Bobby Joe Speegle: Sold His Daughter into Sexual Slavery

 

We hear the term "human trafficking" almost every day in the news. What does it really signify? It can mean either forcing someone into providing labor or sexual favors. Often it's the victim's own family members who commit these crimes. This is the case of Bobby Joe Speegle who sold his teenage daughter into sexual slavery.

Bobby Joe, one of four children, was born into a Tuscumbia family during the nation's bicentennial. That may sound like an auspicious start in life, but in reality Bobby's parents soon divorced, and he and at least one of his brothers often ran afoul of the law.

In 2012, Speegle was living in a small camper at Muscle Shoals Trailer Park on Wilson Dam Road. He was reportedly well known to his neighbors who suspected the then 36 year-old park resident of dealing in meth. When several residents heard an explosion one Saturday afternoon in early June, they immediately thought of Bobby Joe and his impromptu meth cooks.

Several calls to authorities soon brought numerous law enforcement personnel to the scene. There they found Speegle attempting to clean the soot and ammonium nitrate debris from his living quarters as a second man ran into a wooded area behind the trailer park. While the police were still taking in the scene, Bobby Joe's girlfriend arrived and soon admitted she had purchased the pseudoephedrine needed to concoct the meth. While the second man eluded officers, they did find evidence of a one-pot cook and receipts for chemicals that he had hidden in the thick vegetation.

Bobby Joe Speegle was now in a lot of trouble. Muscle Shoals authorities found that Speegle had a warrant in that city for failing to appear in municipal court. He spent the rest of the weekend in the town's small jail before being transferred to the county's facilities where he was charged with his drug crimes. 

After spending five months in the Colbert County Jail, Speegle was convicted of the crime of manufacturing methamphetamine. A judge sentenced the hapless meth maven to 18 months in the state prison system, and Bobby Joe was soon on his way to Kilby Correctional Facility in Montgomery. He remained in the correctional system until December 1, 2013.

Once home, Speegle made little to no attempt to stay away from drugs, despite having a young daughter. Indeed, Speegle was destined to become a parent who brought unimaginable evil upon his child.

In November 2018, Bobby Joe Speegle was again living in Muscle Shoals, again heavily into drugs, and again broke. Then he met a 32 year-old Sheffield drug dealer who was willing to talk trade. What did this enterprising street pharmacist want in exchange for his wares? Bobby Joe's 17 year-old daughter.

Authorities say that on November 14th, Speegle provided the young teen with a drugged drink. He is alleged to have then taken her to the Sheffield home of his drug dealer. The teen's next memory is waking up to the brutal realization that she was in a strange home being raped. 

After managing to escape, the teenager submitted to a sexual assault examination in a local hospital. A Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner was familiar with the custom of tattooing sex traffic victims and checked the victim specifically for this type of marking.

Black light tattoos show up when the light is projected onto the tattooed area. Below is an example of a hand tattooed with black light ink:

The SANE was shocked to find that the young teen's inner thigh had been marked with an inscription describing her as the property of the drug dealer. 

Authorities now arrested Bobby Joe Speegle on charges of Promoting Prostitution and Providing False Information to Law Enforcement. Due to the nature of his crime, Speegle was initially held in the Morgan County Jail for his own safety. He ultimately pleaded guilty to the charge of Promoting Prostitution and was sentenced in March 2022 to ten years in the state prison system.

Speegle is currently in the Limestone Correctional Facility with a release date of 10/17/24, Upon his release, he will be required to register as a Sex Offender. Will he then return to the Shoals? Since Bobby Joe has both immediate and extended family in the area, it's indeed likely that he will. 

The public will be watching...

The Fountain Lanes Murder

 

The Crime:

Bowling has always been considered a blue collar sport, but when Fountain Lanes was built in the late 1950s on the recently opened Florence Boulevard, it sought a new type of clientele. These new lanes were to attract young families, upscale professionals, and even Girl Scouts earning merit badges. Yet it didn't take long for the sports venue to show a much darker side.

It was the second day of the new year 1962 when Travis L. Pounders and a friend decided to visit the bowling alley. Pounders was married, the owner of a new home on Tune Avenue, and the chief traffic clerk at Southern Railway in Sheffield. In short, the 33 year-old Pounders appeared to be an upstanding citizen.

While Pounders and his companion bowled, four Florence youths ranging in age from 18 to 23 entered the alley. Lauderdale prosecutors later referred to the Weeden Heights boys as "thugs" and "hoods." 

At some point during that Tuesday evening, Pounders and his friend retired to the men's room where they were alleged to have been drinking alcohol from paper cups. It was in the restroom that 23 year-old Jerry Rogers heard Pounders make a derogatory remark about his leather jacket. Rogers later told his friends that the older men had threatened to "whip him," but this was never substantiated.

Shortly after the restroom incident, both groups left Fountain Lanes only seconds apart. It was then that Rogers decided to confront the two older men, hitting Pounders in the mouth and knocking him against Carver May. The 20 year-old May then struck Pounders on the head, but the victim seemed unfazed and lunged at Rogers. At that point, Rogers produced a large pocket knife and fatally stabbed Pounders in the heart, nicking the left lung. All four of the Weeden Heights youths fled the scene.

Fountain Lanes management placed a call to authorities at 10:16. A nearby ambulance transported Pounders to the ECM emergency department where he was pronounced dead shortly before 10:30 p.m. The Florence Police Department then initiated a search for the four young men.

The Aftermath:

It took only hours to arrest the four Weeden Heights youths; all were charged two days later with First Degree Murder (now Capital Murder) and faced a possible death penalty. Ultimately charges against two of the young men (names intentionally omitted) were dramatically reduced.

Only Jerry Rogers and Carver May were convicted of Manslaughter. May contended the blow he delivered to the back of Travis Pounders' head was inconsequential. His defense attempted to prove the bruise on the back of the victim's head could have been caused by his final fall to the pavement after being stabbed. Carver May was convicted and sentenced to six years in the state prison system.

The case against Jerry Rogers was much more complex. At 23, he was the oldest of the group. Unemployed, he had a reputation of liking to "cut" people. While Rogers had attempted to destroy the murder weapon, detectives found him in possession of a second knife covered in opossum's blood; seemingly Jerry was a threat to more than humans. In the past five years, he had been arrested twice for knife assault, but never served any substantial time. Jerry Rogers was sentenced to 90 years behind bars.

Sixty years later, do patrons of Fountain Lanes (now called Lauderdale Lanes) realize they step atop the scene of a murder each time they enter or depart the establishment? Perhaps in today's society, it's more of a question of do they even care.

Cold & Lonely in Lexington? Did That Cost Christy Her Life?

 

From Crime Writer Nick Ireland:

Being of the single persuasion, I can tell you exactly what to do if you're cold and lonely in Huntsville. Take a walk on the wild side down Governors Drive to one of its elegant establishments where you'll find the cure for both cold and lonely. What do you do if you live in a super small burg like Lexington just south of the Tennessee line? There's always Minor Hill.

You can bet the dating pool is stocked with rejects that only look good after a full bottle of Fireball. Maybe that's just what happened when Christy Lynn Shelton McKee met Casey Cole White. She was 31 and already had three daughters by at least two upstanding geezers who apparently didn't include marriage in their come-on lines. She was also married at this point, but we're guessing the union was on some serious rocks for her to be dating Casey Cole White.

White lived in the nearby village of Anderson. At 24, he already had a long rap sheet, but that didn't stop tall, dark, and gruesome from latching onto Christy. If her marriage had been troubled, so were other aspects of her home life. Her youngest daughter had special needs, and joy was hard to come by during the daily humdrum. A player like our Casey must have known just how to work that to his advantage.

Then on February 1, 2008, Christy's life was over, ended by the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun. Casey told everyone who would listen that Christy had pulled the trigger herself, and no one seemed to question him. That is except Christy's kids who never believed that, despite her flaws, she would have taken what's usually called an easy way out.

The next seven years passed quickly, and Casey had a new girlfriend, but things didn't go well when he tried to kill her. They went even worse when he then went on the lam. He got 75 years with no good time. Bummer.

But Casey, being the kind of hustler he was, had a plan. A daring escape facilitated by his latest and almost geriatric, waddling squeeze saw him again free and on the run to places without extradition laws. Enter the feds who began to take a look at his past life. Pretty unfortunate for Casey with his nefarious history as a lady-killer.

It didn't take long to discover his past involvement with Christy. While her disabled child had died, her two remaining daughters wanted the answers they had never gotten fourteen years before. 

Will the guys in suits be able to try Casey Cole White for two murders instead of one? At this point, we're all just placing our bets and buttering the popcorn.

A Lonely Woman, an Illegal Alien, and a Brutal Murder

 

Angel Campos-Nava of El Terrero, Mexico, was in his late 20s when he arrived in Russellville, Alabama. He had no passport, work visa, or money. What he did have was an unrealistic view of what his life in the U.S. would be like.

Campos soon discovered that he was lacking in much it took to succeed in this country. Then he met Lesley Hope Plott. Campos didn't care if Lesley was somewhat overweight and already the mother of one child, and she didn't care if Angel stood only 5'3" and barely spoke English. They soon became a couple.

While there are no records of Plott and Campos entering into a legal marriage, they referred to themselves as husband and wife. This didn't stop Campos from demonstrating abject cruelty to Plott; police records indicate that while the couple lived together they were called at least two times to arrest Campos for violently assaulting Plott.

Finally, Lesley had enough. She had a good job at a Russellville physician's office and the emotional support of her family. She ended the relationship, but still often saw Campos when he visited their shared children or when he turned to her in need of money.

Lesley had agreed to give Angel a ride home in the early morning hours of February 22, 2013. It was slightly after one o'clock when the couple began arguing. Plott pulled over in front of Good Shepherd Catholic Church, a fact that later proved the undoing of Angel. 

At first, Campos only hit Lesley, but then he took out a knife and began to stab her repeatedly. While Lesley wouldn't live to tell her story, all of Campos' actions were recorded on CCTV cameras placed outside the church building.

Seeing that the 25 year-old mother of his three children was dead, Angel removed her body from the luxury SUV and placed it in a ditch along Jackson Avenue running in front of Good Shepherd Church. It wasn't long before a passerby discovered Lesley's brutalized remains and called the authorities. 

When Russellville Police located the 33 year-old Campos, he had multiple stab wounds - all self-inflicted. Angel was initially taken to Huntsville Hospital where he spent a week. Then Campos was placed in the Franklin County Detention Center until his arraignment.

Since video footage proved without a doubt that Lesley was in a vehicle during the deadly attack, Franklin County District Attorney charged Campos with Capital Murder. Rebecca Green Thomason agreed to act as Angel's attorney and quickly began work to save his life.

With financial help from the Mexican Capital Assistance Program, Thomason was able to secure an interpretator who spoke the same Southern Mexican dialect as Campos. She then became aware of the extreme poverty and violence in which he had grown up in the state of Guerrero.

After presenting his background to Joey Rushing, Lesley's family agreed to remove the death penalty from legal options. Campos agreed to a sentence of Life with Possibility of Parole. Today, Angel Campos-Nava is housed under medium security in the Easterling Correctional Center in Barbour County. He will be eligible for parole consideration in February 2028. Both Joey Rushing and Lesley Hope Plott's family will oppose his release. And if Campos should be released from the Alabama State Prison System? He will immediately be deported to Mexico. It's an outcome that no one wants to see.

Rape at O'Neal Hall: A Cover Up or Just a Local Myth?

 

Amid the new accounts of sexual assault at the University of North Alabama, we’ll look back at a 1970s attack that may or may not have actually occurred. In that era, male and female students were routinely separated as far as living quarters; only certain males were allowed in sleeping areas, and those were almost always service workers. Did a delivery man make his way to an O’Neal Hall dorm room in the middle of the workday and proceed to rape one of the students?

At the center of the rape story was a Lauderdale County native that we’ll call Todd Hunter. Todd first came to the attention of local authorities when he was accused of following young females in his rattletrap car. A long time college student, Todd was familiar with many of the campus buildings and organizations. He seemingly managed to keep a low profile when in public, but when in private, his actions became more overtly sexual…and sinister.

Years later, Todd was diagnosed with a type of schizophrenia, but at the time, most females who came into contact with Hunter simply found him obnoxious and unnerving. Due to his part-time employment at local mini-marts, many young women did unfortunately come into contact with Todd, who described these girls as eager to be in his company, even after he married.

Yes, Todd managed to marry, father two children, and move up in the world of employment while seeming to control his dark side…for a time. In the late 1970s, this disturbed young man found work with a soft drink company, a job that took him to all parts of the college campus including the girls’ dorms. Some drink machines were located on upper floors, allowing Todd to move freely about the sleeping rooms and chat with any students who came into his orbit.

While the above information has been verified, the following has not. There were always reports of attacks at the university, but many were obviously exaggerations of pranks and never reported to proper authorities. Then students found an O’Neal resident distraught in her room. 

She allegedly told her friends that a soft drink delivery man, whose name she didn’t know, had forced his way past her as she entered her room and proceeded to rape her. It took days for the crime to be reported to UNA authorities, and was supposedly never reported to the Florence Police Department. In the interim, Todd continued to deliver soft drinks to the campus.

No arrests were ever made in the alleged rape. Todd Hunter soon lost his job at the local bottling company, but gossip about the rape continued for years. Todd’s wife ultimately left him, and he died three decades later in a controlled medical facility.

Did UNA attempt to cover up this sexual assault or was it just a local urban myth to make young women more aware of their surroundings on campus? O’Neal Hall was eventually torn down to make way for an addition to what is now the Guillot Center. While most students today probably have never heard of Todd, the women who had the misfortune to encounter him still remember him and say thanks that they didn’t become his victim.

Rape at Colbert Square

 

Located close to Sheffield High School, Colbert Square Apartments have been a fixture in north-central Sheffield since 1950. Over the years, as the desirability of the apartments decreased, crime began to do the opposite. After one particular notorious shooting in late 2008, a group of residents asked the city council to take steps to clean up the area, even if it meant razing the large complex.

Those who have resided in the low-rent units have described the apartments as small, smelly, smoke stained, and a home to vermin of various kinds. While these apartments hardly seem desirable in themselves, the rent (currently $285.00/month according to Apartment Finder) is a huge draw to those facing financial hardships for whatever reason.

Then in October 2013, a violent crime set the whole town's nerves on edge. From Shoalanda Speaks blogs:

Last Tuesday night a man visited the Colbert Square Apartments, a complex adjacent to Sheffield Junior High School, a complex that residents had reported on to the Sheffield City Council as far back as 2009. He knocked on three doors before he found a resident who opened the door to him. All three apartments belonged to women.

At the third apartment, the man asked for Debbie. When told there was no Debbie there, the African-American, said to be in his mid to late twenties, forced his way into the apartment and raped the 54 year-old tenant. The victim managed to strike the intruder with a heavy ashtray, leaving a large gash on his forehead.

As the rapist left the modest apartment where units rent from $250.00 to $285.00 a month (in red), he took his victim's cell phone and vehicle. Just six blocks away at the intersection of York Terrace and Almon Street (in blue), the intruder abandoned the Ford Taurus and presumably made his way from there on foot.

In early 2014, Colbert County authorities arrested Huntsville resident Tavares Terrell Garner. The then 28 year-old Garner had a record for Third Degree Burglary in Lawrence County and Third Degree Robbery in Colbert, resulting in two previous state incarcerations. 

In May 2014, Garner was brought to trial. He was convicted of First Degree Burglary, First Degree Robbery, and First Degree Rape. Due to his previous convictions, he was sentenced as a habitual offender and given three concurrent life sentences with a chance for parole.

Garner, now 40, is currently serving his sentences at the Fountain Correctional Facility in Atmore. He will be eligible for parole consideration in January 2029 - fifteen years into his sentence. It's expected that the Colbert County District Attorney's Office will protest any move to release Garner.