A34993200

In 1995, L.W. lived with her grandmother because her mother had died shortly after she was born and her father was not in the picture. L.W. was very close to her aunt Cheri, and she would frequently visit with Cheri and her husband, Russell Bullock. L.W. started visiting with them about every other weekend when she was about 11 years old. L.W. liked to go to church, and Bullock was a deacon at the church they attended. L.W. testified that when she spent the night, Bullock would lie next to her and rub the insides of her thighs over her clothing.

When she got a little older, between 12 and 13 years of age, Bullock began putting his hand inside her underwear and rubbing her vagina and inserting her fingers inside her. His routine was to wait until she was asleep and no one else was around, then she would wake up to him touching her. When she told him to stop, he refused and told her not to say anything because no one would take her word over his. Afraid of him and afraid he was right, L.W. told no one.

When she was 13 years old, he began anally raping her. She slept on the couch in the living room, and he would bend her over the arm of the couch, tear her clothes away, then forcibly rape her and ejaculate inside her. These incidents continued through the summer she turned 14, that’s when he began to vaginally rape her.
Bullock again waited until the rest of the house was asleep before he assaulted her on the couch in the living room. He forced her clothes aside and began raping her. When she tried to scream he covered her mouth and choked her so no one could hear her cries. The next day, he took her into his room and showed her the loaded revolver he kept in a drawer. He pulled it out and told her he “wouldn’t be scared to use it on anybody who have a big mouth.”

Over the next several months, Bullock continued to rape her when she would spend the night. One summer night, Cheri walked into the living room and found him standing there naked. Bullock claimed he was just checking on their child and Cheri told him to leave, but did not ask L.W. if he had done anything or touched her. Eventually L.W. got up the courage to tell someone at the church what Bullock had been doing to her and the police became involved.

Bullock held a position of trust in the community and in the life of his young niece. He used that trust to sexually abuse and control L.W. for years. For his crimes, Bullock deserves every possible day of the lengthy sentence he received. The Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office strongly opposes early release for Russell Bullock.

Public Hearing Comments