Sex Offender Brothers Reoffend: charged with 19 felonies in repeated sexual assults of young girl
By Carol Robinson | crobinson@al.com The Birmingham News /gallery-preview
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Birmingham, AL
Two Birmingham brothers, ages 53 and 60, are being held on a combined 19 felony charges after authorities say they repeatedly sexually assaulted a young girl.
One of the brothers – 53-year-old Steven Lewis Cotton – was released from prison last year after serving nearly 20 years in prison for a different rape conviction of a 12-year-old girl.
Larry Cotton, 60, also had a previous arrest on a first-degree sex abuse charge but pleaded that case down to a misdemeanor with no jail time.
Birmingham police declined to release too much information on the case against the Cottons because of its sensitive nature, but say the victim is a girl less than 12 years old.
The sexual assaults took place over three months earlier this year, from April through June. The victim was an acquaintance of the brothers.
Both men were taken into custody over the past week after they were indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury.
Steven Cotton was booked into the Jefferson County Jail on Oct. 29. He is charged with two counts of first-degree rape, two counts of rape of a child less than the age of 12, two counts of first- degree sodomy and two counts of sodomy of a child less than the age of 12. He remains jailed with bond set at $480,000.
He was convicted in 1993 of first-degree rape, also in Jefferson County. Details of that case weren't immediately available. Alabama Department of Corrections spokesman Bob Horton said Steven Cotton was released from prison May 12, 2014 after completing his 20-year sentence. He served 19 years, 11 months and 26 days in state prison, and had served 123 days in the county jail prior to conviction.
Larry Cotton was booked into the county jail on Nov. 3, according to jail records. He is charged with six counts of first-degree rape, four counts of first-degree sodomy and one count of enticing a child for immoral purposes. His bond is set at $620,577.
Larry Cotton was charged with sexual abuse in 2006, records show, but he pleaded guilty to harassment, a misdemeanor, and received a 90-day suspended sentence. He has prior convictions for assault, escape and unlawful breaking and entering a vehicle.