Former Dothan fire medic found guilty of raping wheelchair-bound woman sentenced

Richard Everett
·1 min read

DOTHAN, Ala (WDHN) –A former fire medic who served in Houston and Geneva County was sentenced this week after a jury found him guilty of rape and sodomy in late 2023.

Houston County Judge John Steensland sentenced Steven Hallford to 21 years in the Alabama Department of Corrections.

After a three-day trial in early December 2023, Hallford was found guilty of two counts of Rape in the first degree and four counts of Sodomy in the first degree.

He was arrested in October 2019 after police said he had sexually assaulted a woman confined to a wheelchair several times over the years.

Prosecutors said Hallford forced the victim to perform oral sex on him and other sexual acts, but Hallford’s defense claimed the sexual encounters were consensual and said when Hallford showed up at her home, she never pressed a home alert button that she had at her disposal.

Hallford was a fire medic with the Dothan Fire Department when the alleged crimes occurred but worked in Slocomb in a similar position when he was arrested.

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