DOTHAN, Ala.
A Duke University police officer facing rape and sodomy charges involving a Dothan-area woman has been declared indigent.
Judge John Steensland of Houston County District Court appointed Dothan attorney Valerie Judah to represent Webster Delenn Simmons on Wednesday on charges of first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy.
Houston County sheriff's detectives arrested Simmons, 37, on Monday on charges of binding and gagging a woman as he sexually assaulted her over the weekend.
Simmons, of Rougemont, N.C, is in the Houston County Jail, with bond set at $120,000.
Simmons told Steens-land during his first court appearance that he couldn't afford an attorney.
Duke University's police chief, John Dailey, told the Dothan Eagle that Simmons had been placed on paid suspension.
Sheriff Andy Hughes said that Simmons had apparently been in the Dothan area last weekend visiting relatives.
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