editing by Sandra Maler)