Cullman attorney Randy Hames, shown here in his mugshot from Monday, March 5, 2018 / Cullman County Sheriff's Office
CULLMAN – Two more civil lawsuits have been filed against disgraced Cullman attorney Randy Allan Hames. According to court documents obtained by The Tribune, the plaintiffs are Doris M. Watson and Alisha Cobb; the complaints were filed on March 13, 2018. Both women are represented by Cullman law firm Crocker & Sparks, as well as Birmingham firm Wiggins, Childs, Pantazis, Fisher & Goldfarb, LLC. The firms are now representing a total of four women in cases against Hames.
“On Tuesday, the 13th, I and another law firm I’m working with, filed two lawsuits against Randy Hames,” said attorney R. Champ Crocker. “The human trafficking law has a civil right of action in it. A victim of human trafficking has got a right to have their own private lawsuit, and that’s what we did.”
All four civil suits stem from human trafficking charges levied against Hames, 75, in the last few weeks.
Hames was arrested on Feb. 22 for two counts of second-degree stalking and two counts of promoting prostitution, misdemeanor charges. Kayla Carreker and Tomeka Bartlett accused Hames of requesting sex for rent payments. The two lived at Hames Trailer Park, owned by the accused. Carreker and Bartlett also accuse Hames of making crude sexual remarks to them. The two were the first to file civil complaints against Hames.
Hames was out on bond and practicing law inside the Cullman County Courthouse when he was arrested again on March 5 for two counts of second-degree human trafficking. He made bond that same day. Bond was $15,000 property for each count of human trafficking. A Cullman County Sheriff’s Office spokesman said the Cullman County District Attorney's Office decided to move forward with the human trafficking charges after reviewing the case and speaking with the victims and others.
Hames was arrested again on March 10 and charged with first-degree human trafficking and second-degree human trafficking. He was booked on an $80,000 bond. He made bond and has been released.
Authorities have not confirmed whether March 10's charges relate to the same victims whose accusations led to his arrest on March 5, or whether they relate to the two new woman who filed civil complaints March 13.
According to court documents, Watson was a tenant at Hames’s trailer park from September 2012 until May 2013. “Soon after Plaintiff moved into the trailer park, Hames showed up at Watson’s home and invited himself inside telling Watson that he wanted to talk to her over a glass of homemade elderberry wine,” reads the complaint. “Plaintiff agreed to talk with Hames. During the course of the conversation, Hames noticed Plaintiff’s tongue ring. After plaintiff finished her one and only glass of wine, Hames said to her ‘I bet you know how to use that tongue ring’ and ‘You need to give me a (b**w job).’’
The complaint details Watson’s allegations that Hames continued to come to Watson's home, and she would hide from him. She says he continued to make lewd, suggestive comments.
In Cobb’s complaint, she alleges that Hames, who was appointed Guardian Ad Litem of Cobb’s children from December 2010 through 2013, on multiple occasions asked Cobb “personal, private questions. For example, Hames asked Plaintiff whether she was still having sex with her ex-husband; whether she ever gave her ex-husband ‘(b**w jobs)’, whether she was having withdrawals from not having sex; what she ‘liked’ sexually, and whether she shaved her pubic area.” Cobb alleges Hames told her he needed to know these things because “it’s part of the case.”
Cobb alleges Hames showed up at her home at night. During meetings at his office, she alleges he told Cobb he wanted to come to her house and bring elderberry wine. During one meeting, she alleges he touched her inappropriately. He told her, “I’m here to help you. I can get your kids back.” She alleges he left lingerie for her on her front porch and at one point told her, “You’ll lose your kids if you don’t have sex with me.” According to the documents, “When Plaintiff would challenge his solicitation of her, Hames would respond with statements like “Who is going to believe you? DHR’s got your kids.”
Cobb alleges that after she continued to refuse Hames’s advances, Hames “became rude and adversarial to Plaintiff in court and began supporting DHR’s petition to terminate her parental rights.”
A court hearing, a status conference, will be held at 3 p.m. on Friday on the original misdemeanor charges, evictions and protection orders filed against Hames. It is not known how the human trafficking charges, which are felonies, will affect tomorrow’s hearing.
Further reading: What is human trafficking?
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