Cottonwood man facing 23 sex crimes charges

A Cottonwood man faces nearly two dozen sexual assault-related charges involving a teenager girl, dating back from June 2005 until June of this year.

Court records show deputies arrested William Wayne Crooms, 38, and charged him with 23 sexual assault charges involving an Ashford teenager, including rape, sodomy and incest. He was charged with 10 felony counts of second-degree rape, 10 felony counts of incest and three felony counts of second-degree sodomy.

Crooms, of Womack Road, remained held on a $540,000 bond at the Houston County Jail late Tuesday evening.

Sheriff’s Investigator Donovan Kilpatrick said the alleged sexual assaults started when the girl was 13 years old and ended when she was 17 years old.

According to the warrants for Crooms’ arrest, the rape charges date back to June 2005. He was most recently charged with incest for an alleged crime that happened in June of this year.

If convicted, Crooms faces two to 20 years in prison for each of the second-degree rape and sodomy charges, which are class B felony crimes. He faces one to 10 years in prison for each of the 10 incest charges, which are class C felony crimes.