Roy Lee Clowder appears in Mobile County, Alabama, court (WALA/YouTube).
An Alabama man's string of charges has shocked authorities, with the most recent claim alleging that he lit a camper on fire and tried to drown a police dog.
Roy Lee Clowder was booked into the Mobile County Metro Jail on Friday on charges of second-degree arson, third-degree criminal mischief, resisting arrest, revoking probation, and harming a police animal. He appeared in court on Tuesday, where a judge reportedly ruled that prosecutors have enough evidence to present the charges to a grand jury.
Clowder is apparently no stranger to the courtroom.
In October 2024, the then-37-year-old man was at a convenience store on Dauphin Island Parkway when a woman driving home from work stopped there, local Fox affiliate WALA reported at the time. According to the Mobile County Sheriff's Office, Clowder approached the woman and asked her for a ride home, and when she agreed, he brandished a gun and told her to move over.
Clowder reportedly drove them to a local church and forced the woman to "marry" him in a "makeshift wedding" outside on the church steps. Afterward, he continued to hold her against her will as he drove around the area and sexually assaulted her, authorities said.
The woman is said to have contacted a friend during the drive, and the friend called 911, prompting deputies to come to her rescue and convince Clowder to release her. He pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree robbery, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sexual assault.
Mobile County District Judge Spiro Cheriogotis ultimately dropped the three charges stemming from that October 2024 case, citing, at least in part, not enough probable cause, the area's NBC affiliate WPMI reported. The woman had reportedly failed to appear in court.
The same judge did find him guilty of resisting arrest and sentenced him to four months in jail with credit for time served.
Cheriogotis called it "easily one of the top 10 craziest cases I've heard [in] my entire career," per WALA.
Fast forward to December 2025, when Clowder was reportedly helping someone move a camper. Prosecutors claim that he got into an argument with someone and ended up setting the motor vehicle on fire. When deputies approached him about the claim, he allegedly hit and tried to drown a K-9 with the Mobile County Sheriff's Office.
Clowder was scheduled to have a preliminary hearing on the charges on Wednesday.
Law&Crime reached out to the Mobile County Sheriff's Office for more information on the arson case.
Comments