Level Plains man charged with sodomy, sex abuse

Henry County authorities charged a 71-year-old Level Plains man with sodomizing a 20-year-old woman at a campground near Abbeville.

Rex Wheeler was also charged with first-degree sex abuse of a second 20-year-old woman at Hardridge Creek Park.

Investigators with the Henry County Sheriff’s Office and Abbeville Police Department’s Investigative Task Force arrested Wheeler around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night at the Henry County Sheriff’s Office. Lt. Clyde Hornsby, the task force commander, said Wheeler was taken Tuesday afternoon to Flowers Hospital for a sexual assault examination kit, and later brought back to Henry County for an interview. Hornsby said sexual suspects are also examined in sexual assault cases, along with the victims.

“He knew the women, and they came to the park together,” Hornsby said. “According to the women, they were just friends.”

Hornsby said the women, both from Enterprise, went to the park Monday for a camping trip with Wheeler. Wheeler was friends with one of the women and Hornsby said Wheeler reportedly met the second woman last week.

The sexual assault allegedly happened late Monday night and early Tuesday morning inside Wheeler’s camper at the park’s campgrounds.

“One female was allegedly unconscious when she was sodomized,” Hornsby said. “She was incapacitated, and she couldn’t give consent or resist in any way.”

Hornsby said the second woman was inappropriately touched after she apparently witnessed the sodomy act. He said drugs or alcohol could have been involved, and the incidents remain under investigation.

Investigators charged Wheeler with felony first-degree sodomy and felony first-degree sex abuse. He was taken to the Henry County Jail where he’s held without bond.

Wheeler told investigators he was retired after 28 years in the Army.